Showing posts with label luxpro thermostats. Show all posts
Showing posts with label luxpro thermostats. Show all posts

Friday, January 30, 2015

Air King 5,118 BTU Electric Convection Heater #8605 Reviews

Air King 5,118 BTU Electric Convection Heater #8605
Customer Ratings: 5 stars
List Price: $90.00
Sale Price: $71.71
Today's Bonus: 20% Off
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I use the Air King 8605 to raise the room temperature of my bedroom from 60 degrees to 70 degrees. It works great! There's no fan, so it's noiseless. The upper grate does get hot. I can put my hand on it, without getting burned, but I'd avoid putting it anywhere where small children might touch it. It does put out over 5000 BTUs of heat when turned all the way up, so be prepared for your electric meter to spin.

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I have four of these. They are quiet and work well. In fact, they are silent. We use them to heat bedrooms when using the pellet stove in the main part of the home. The thermostat works well, but doesn't tell you the specific temperature, but once you find the correct setting you just leave it. Excellent heater. Nice looking. Quiet--in fact, silent.

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Really lowered my heating bill about 35%. It has already paid for itself in one winter. It is totally quiet and looks sleek. It has a high low setting, so you can save even more money. I just hope it lasts more than one winter.

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Purchased at Sears using their online order for work, eliminates the cold draft near our director's doorway in the morning, works very well and quietly does its job, looks nice too, a good design.

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Sunday, December 21, 2014

Best Deni Oval Electric Pressure Cooker Deals

Deni 9780 Oval-Shaped 8-1/2-Quart Electric Pressure Cooker
Customer Ratings: 3.5 stars
List Price: $296.99
Sale Price: $79.99
Today's Bonus: 73% Off
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Our first Deni went dead after one use. Deni customer service (Keystone Manufacturing) was outstanding though. Since it was a large heavy item, all they required was for the power cord to be cut off and mailed back to them, at which point they sent out a brand new pressure cooker. Unfortunately, the 2nd one arrived with the plastic base pretty much shattered, although there was no damage evident on the box. No problem! Customer service sent another replacement out immediately with no questions. Unfortunately (again), the new unit died after only 2 or 3 uses (at least it lasted longer than the 1st one!). So while their customer service seems great, this particular pressure cooker seems to die pretty easily (at least at higher altitude of the Rocky Mountain region). The only reason I'm giving it 2 stars is due to the customer service.

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I purchased the deni 9780 8 quart pressure cooker and all 4 were lemons. I like the looks and the features of the pressure cooker but they would only work 1 or 2 times and then it would die. This has got to be the worse pressure cooker on the market. Finally i told the deni rep to give me my money back that i think after 4 times that i should have got a good one. Dont waste your money on this lemon.

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I like it. I am new to pressure cooking and have had some perfect outcomes. A few things not quite as good, but think my inexperience was more at fault. I have had great customer service when I called with questions. I needed the larger size for my bigger family and I would definitely buy it again. Have had 2 times when the lid did not seem to seat quite right and steam was escaping. I had to drop the pressure and restart the process. Would like the lid on perfect every time on the first try. There is now way to know it will leak until it leaks but again has happened only twice with many uses.

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This product never worked properly. It never built up pressure as it should. Couldn't depend on it. The concept is great but the function was in the toilet

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I bought mine from Kohl's. The package itself was undamaged. Taking the unit out of the box, the plastic base stayed in the styrofoam packing while the rest of the unit came out. This left exposed wires and the electric guts exposed. Obviously, I never used it so I don't know how well it works. It's a poor design. I am returning it and going to find a better product. I won't be a Deni though.

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Sunday, December 14, 2014

Best Honeywell YCT51N1008 Standard Heat/Cool Manual Thermostat Deals

Honeywell YCT51N1008 Standard Heat/Cool Manual Thermostat
Customer Ratings: 3 stars
List Price: $29.99
Sale Price: $13.99
Today's Bonus: 53% Off
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We needed a manual thermostat and this one had all the features we wanted: heat/cool; auto or on fan. Wiring instructions were easy to follow. It works great and is accurate.

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The controls are very touchy to say the least, but it works like a charm for my rental house. I would recommend it for simple control.

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You can't really tell what temp it is in your house or what temp you are moving the bar to. The way the spaces are between the number reading and the bar is just bad. It's hard to explain, but I'm not the only one in the house with this same problem. You just have to guess and move the bar until you hear the a/c turn on with no idea of what temp you just set it to or what temp it is.

I had to buy a different unit to put in my apartment because my apartment complex installed this cheap one. I did buy a Honeywell, but this is just the bottom of the barrel. Spend a few bucks more and get something you can actually use efficiently.

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I always found Honeywell products to be reliable I was dissappointed with this thermostat. There is four to five degrees diffenence from the temperature it turns the fireplace on and when it shuts off. And on occassion it sticks and doesn't shut off until I tap the thermostate or shut it off manually. We turn the thermostat off when we leave home because of the poor reliability of the thermostat. Our previous thermostat was digital and a different brand, but we could set it for a certain temperature and the temperature did not vary over 1 degree and we never had to manually turn it off. I would not recommend this thermostat.

