enenpure heater

[tglass]

have been seeing alot of info commercials about this heater and wanted to see if anyone has one and how they like it. doe's it really save mone, and give the heat they brag about?

 

[LD1]

have been seeing alot of info commercials about this heater and wanted to see if anyone has one and how they like it. doe's it really save mone, and give the heat they brag about?

No it does not save money per-say.

The way portable electric heaters "save" money is, instead of your central heating keeping you WHOLE house at say 74 degrees, a portable heater lets you lower you thermostat down to like 65 and keep JUST the room you are in warm.

So is it cheaper to heat a whole house to 74, or just one room?

That is the basic concept. But those paticular heaters are a waste of money IMO. Electric heat is electric heat. It is all the same efficency. 1Watt = 3.41BTU (i think.) It doesn't matter weather its resistance heat, infarad, quartz, oil filled, etc. You get the same amount of heat per give wattage of input.

In my case, I have a heatpump. Which IS NOT electric heat. It is about 3x more efficent than electric. So 1 wat of input gets me 9-10 BTU in return. An given that my house is only 1 floor and we are commonly in all the rooms, a portable electric heater like the one you mention would actually cost me MORE to keep my house warm because it will give me 3x's less heat while consuming the same amount of energy as my central heating system.

 

[tglass]

thought about a heat pump too, but what about the turnaround time to see a cost savings on the initial cost? right now I'm using a multifuel stove and paid for it in a year in elec. savings. I often look at turnaround time because at age 60, will it ever pay off in my lifetime? and i'm sure I loose alot of heating and cooling thru the duct work in the attic even though they are insulated.

 

[/pine]

thought about a heat pump too, but what about the turnaround time to see a cost savings on the initial cost? right now I'm using a multifuel stove and paid for it in a year in elec. savings. I often look at turnaround time because at age 60, will it ever pay off in my lifetime? and i'm sure I loose alot of heating and cooling thru the duct work in the attic even though they are insulated.

Heat pumps are only effective when the outside ambiant temperature is above 45*...at least that is what I have been told...

 

[LD1]

thought about a heat pump too, but what about the turnaround time to see a cost savings on the initial cost? right now I'm using a multifuel stove and paid for it in a year in elec. savings. I often look at turnaround time because at age 60, will it ever pay off in my lifetime? and i'm sure I loose alot of heating and cooling thru the duct work in the attic even though they are insulated.

Turn arount time or (COP- cost of payback) is hard to figure and can be skewed very easily.

But figure you are probabally looking at about a 3k investment for a heat pump (which will also give you AC).

There are a lot of variables. If you are using a multi-fuel heater, obviously withe a heat pump your electricity usage will go up. But not as much as with electric heat like the edenpure..

Variables include things like what you are burning in your heater?
How much is is costing you?
Are you cutting wood, which you will no longer need to spend as much time and money doing so.
Will you insurance go down without the multi-fuel heater.

How much is not haveing to fix the stove worth to you? Or not having to worry about heat if you go on vacation in the winter?

Again, there are a lot of variables. And the convienences of being able to just set the thermostat have a different value to different folks. Only you can answer that one.

 

[LD1]

Heat pumps are only effective when the outside ambiant temperature is above 45*...at least that is what I have been told...

Good point but totally not true. I have a 15 year old 10seer heat pump that is still more efficent than electric @ 20* outside. (meaning I am still getting more than 3.41BTU per watt.) And the technology has came a long way. The newer ones are way more efficent and will operate down to colder temps.

Tglass, where are you located. If you are somewhere like minnesota or canada, a heatpump may NOT be the best choice. It all depends on your climate.

And I forgot to mention im my last post about COP, do you currently have AC. If not, how muck would having that feature be wort to you as well?

 

[2458n]

Thank you for this thread. I knew that electric was considered to be electric no matter how you delivered the BTU,s. After seeing the "ADs" enough you begin to doubt what you know. Very effective and I am sure some people never realize the savings promised.

 

[thatguy]

I did some quick math on my heating costs when I was trying to heat my office and was looking at room heaters.. On average I pay $3.50/day for electricity usage for our entire house and for me to run a heater in my office for 8 hrs would cost close to $1/day (8 hrs) - so i would get more bang for my buck just turning up the house thermostat

Brian

 

[LD1]

I did some quick math on my heating costs when I was trying to heat my office and was looking at room heaters.. On average I pay $3.50/day for electricity usage for our entire house and for me to run a heater in my office for 8 hrs would cost close to $1/day (8 hrs) - so i would get more bang for my buck just turning up the house thermostat

Brian

With current electric rates in my area, most average electric heaters would cost $1.20 for 8 hours. Even the edenpures and whatever. If it plugs into 110v outlet, it is more than likely a 1500 watt heater. Which would consume 12Kw in an 8 hour period. @ 10 cents per kwh, that is 1.2 per day, or about $36 per month.

So when you stop and think how many of them you would actually have to run to keep a house warm, only running them for 8 hours a day, you can see how expensive it would get. Just 5 of them small 1500W heaters only running for 1/3 of a day (8hrs) would rpobabally have a hard time keeping a average house warm in the winter. And yet would cost ~$180 per month to run.

