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My new home came with central heating. I loved the convenience, but wanted a heater for the bedroom so I didn't have to heat the entire home through the night, when it was only one room we needed heat in. There began my quest for a portable electric heater!
My first try was a Bionaire Digital Tower Ceramic Heater. It went right back to the store the moment I realized how powerful (read : noisy) the fan inside was. It did do a decent job warming up the room though.
I knew I'd like something quiet. Real quiet. My next try was an Oil Filled Radiator. It was much quieter just low clicking sounds (probably from the metal or oil expanding?) but failed to impress on heating. It took almost an hour to make a significant difference to a cold room (12x14) and barely kept the temperature up through the night with the thermostat dialled up. When in use the surface turned really hot and I worried about someone stepping into it in the middle of the night or my cat scalding herself while trying to kill it :)
I decided to try the Bionaire BH3900 it promised swifter heating and a cool surface. My wife and me were delighted! It warms the room up much swifter than the oil filled radiator and is absolutely silent! The heat mostly escapes out the top and there isn't a lot of heat radiated to the sides. The grille on the side makes this look more elegant than the radiators and just gets luke warm even when this has been running all night. And while my cat has sniffed at the grille (when on) she hasn't been tempted into attacking it yet.
This was twice the price of the other options we looked at but were sold on it the first night we tried using it. I wish the thermostat were digital (knob takes some tweaking to find your sweet spot) but our quest for a heater has ended.
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We bought this model from Costco in October, 2006 and used it for about two years, with pretty much continual usage from October to May. It's quiet and puts out enough heat for a large room. It stopped working after two years. I noticed that it was still under warranty so I contacted (emailed) customer service at Bionaire. They were very cooperative and sent us a new unit at no charge.I disassembled the older unit and it seemed well built. I found that the on off switch was broken. This is a "snap in" plastic switch and if you are careful you can pry it out of the faceplate with a small screwdriver or knife. For those of you who may have a similar problem the switch is a round, illuminated SPST rocker type and it's made by a factory in China under the brand name RLEIL model RL3-5. Either the switch broke and then fried or it overheated and some plastic melted internally. In any case the switch doesn't appear to be as heavy duty as it should be and I would recommend not using the "high" or 1500 watt setting for this unit. I bought a pack of 10 spare switches on Ebay for $5 so that's gives you an idea how cheap they are made. It doesn't appear that these switches have a UL rating.
Postscript: April 14th OK, I got the new unit under warranty and it's been improved! Instead of a lighted on off switch they have a separate light on the front panel to let you know the unit is running. So the new switch looks to be heavier duty. Also, they changed the design of the front panel handle to allow easier access to the panel for disassembly and repairs should they be needed.
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One of the reasons I like shopping at Amazon is that you get to research the product you're interested in by getting some real feedback on the product from actual owners. I find that part extremely valuable. Anyway back to my thoughts on the Bionaire BH3950-U Silent Micathermic Heater with Adjustable Thermostat. Keep in mind I only had this heater for a few days. First thing is that shipping was incredibly fast. I selected Super Saver shipping which knocked out the shipping charge and I was expecting it to arrive a bit slower than regular shipping but to my surprise I received the heater in 2 days. I was not expecting that at all. There is a bit of assembly required with this heater but trust me, it is minimal. You'll just have to attach a set of wheels, a set of foot pegs and then the handle. All of it was done without tools. Yes that's right. Without tools. The screws that were supplied were the wing-nut or thumbscrew type so you honestly don't need a screwdriver and the assembly was accomplished in 10 minutes.The heater is very neat looking. The design is very similar to the Duh-long-high type oil-filled heaters. (Yes I was being cruel to Delonghi) The frame of the heater is made of hard plastic and the sides are what appear to be of a chicken-wire type enclosure. This allows you to fully see the internal panels or heating elements. You will notice 3 heating elements. Now strangely the design is not ugly. It's kind of cool to see what's going on inside the heater. Now those oil filled heaters work OK but they take soooo long to get hot and if you're not careful you can burn yourself with them. No worry about burning yourself with the Bionaire and it gets hot very quickly. Even on the Low wattage setting the unit begins to give off heat after just 30 seconds of turning it on. I have not needed to use the High wattage setting by the way. The controls are similar to the oil-filled heaters. Could it use a digital thermostat?? Maybe but really the turn-dial thermostat works just fine. The heater is near silent. Just the occasional expansion sounds as the unit heats up or cools off as well as the clicking sound coming from the thermostat. These little noises didn't bother me at all. They actually reminded me that the unit was running. What about the weight?? Anybody who owns an oil-filled heater knows that you have to be somewhat healthy enough to lift that thing. The Bionaire is incredibly light. The product specs claim 15 or 20 pounds but that cant be right because it feels like only 5 pounds or less. It is truly and remarkably light weight. I find that sometimes the wheels are a bit unnecessary because if I need to place it in another room, it's faster if I just pick it up and bring it to the other room instead of rolling it around. I plan to purchase a second unit soon because it is working so well but I want to give this unit a chance to properly prove itself to me before I purchase a second.
To be honest I was pleasantly surprised at how well this heater works. I wasn't expecting it to work too well but I was happily proven wrong. Strong and quick heat in a handsome design. Now I've seen some folks mention that they bought theirs from Costco but since I don't have a membership to that place it didn't pay for me to go and get membership and then pay for the unit. For current Costco members yes you absolutely got a great deal on a fantastic heater.
I am very, very pleased with this heater. I have it on in my den right now as I'm typing this review and it is so toasty warm in here. Give it a try for yourself. Good luck and stay warm.
P.S.When you turn the heater on for the first time there will be somewhat of a strong odor coming from the unit. "New smell" as I like to call it. Completely normal. In fact the papers that come with the unit mentions this. Let it run for about 30 to 45 minutes in a room with a window slightly open and it will be fine. I placed mine in the bathroom for 30 minutes with the exhaust fan running and after that the strong odor was gone.
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