Choosing a Portable Heater

A portable heater provides supplemental heat for rooms and areas that would be impractical or impossible to heat using your home’s central heating system, such as a drafty office or basement bonus room. Portable heaters come in a variety of sizes, types and styles, so make sure to consider the specific needs of your space before choosing one.

Electric heaters use a small amount of electricity to warm air, which is then circulated around the room by a fan. They’re best for warming a particular area in your home and can be used with ceiling fans to help distribute the heated air more evenly. Electric heaters are often rated in Btu per hour (British thermal units, or BtuH), which allows you to compare their output against the requirements of your home’s electrical system. They’re also often described in watts, which you can easily convert by dividing the BtuH rating by 3.41: for example, an electric 5,118 BtuH heater produces about 1,500 watts of energy.

Combustion heaters, which burn wood or other fuel, emit carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and water vapor into the air, and can cause serious injury or death in high concentrations. These are not suitable for homes or other living spaces and should only be used on well-ventilated job sites.

This tiny little heater from Russell Hobbs, which plugs straight into the wall and has a built-in timer that switches it off after up to 12 hours, is a bit expensive but worth considering for its excellent power to weight ratio, quiet running and ability to keep your home’s temperature stable at your preferred setting. It even has an Eco Plus mode, which uses a lower, less powerful but more energy efficient power setting to save on bills. portable heater