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Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Cheap Maxi-Matic ETO-180 Elite Gourmet Toaster Oven

MaxiMatic ETO-180 Elite Gourmet 18-Liter Toaster Oven, Silver
Customer Ratings: 3.5 stars
List Price: $49.99
Sale Price: $48.72
Today's Bonus: 3% Off
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Pros: Big interier space, comes with all cooking accessories, easy to assemble, clear instructions. Cools of quickly, has a setting for the door to be open about 1/2 inch.

Cons: Black on silver makes the dials hard to read, The three settings (bake, brown and toast) are not defined in the manual. First time burning off the chemicals on the elements is VERY smokey! Smelled like I was melting a GI Joe in the thing! Set off my smoke detector it did!

Conclusion: An excellent buy for the money! Keep an eye on it (use a seporate timer until you get used to it) I had a potpie that went from perfect to slightly burned in 30 seconds (set off my smoke detector again)

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This is my 2nd purchase of this toaster oven. The size is good particularly like the crum tray and the extra cooking pan/tray. This item gets daily use in my home and stands up well. The only problem I had was finding my replacement THANKS Amazon! Recommend this product.

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we need a toaster-oven that actually toasts, this one isn't very good. There is no toast button, only the timer which is used for the oven. It is hard to get the timing right and it takes forever to toast because the elements are so far away. The oven feature is fine.

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I wanted a small oven to make chicken nuggets for my grandson(the microwave didn't do very good) And for small things it is great because I don't have to heat a big oven. It looks nice on the counter. No problems with it at all I'm glad I have it.

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I spent probably 12 total hrs looking at toaster ovens before I decided what I really wanted was an oven toaster. Then came another 8 hrs to find the right one which included visits to store, multiple websites and online retailers. I finally found this one quite by accident and bought from my preferred provider Amazon (cheapest price, no shipping and no taxes). My wife makes what she calls cheesy toast. She first toast the slices in our BD toaster and then used to put the cheese on it and put it in the oven on broiler till the cheese melts. This has already saved me electricity and not heated up the kitchen, I reheated my sliders from Chilis as well as reheated my fried chicken which used to get mushy in the microwave. I am looking forward to baking potatoes, breaded fish, chicken strips and preformed hash browns. My wife does NOT like appliances on the counter but she said this is OK as it looks great (we do have the under the counter storage space for it). I almost bought a $165 one that had a bulge in the back to accomodate a 12" pizza but why? I like what they did with the crumb tray-putting it inside and so simple to remove. There is no cookbook and the instructions are spotty but if you've ever had a toaster oven you get the hang of this one real quick. If you are looking for a toaster oven, don't buy this one. But if what you really want is an oven toaster this is the one.

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Thursday, April 17, 2014

Discount Honeywell International CG512A1009 Locking Thermostat Guard

Honeywell International CG512A1009 Locking Thermostat Guard
Customer Ratings: 4 stars
List Price: $20.97
Sale Price: Price Unavailable
Today's Bonus: 30% Off
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ID was very slightly smaller than described, but got around it. I had to remove my unusually large pool control panel to make it work, but that was pretty easy. Locks and Works great.

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Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Review of Lasko 5365 Ceramic Pedestal Heater with Remote Control

Lasko 5365 Ceramic Pedestal Heater with Remote Control
Customer Ratings: 4.5 stars
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This could be a very good heater option for some people, if the features fit what you need.

It takes up relatively little floor space, and the pedestal design puts the heater up a little higher, if that suits your needs. (A regular tower heater might be fine for lots of people, though.)

It's 30 tall" and the base is a 12" circle. The top part is about 7.5" wide at the top (the widest part).

Pros:

High 1500W (5118 BTU) and low 900W (3070 BTU) settings. And two fan speeds to go with that the fans runs more slowly and quieter on low which is a feature that's missing on many heaters for some inexplicable reason.

Quiet for a heater with a fan, especially on the low setting. (But that can't be used with the auto thermostat setting, see below!)

Well built, and well packed.

The light weight and convenient handle, at the top of the back, make it easy to carry and move around.

The controls are well placed, easy to read, and make sense they do the things you'd think they should.

The LCD shows the room temperature and the thermostat setting, exactly no guessing on a dial with marks around it! Both seem very accurate it matches a digital thermometer I have in the room.

Cons:

The biggest one by far for me the auto setting (to maintain the temperature you set) only uses high heat. Low auto isn't an option.

No automatic shutoff if it tips over. Maybe the overheat protection would take care of it, and it doesn't really get that hot but I'd think they'd want to have that in a heater with this design.

The base looks a little big 12" across but I suppose it has to be to make the pedestal work.

There's no auto low setting which was the main reason I wanted this heater, to have something quiet that could maintain the temperature in a bedroom at night. That would also mean it would switch on and off fewer times, and draw less peak electric current. Big oversight on the manufacturer's part.

