The catch is that electric heat is both more costly, and less efficient, than heating your home with natural gas, propane, or oil, at least in terms of the efficiency with which the fossil fuel is converted to heat. A typical natural gas or coal generating station operates at about 30-40% efficiency, and the theoretical peak isn’t much higher than that, so at least 60% of the heat involved in burning the gas or coal goes up the stack lasko space heater as waste heat. That compares poorly to efficiencies of 80% to 96% for natural gas furnaces. That’s why, from a cost perspective, heating with electricity is generally much more expensive than heating with natural gas or oil. For Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter, it’s a specialized plug at the end of the power cord designed to protect from electrical shock by interrupting a household circuit when it detects a potential shock hazard.
For a more powerful electric heater you need to go for a 220 volt baseboard heater with its own dedicated circuit. Numerous users have complained online, however, that their lasko tower heaters kept operating and heating a particular space well after the target room temperature was reached. The beauty of ceramic is that it can transmit heat that’s powerful yet consistent — that means no random dips or spikes in temperature…unless you want them. This heater from Lasko includes a thermostat and timer that allows you to customize your comfort.
For gas heaters, you’ll need 20 BTUs of heating power for every square foot in a room. For example, if a room is 400 square feet, you’ll need 8,000 watts. Placing high-voltage electrical equipment where it can get wet is generally something that’s frowned upon.
Either a GFCI plug or wall receptacle is necessary around water, such as in bathrooms or kitchens, where the chance for electrical shock is greater. Because they use a fan to spread air around, fan-forced heaters are louder than radiant heaters or convection heaters that are filled with oil or water. Industrial heaters are powerful, high-BTU units designed to be used in workspaces like construction sites or large warehouses, or at large events taking place outside in cold weather. The only attribute that we could establish that separates this model from the rest is its distinct look and design. Considering its display of unrestrained mediocrity during our review, we are hesitant to recommend the Lasko Designer Series to anyone except for those who want a space heater that doesn’t look like one.
At 3.5 feet tall, it’s also the largest such model we tested, although it’s nice enough in function and appearance that we wouldn’t mind having it stand out in our home. And despite its height, the FH500 has a footprint of only about 13 by 13 inches, which makes it a great space-saver. Although oil-filled radiators look classic, they are not as effective as ceramic and open-element heaters at distributing heat throughout a room. They’re bigger, more expensive, and slower to heat up, and most of them are bracingly hot to the touch.
They are designed to be used indoors, and many are portable electric heaters light enough to be moved from room to room. Most are electric space heaters designed to plug into an outlet. If you want something that looks like a cheap Dyson knockoff but still costs about the same amount of money as a Dyson, you could get the Westinghouse 2-in-1 Digital Bladeless Fan with Heater WSFBLA018BK. But that’s about the only circumstance where it would make sense for anyone to buy this heater.
In practice, however, this model was purely frustrating—we found it difficult to move around on its clunky wheels without tipping it over or burning ourselves. It’s also confusingly designed, with “Min” and “Med” switches that somehow add up to Max power when they’re both flipped on, and a ComforTemp button for an “ideal” setting, with no information about what that setting is. We had previously tested the oil-filled De’Longhi Silent System EW7707CM as well, but we found it also lacking in comparison with the TRD40615T. The Vornado Vheat vintage-style heater is an all-around decent heater, but what really sets it apart is its delightful aesthetic, inspired by the original Vornado design from 1945. The Vornado VH200 is more than twice as expensive as other portable ceramic heating options, such as the Lasko , but it tends to cost less than other comparable Vornado models. We believe the VH200 is worth the price due to its pleasant, even heating and the fact that it can raise the temperature of a room so much more effectively than the other models we tested.
This heater has some great safety features, including an automatic tip-over shutoff. This is an analog unit – meaning it has a dial to set the thermostat instead of a digital temperature read-out. The advantage of an analog unit is it provides greater control over temperature than the digital Lasko space heaters, which are mostly stuck on 5-degree thermostat increments. The disadvantage is that you have to set the heater based on experience of what a comfortable setting is, since there is no temperature readout.