Though otherwise, it's about as quiet as fan heater could be, I imagine. If you need something quieter, look at something like the DeLonghi HHP1500 Mica Panel Radiator very quiet, but the heat circulates only by convection (hot air rising), which might not work for all situations.

This heater requires some assembly of the pedestal and base. Just tightening some screws, really, but it's a little cumbersome since the top piece can't rest anywhere given the shape. Just plan on it taking ten minutes or so.

The manufacturers website, laskoproducts.com, has more info and you can download the owners' manuals in pdf form.

There are multiple model number versions of this heater 5355, 5365, and 5350 and as far as I can tell they vary only in the colors and what stores sell them. You can read lots more comments on a similar version of this heater at the HomeDepot website.

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This heater works great! Now I have to give a little disclaimer: I don't have much experience with many different brands or types of space heaters. I do know however that this space heater kept a 20'x25' room at 85 degrees no problem. I should mention that one of the walls in this room is almost entirely windows (which lose heat quickly).

Pros:

-Comes with remote

-Is quiet (It sounds like a fan on a low setting)

-Heats well

-Space efficient (takes up little room)

-Very lightweight with handle (easy transport)

-Won't start a fire! (I touched the face of it and held my hand to it on high setting, it is warm but not painfully hot. The entire rest of the unit stays so cool it is amazing!)

Cons:

-Control Panel is only visible from almost directly in front (I thought there was something wrong at first because I couldn't make out anything on it)

-Timer Function: You may only set the timer to go for a certain length of time. I was under the impression you could set the heater to START after a certain time (e.g., to warm up the room before you get home)

Other than that I found that you have to keep it on oscillating to really keep the room warm, otherwise it only heats the area in front of it and continually switches to low power, never getting the entire room to the desired temperature. I went through a ton of these reviews on different heaters and one concern I saw in a bunch of them was that the power cord might not hold up (i.e. cause electrical fire). I got the heater for my girlfriend so I wanted to be sure this wouldn't be a problemI ran it for over 14 hours straight on the high setting and the cord wasn't even warm, so that put my fears to rest.

I've only owned this thing for about a month so I'll give a durability assessment later. If I don't change my review you can be sure that it hasn't broken downI will absolutely complain if this thing malfunctions within the next two years.

Update:

So she left it at her parents place over the weekend, and after setting it up they decided they wanted one for themselves. Just another testament to how well it works!

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We try to reduce our heating bills by keeping upstairs doors closed, setting the furnace thermostat down and using space heaters for the room we are in. Last year I tried several space heaters. All but 2 stopped working. This year I bought the LASKO heater. After a month of using it I ordered another. We use them constantly. What we love about it: the base and shape of it, extremely quiet, heats a small room well, the timer feature and remote are very nice. Dislike: haven't found anything yet. If these continue working all winter, I will be very pleased. So far we have ran them to death and had no problems with them.

12/07/09 Update on this heater. I bought these two space heaters over a year ago. I covered them during the summer to prevent dust and the one other thing we don't do is use the oscillating feature. From trial and error with other floor heaters, that seems to wear them out quicker. Both these units are now into heavy use over the last month for their second winter. We have had no issues. I am about to buy 3 more because we fight over which rooms get these. My favorite things about these heaters are: (1) they are very quiet, (2) the timer feature, (3) physically do not seem to get hot like other heaters, (4) pedestal design gets the heat where you want it, (5) they work they heat a good sized bedroom. We've had no problems with either unit.

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I love this heater.

It really does a good job keeping the bedroom warm. Sometimes I'll wake up and it'll be too hot that I have to turn it off... did I tell you that it comes with a remote control????

It's a great thing to have by the night table especially when you wake up in the middle of the night and don't feel like getting out of bed to shut it off.

I also love the fact that you can adjust the temperature to what you want and also how many hours you want it on for.

It's a excellent heater to have It's especially great for those of you who have Landlords that are too cheap to give you heat.

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I had been searching online for a heater for months. I looked at every review. I got one at target for $50 and had it for about 1 month. The air started coming out cold once the heater felt the room was warm enough! Finally I started to borrow my roommates heater this one. It was awesome. Heats a room really fast. You can feel the heat right away. The cord gets a little warm when it's on too long but it turns off by itself if it gets too warm so no worries there. My roommate has had hers for about 3 years so I'm confident mine will last a long time.

Buy this! You'll be glad you did.

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Thursday, February 27, 2014

Review of DuraHeat DFA125T 125,000-BTU Kerosene Portable Forced-Air Heater

DuraHeat DFA125T 125,000-BTU Kerosene Portable Forced-Air Heater with Thermostat
Customer Ratings:
List Price: $349.00
Sale Price: $302.34
Today's Bonus: 13% Off
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i bought this heater to give my shop a quick warm up on the really cold days. after 15 minutes im warm and toasty. thing to remmber is make sure you have good ventilation when using this product. i would recomend this product to anyone who looking for a good dependable heater

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i bought this heater from a local dealer for more then i could of gotten it off here, my bad oh well its a great heater i run k1 kerosene in it and i have No problem with it stinking the shop up. works awesome, takes about 10 min to heat the 3 Stall garage up to 70 on a 15-20 degree day here.

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Sunday, February 9, 2014

Buy My Heat Personal Ceramic Heater

Lasko #100 MyHeat Personal Ceramic Heater
Customer Ratings: 4.5 stars
List Price: $49.99
Sale Price: $18.62
Today's Bonus: 63% Off
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have used for one day so i cant comment on durability yet. this little thing after it warms up will put out some heat comparable to a normal 1500 watt unit. this does not move a ton of air, so its not good for room heating, just personal space as advertised. i tried mine out at work in a larger open bay type environment, room was 62-63 and put this little heater about 18-20 inches away and on a small box about a foot off the ground. you can feel a nice warm stream of air blowing over you, good for keeping the chills away. would recommend in an office environment working at a computer, case stays perfectly cool during use and is very quiet. front grille can get very hot and needs time to cool after use. other good things, its only 200 watts so no need to worry about tripping a circuit breaker.

UPDATE:

have been using this heater for just about a year now and still love it. (let me re-phrase this due the comments) i brought this heater with me while stationed in korea. my dorm room dosent have any other working heat, so its up to this little guy. my room is 10 X 12 with concrete cinder block walls and a 2 1/2" thick solid wood door. on freezing or warmer days outside it can keep the 10 x 12 room around 65-70 with the door closed. when the temp drops lower i need to get out the spare heater and they both do a great job of getting the temp back up. i have had only one problem, i went to turn it off and take to work one day and found that the case had gotten hot and started to melt. i'm not sure it the kids or dog knocked it over, but i have still used the same one leaving it on for days or weeks straight and havent had anything go wrong with it again. i still recommend trying this little heater out if you need something small for a small office type environment.

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I purchased this little heater to warm my desk area at work. We cannot use the high wattage heaters because of the risk of overloading the electrical circuit and shutting everyone else down.

The 200 watt MyHeat heater is just about perfect for my intended purpose; heating the space around my desk. It puts out a decent amount of heat; it seems to be more efficient than other heaters using five to seven times the wattage, quite a bit of heat for a mere 200 watts.

The only thing it could benefit from is a thermostat to shut it off once the desired temperature is achieved. For my usage the missing thermostat isn't a big deal, this is why I gave it five stars.

Summary: Nice looking (multiple colors available), small size(smaller than my PC speakers), quality power cord, low wattage, good heat output. A worthy purchase.

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I have 3 of these that I bought locally & really like them. I took one to work to use in my cold office & it heats it up a treat! The other 2 are at home. One in my tiny cold bathroom & the other stays in front of my armchair.

I don't need to crank up the central heat at home when I'm feeling a bit chilly & my tightwad boss doesn't complain about me running up his power bill at the office. It's great not to have to beg for a piece of coal from Mr. Scrooge!

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UPDATE after one year of ownership: This little heater continues to impress me. I don't know how it would perform in a really cold climate, but here in Northern California, where nighttime winter temperatures rarely go much below freezing, it's outstanding at heating a small space quickly. The room where I now work is unheated; it was converted from being the house's garage. I use a deLonghi oil radiator heater for the main heat in this room, but off course it takes a long time to warm up. The Lasko heats the area around my desk quickly while the deLonghi is warming up. After the deLonghi is warm, I switch off the Lasko. This combination works well for me, and using the Lasko this way allows me to conserve power by using the deLonghi at a lower power setting.

I was impressed enough with the Lasko that I ordered a second one (a model 103, identical except for having a red front). I use one in a separate building behind my house and the other in an unheated room inside my house. Neither Lasko is my main heater. They just provide heat while the oil radiators come up to temperature. They also occasionally provide a relatively low power supplemental source of heat as an alternate to using an oil radiator heater at a higher power setting.

After a year of ownership, I'm raising my original four star rating to five stars. The price is so low and the heater works so well that the little guy deserves it.

My original review:

This little guy puts out an impressive amount of heat. It won't heat a large or even medium sized space, but if you need to heat under your desk or very near your person, it definitely puts out the heat. It works well in my 8'x 9' office in a standalone unheated, uninsulated brick building. I've only owned it for two weeks, so I can't attest to its durability, but its three year warranty does offer some assurance.

Ironically, I canceled the Lasko after ordering it and ordered a Vornado Personal Vortex 375/750 watt heater instead, but Amazon was unable to cancel the Lasko in time and shipped it. I left it packed in the box for a week, intending to return it... until I became frustrated with the Vornado's pathetic heat and out of curiosity, opened the Lasko and tried it. I was immediately impressed with the heat it generates, so much so that I've returned the Vornado and ordered a second Lasko MyHeat.

My main use for the two Lasko's will be supplementing the oil filled heater in my office, which during the winter can be as cold as low forties Fahrenheit when I open it in the morning. The Lasko's will provide immediate heat while the oil-filled heater slowly heats up.

A secondary use for one Lasko will be cold weather camping in my truck. The power draw is low enough that I can power it using the deep cycle battery I carry when traveling.

My only real complaint about the Lasko is the lack of any tip-over protection. A thermostat would be nice, but for this price, I'm not complaining. However I am knocking off one star for the lack of tip-over protection. This is my one concern about camping with this heater. I don't use heat while sleeping so it won't be a problem for me, but for anyone who camps with it and leaves it on while sleeping, you'll need to be very careful to prevent it being accidentally knocked over during the night and starting a fire. I plan to affix Velcro to the bottom to protect against tipover.

Other than that, this is an outstanding little heater. Its looks won't impress people, but it will keep a small space warm while consuming very little power.

UPDATE: I've used my Kill-A-Watt meter to confirm the wattage of nine electric space heaters. Virtually all of them have actual wattages that are below the claimed rating. The exception: both of my Lasko MyHeats. Lasko claims 200 watts, but one of mine has an actual wattage of 211 and the other 202. By comparison, the Vornado Personal Vortex Heater, which I originally wanted but ended up returning, claims 375/750 watts, but the unit I had was only 326/696 watts. I don't say this to disparage Vornado. Nearly every other space heater I've tested had lower wattages than claimed, except these two little Lasko's.

General information about buying electric space heaters:

=============================================

I've owned and used electric space heaters since 1988, mostly DeLonghi oil filled radiators. When I recently began looking for a heater that would warm up a room faster, I was frustrated at the lack of hard, objective, facts about electric space heaters. Even the manufacturer websites often fail to mention or makes it hard to learn the most basic information you need to know, such as wattage ratings and warranty lengths. Not even Consumer Reports has enough information to really inform a consumer. Therefore it's up to us as consumers to share what we know. The rest of this review shares some of what I've learned.

In case you're wondering what heater I decided on to replace my DeLonghi, I didn't, at least not yet. I tried a Vornado PVH and a Bionaire BH1331-U, but I ended up returning both heaters. I'm sticking with my oil-filled heaters for now.

Basic electric space heater facts:

1. All electric space heaters are equally efficient. All heaters rated at 1500 watts output the same amount of heat, but may do it very differently. You have to choose the one that heats the way you need it.

2. Power consumption is determined by two things: the power setting you're using and how long the heater is actually on. Turning up the thermostat setting doesn't increase the heat or power consumption; it just lengthens the time that your heater will be running.

3. To reduce power consumption, use the lowest power setting on your heater that produces the heat you need.

4. An electric space heater will save you money only if you turn your central heating down or off and use space heaters to heat only the rooms where you need heat.

5. The only kind of electric space heater that's likely to provide adequate heat in a large or draft space is a radiant heater (not to be confused with a radiator heater, which is very different), but radiant heaters pose a fire hazard.

Don't take manufacturer wattage claims too seriously. When I used my Kill-A-Watt meter on six space heaters, I found variations of up to 200 watts between the claimed and actual wattage for each space heater. In most cases the actual watts were less than the claimed watts, but one of my DeLonghi's 1500 watt heaters turned out actually to be a 1600 watt heater.

Two crucial steps in finding the electric space heater that's right for you:

============================================================

1. Learn which heater is right for your needs. A huge percentage of complaints by reviewers about space heaters are due to reviewers buying the wrong type of heater for their needs. Your first step should be to decide between the basic types: Ceramic heaters with a fan, oil-filled radiator, micathermic, and radiant. First learn the conditions in which each one works best and works best and then select the type that will work best for your needs. There is no one single "best" heater for all situations. Each one has conditions in which it works well and conditions in which it's terrible.

2. Look at the warranties. Warranties on space heaters range from one year to five years. Delonghi and Soleus heaters that I've checked have one year warranties. Other companies, such as Bionaire, Honeywell, Lasko, and Vornado offer three year and five year warranties on many but not all of their models. If a company offers only a one year warranty on some models but a five year warranty on others (such as Bionaire), it raises question about the durability of the heater with the shorter warranty. However a long warranty is only as good as the company offering it. Read reviews to learn what experiences people have when their heaters die while still under warranty.

In most cases, you'll have to download the manual from the manufacturer's website to get the length of the warranty. It's a nuisance, but it's worth taking the time to do.

Don't let anyone tell you that any particular type of heater is "the best". The best type is the one that best suits YOUR needs. The best heater for me might be the worst heater for you. Some heaters heat up a cold room faster, some keep a room at a steady temperature, and some will work better in a large space.

Some questions you need to ask yourself before deciding which type of heater to buyWill it be keeping a room at a steady temperature? (oil-filled radiator or micathermics heaters might be best)

Will it be heating up a cold room? (a heater with a fan or a radiant heater might be best)

Are there children or pets who might be injured by touching a hot surface? (oil-filled radiator and radiant heater might be a problem)

Do you want to heat just a particular spot rather than the whole room? (radiant heaters might be best

Are you concerned about fire risks? (oil-filled radiator or micathermic heaters might be best, though no space heater is completely safe)

Oil-filled radiators:

These are my favorite heaters. These are the heaters that look like old-fashioned steam radiators. The oil retains its warmth after the thermostat cycles off, which is important if you want to keep a room at a steady temperature. The downside is that the oil takes longer to heat initially, which is why these heaters take so long to warm up.

I have two DeLonghi oil-filled radiators; I've been using one of them for 23 years, and the other is about eight years old. I love the heat they provide. It's steady, warm, with no noise and no drying out of the air like with some other types of heaters. They are ideal for maintaining a steady temperature in an enclosed room.

Oil filled heaters have a huge drawback, however: they are terrible at heating up a cold room. It can take an oil-filled heater hours longer to heat up a cold room than other types of heaters.

The US Department of Energy recommends oil-filled heaters as the most efficient, because the fins generate warmth even when the heater's thermostat cycles off. However this efficiency is only when the heater is continually on, keeping a room at a constant temperature. If you turn the heater on and off frequently, you'll lose most of the efficiency that's inherent in these heaters.

If you have children or pets, look into one of the shielded radiator heaters. I prefer the unshielded ones because they radiate more heat laterally, but the surface can get very hot and be a hazard if touched. DeLonghi claims that their shielded radiator heaters circulate heated air more quickly. Both of mine are unshielded, so I have no way of confirming that. My concern about the shielded radiators is that they would direct more hot air up rather than to the side, where I need it.

If your electric rates are different for different times of the day, you can use this to your advantage in setting your radiator heater toswitch on and warm the room from cold when rates are low, then let it provide steady heat when rates are higher.

A word of warning about oil-filled radiators: if one is poorly made or damaged, it can leak oil and permanently damage rugs and floors or even start a fire. Only buy from a reputable manufacturer and don't accept one that has any visible damage.

Ceramic fan heaters:

These are great at heating a room quickly, however many people including myself don't like the heat they blow. I don't mind it in my Vornado Personal Heater (375/700watt), which is located under my desk, but I thoroughly dislike it in the old Honeywell ceramic oscillating heater that came with my house. I much prefer the warmth that comes from an oil-filled radiator. Ceramic heaters can be most effective at quickly warming up a cold room.

Radiant heaters

Radiant heaters (don't confuse them with radiator heaters!) work by heating whatever they are pointed at rather than heating the air in the room. If you have a large, drafty space, a radiant heater might be your best choice, because it doesn't heat the air, only the objects and people it's directed at.

Micathermic heaters

Micathermic heaters work similarly to oil-filled radiators, except that instead of heavy metal fins filled with hot oil, micathermic heaters have thin sheets of mica that heat up. I've only had experience with one micathermic, a Bionaire BH1331-U, and found that it's exterior surface remained very cool except for a few very warm spots on top. There would be less risk of young children being burned by touching a micathermic heater than an oil-filled radiator. Micathermic heaters are slower heating than ceramic fan heaters, but are faster then oil-filled radiators..

Baseboard heaters

I have a Lakewood oil-filled baseboard heater I bought five years ago that has many of the advantages of a micathermic heater. It heats faster than an oil-filled radiator but has no hot surfaces and low fire risk. My Lakewood does an excellent job of heating my 12x15 bedroom.

However I have not researched baseboard heaters and only have experience with this Lakewood, so I don't know whether others are as good as this one. I was impressed that when I measured the actual wattages of my various space heaters, the Lakewood's actual wattages came closest to its claimed wattages of all the other heaters I tested. Lakewood unfortunately went out of business in 2009 and had a major problem with oil leaking from its heaters a few years earlier. Despite this, it's in many ways my best heater and has the lowest cost of operation.

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I ordered 2 of these units last month. They are the perfect size for my small offices and they only draw 200w so they won't stress the electrical system at work. They both worked great for about 3 weeks, then they both started to die. They started sputtering, then the fan wouldn't turn on at all. This happened to both units within 2 days of each other. Now one is totally dead and the other is still sputtering away.

There are ton of positive reviews of this heater, so I believe I just got a bad batch. I contacted the manufacturer and they will do an RMA.

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Monday, February 3, 2014

Buy Cadet Electric Non-Programmable Thermostat - 16 Amp, White, Model#

Cadet Electric Non-Programmable Thermostat - 16 Amp, White, Model# TH114
Customer Ratings: 5 stars
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My previous thermostats were the standard dial ones that you see in most apartments and condos. I had read a bit about them not being very accurate and not able to control temperature well as a result. Not only that but the dial ones are unsightly.

My search concluded when I found these. They look fantastic, are reasonably priced, and offer some nice features. I purchased four and had them installed in no time.

I love the room temperature display on the outside (now I know how cold I'm really letting it get in my place before turning on the heat), and the ability to set temperature exactly where I want it now. If you have baseboard heating and dial thermostats that are single-pole it might be time to upgrade!

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Cadet thermostats,

I have been using cadet products for years.

The thermostats that I am replacing are cadets.

These new ones seem to be even better.

I did have a problem with one of the new thermostats but Amazon and Tool King resolved it by shipping me a new one

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Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Cheap ICS TS830 Wireless Thermostat for AC & Heating systems

ICS TS830 Wireless Thermostat for AC & Heating systems
Customer Ratings: 3.5 stars
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Why is it most (not ICS) thermostat manufacturers have to make product information so confusing? My old thermostat was located in a hall way in the front of our house. When it ran the heat or AC the front of our house would get nice and warm or cool while we sat in the back of the house sweating or cold. We needed a thermostat that would sense the temperature from a remote location, and also be adjustable from the same remote location. This is exactly what this thermostat doesthe reciever unit mounts where your old hard wired thermostat went, and the remote blue screened transmitter unit you can put anywhere in your house and it will sense the temperature from there sending the data wirelessly to the reciever. Installation was a snap. The installation video they have on their website is really cool. I mounted my transmitter on a wooden base which I can move to my back bedroom or any other room we might be using, it can also be wall mounted.

Sorry but I have to rant about Totaline and Honeywell. I found their websites to be very pretty but completely uninformative about exactly how their wireless thermostats work. They seem to have remote temperature sensors which can be mounted various places in your house but to change temperature you still need to go to the reciever unit mounted where your old original thermostat was, not real convenient. Honeywell had some kind of convenience remote control unit but it only changed certain settings. Most of the sensors and recievers were sold a la cart and I never did figure out what combination of devices I would need. It apperared the cost would be $300-$1000 just for the parts. Niether site has a customer service phone#, all I could find were some PDF's explaining to the professional installer how to calculate his profit margin! Wow. This is a classic example of a relatively simple job that most homeowners can install themselves and Honeywell and Totaline want to make it seem so complicated that you need to go hire a professional installer. Forget it.

I installed my ICS TS820 Wireless thermostat about 3 months ago in about an hour, and I really took my time to make sure I was hooking up the wires right. The transmitter is still on the 1st set of batteries and going strong. so far the unit has worked flawlessly. Finally we can be comfortable in any room in the house. The controls are so intuitive I didn't even have to read the manualThanks ICS. My old Totaline I used to have to get the manual and reading glasses out any time I wanted to make a change.

PROS: Low price. Intuitive controls. Cool blue screen. Easy installation. Programmable for individual settings for each of the 7 days of the week. Copy/paste function. Perfect for houses with standard central AC and heat. Thermostat is very accurate.

CONS: This unit does not have an auto changeover from heat to AC, you can only have either the heat or AC on. I had this feature on my old Totaline but never used it so I don't really consider this a fault, just pointing it out. It would be nice if there was an outside air temp sensor option. It would be nice if the reciever unit at least had a digital readout on it for the temp at the reciever location (It only has indicator lites on it for on, off, etc).

CONCLUSION: Everything considered I would highly recommend this unit. My cons are not really faults, just would be nice's. There are some lower priced wireless thermostats out there but if you read the fine print either they are not programmable or the sensor is hard wired right where your old thermostat went (which in my mind accomplishes nothing). Frankly I don't think there is anything on the market that comes close. Finally we have comfort back in our house.

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I feel very fortunate to have returned this item. It turns out that as a consequence of having some reception problems in my home, I found this product has some serious design flaws that could end up costing someone a lot in wasted energy.

Here's the main problem. The device has all the sensing and smarts on only the remote unit. The base unit that controls your heater or AC only listens to that remote and if it doesn't get any new commands, it just keeps doing whatever it was doing last. That means if there is any interruption or failure in communications, your heater or air conditioning could remain on for a long long time.

Here's how I came to realize this problem. I was testing the unit in my home after I first installed it. I found that it didn't seem to have the range to work in the room where I needed it. So, I tested the range in the hallway where there would be clear line-of-sight between transmitter and receiver. Even there, I could only get it to work at a range of about 10 feet. (After I returned it, the folks at ICS claim to have tested it to work at a much longer range, so maybe there was some interference or something in my house.) Anyway, at this limiting range, the remote unit was able to turn on my AC unit, but then it never switched it off. I bumped the temp setting up and waited about 20 minutes, and still nothing happened. Finally, I brought the remote unit closer to the base unit, and it switched off.

Imagine now that you are away on vacation and the battery of the remote unit gets a bit low. Maybe a signal is strong enough to turn on the heat but then nothing else gets through to your base unit. Next thing you know, you get home and your house is like a sauna and your heater has been running nonstop for days. This didn't happen to me, but it seems it could with this design.

My recommendation would be to avoid this model and go for one that has a temperature sensor in both the base unit and the remote. Also, the main control should be in the base unit and not in the remote sensor. There are a few out there that do this. They may cost a little more, but I would think in the long-run they are worth it. After sending mine back, I purchased one from White Rodgers. In my opinion, these guys got it right.

There are a few other problems with the TS830 that are worth noting. First, the touch screen display is rather low contrast and the back-light is dim. Matters are made even worse because the screen easily gets smudged when you touch it. It has a special mode where you can clean it without activating any commands, but who wants to always have to clean their thermostat display? Like I said earlier, I also had problems with the communications range on the unit. I have experienced no such problems with my White-Rodgers unit White Rodgers 1F85RF-275 80 Series Wireless Remote Sensor Kit.

In summary, while I'm out shipping costs for the round trip, I still consider myself lucky. I ended up avoiding future headaches. I'm very pleased with the White-Rodgers unit I purchased instead of this one.

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20% of the time it would hang either on or off. Running the thermostat through the manual setpoint mode would usually free it up and it would go back into normal operation. This makes me think the receiver was in range (30 ft. line of sight) but somehow missed the change output signal. The receiver should send a confirming signal back to the transmitter and if it fails, the switch output state signal should be re-transmitted. I got the feeling this was a open loop one way system. It would also loose communication completely and the whole system would need to be powered down and reset. At that point we decided to return it. Amazon return policies are great. UPS picked it up at our home the next day and our account was credited 3 days later. We used this remote thermostat to control a Harman P-43 pellet stove at the far end of our small ranch style house. When it worked it worked very well.

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I have spent a considerable amount time looking for a solution to relocate one of our old thermostats and ended up buying this unit. I had it over a year now and it works great! The interface is straight forward nothing complex. Programing it is a bit of a pain, but I did it once and never had to do it again. Most importantly our baseboard heating system is about 150ft and a floor away from the control unit and the wireless works without issues!!! The design saved me lot's of time I would otherwise had to spend running control wires in the walls to relocate the old thermostat. I would buy this unit again, no questions! The only reason I knocked off a star was due to the complicated initial programming, but for most that will be a one-time event.

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This product was exactly what I needed. My original thermostat was right next to the washer / dryer and involved heating / cooling the entire floor in order to cool the bedroom where we spend our time. I closed the other vents but that was still a lot of wasted energy, so I picked this up to go to in the bedroom. Install was a breeze, it took probably 10 minutes to get everything mounted. Programming took about 15 minutes (I was confused how the copy function worked), and then I was running my bedroom at a reasonable temperature w/o cooling the entire floor. All told, under an hour to replace and be fully operational. The temporary / quick adjust temperatures is very easy to figure out and it received the girlfriend seal of comprehension

Issues All of these are quite picky and more notes so that you know you're not the only one w/ the issue.

Holding the settings button in the top right for (5) seconds is difficult. The touch screen is finicky about that so it took several minutes to get it to register.

It took me a week to get the LCD unit to snap into place. I kept pushing it back and the last clip wouldnt go and I was afraid I'd break it. Finally I put a screwdriver behind the base plate to keep it from flexing and it popped right in.

If you touch it at night the LCD is BRIGHT.

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Sunday, October 27, 2013

Best Breezaire WKL-2200 Wine Cellar Cooling Unit -Max Room Size Deals

Breezaire WKL-2200 Wine Cellar Cooling Unit -Max Room Size = 265 cu ft
Customer Ratings: 4 stars
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Mine is cooling a converted closet with about 700 bottles in it. The unit has worked fine for well over 12 years with only one recharge of coolant. A fan just went out so I'm replacing the whole unit after this long rather than start replacing parts.

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Breezaire WKL-2200 Wine Cellar Cooling Unit -Max Room Size = 265 cu ft: Had a model WK1060 installed in 12/01. It ran 6 mos and but couldn't keep a 65 cu ft wine room cold enough (58 to 60 degrees F). In 6/02, the Company replaced it, free of charge, with a WK2200 (advertised as good for up to 265 cu ft) and that unit ran well for about 5 years. In 2008 the unit started to run 24/7 in order to hold the room temp at about 60 degrees F. Note that the wine room was specifically designed for its intended purpose (special insulation, vapor barrier, thermo door full seal gasket on 3 sides and a drop gasket for the floor), red wood bins designed for good circulation). In 2/12 the unit gave up and would no longer cool. It would seem that a refrigeration unit, as supposedly oversized as this one, should give you good service for longer than 9 years. But, since the installation hole is sized for this unit, i am going to replace it with the essentially the same thing the WKL 2200. I will tell you how this works out later.

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Work well for the first ten days and then a sensor went bad. I had to go through weeks of back and forth with the company trying various fixes they suggested. Finally, they agree to cover the cost to ship the unit back for repair (not replace). It seems to be working now.

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I've had my existing Breezaire 2200 for 25 years and it has worked like a champ. I have not needed to do any maintenance to it. It is still cooling but the thermostat does not seem to be working because it runs constantly. I've been very happy with my Breezaire; it keeps my 6'x6'x6' cellar the perfect temp.

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