 

[tglass]

Thank's for everyones input. I live in Texas and have central air and elec. heat. Not near as cold as mid to upper U.S. I know, The house is around 1500 sf. and with two of the bedrooms closed in the winter it brings it down a little bit. Didn't realize heat pumps were so efficient now days, and with the constant problems of my high usage central elec. heat and constant problems with a 12 year old unit I have been looking at alternatives. Also a backup in case the unit I have fails again on a holliday or weekend. Probably start looking into heat pumps as the temp here rarely falls below 20 degrees.

 

[beenthere]

They are Edenpure Heaters, unless there is another that goes by a similar name.

I have one, and they are just a cadilac electric heater. Quiet, do a nice controlled job of heating a space. Good thermostat control and safe(r) to have around than cheaper electric heaters.
I wouldn't buy another, but am happy with the one I have (and wife is happy with it and uses it a lot in her sewing room).

 

[LD1]

Since you live in Texas, a heatpump would be a great choice. The milder the winters, the better they are.

 

[magicheater]

I heat with wood, both masonry stove (home built), and water tube boiler which I purchased. IF I had to use electric heat I would seriously consider this.

 

[LD1]

I heat with wood, both masonry stove (home built), and water tube boiler which I purchased. IF I had to use electric heat I would seriously consider this.

It is still an electric heater. 1W in will net 3.41BTU out PERIOD. Electric heaters CANNOT get any more efficent than that.

A heatpump will be at least 3x's more efficent than this heater in a moderate climate. A heat pump is NOT an electric heater.

There claim that it is more efficent than other electric heaters is only partly true. In there heater, 100% of energy input is used to create heat. Some other electric heaters that have fans may be just a tad less efficent because some of the energy in is used to move the air.

Now don't get me wrong, I am not saying electric heaters are bad. They have their advantages. Like they dont loose efficency as ambient temps drop. And in the case of this heater, there is now "forced air" noise. It is just a nice quiet heater.

But all the claims of oil filled, quartz, silicone, etc drive me nuts. That heater is NOT more efficent than a plain old baseboard heater. The silicone CANNOT create heat. It only stores it. So if it stays warm and continues giving off heat long after the element is turned off, that means it will take proportionally that much longer to initally warm up.

 

[thatguy]

What is the difference between a 'ceramic' heaters and a Pelonis disc furnace?? The disk furnace is about 2x to 3x more expensive.

Pelonis Disc Furnaces

Pelonis Ceramic Heaters

I bought a disk furnace year ago ($90 at that time) and now you can buy a ceramic heater for under $40

Brian

 

[Big Wave D]

My Dad had an EdenPure heater and I found it to be a piece of junk.

The infrared 'element' burned out after only a few months of use. Plus, it doesn't "heat from floor to ceiling" as the info-mercial says.

They are WAY to expensive for doing what a $15 dollar heater can do.

Just my observations.

 

[magicheater]

It is still an electric heater. 1W in will net 3.41BTU out PERIOD. Electric heaters CANNOT get any more efficent than that.

A heatpump will be at least 3x's more efficent than this heater in a moderate climate. A heat pump is NOT an electric heater.

There claim that it is more efficent than other electric heaters is only partly true. In there heater, 100% of energy input is used to create heat. Some other electric heaters that have fans may be just a tad less efficent because some of the energy in is used to move the air.

Now don't get me wrong, I am not saying electric heaters are bad. They have their advantages. Like they dont loose efficency as ambient temps drop. And in the case of this heater, there is now "forced air" noise. It is just a nice quiet heater.

But all the claims of oil filled, quartz, silicone, etc drive me nuts. That heater is NOT more efficent than a plain old baseboard heater. The silicone CANNOT create heat. It only stores it. So if it stays warm and continues giving off heat long after the element is turned off, that means it will take proportionally that much longer to initally warm up.

Only said IF I were to get electric. I have been in a house that has had both and the hydrosil was clearly more comfortable. Don't know about the efficiencies but would wager the hydrosil was cheaper. At least that was what the owner said. I'll stick to my warm floors myself.

 

[Sigarms]

Ironic this thread came up, I'm borrowing one from a buddy to see for myself how they work.

Currently, I've got it running in the garage to help out a dog we took in for a family that just gave birth two days ago. The garage isn't a heated space, and it's uninsulated, so this isn't the best sample to see how it works, but currently I'm not impressed at all with it compared to our other $40 electric space heater we use in that same space.

I also see the infomercial on TV.

When I see Mr. Vila hawking items on the infomercials, I run in the opposite direction. Don't take that comment the wrong way, Mr. Vila knows some of his stuff, but I know from first hand personal experience that Mr. Vila will try to sell you dog poop on TV if he's paid enough. That tells me something about this companies marketing strategy.

Tonight I'll be placing that portable heater in a conditioned insulated room to see how it performs. When I take it back, my buddy mentioned we can take some meters to it, which I'll look forward to (never take something apart that you borrowed if you aren't prepared to buy another one).

Here is the problem though, depending on what kind of heat your house has, I don't foresee this heater being able to heat multiple rooms even with one of the HVAC systems circulating fan running. The question then becomes how much will it cost to bring another room up to temperature?

General rule of thumb that my father I'd like to think taught me well is that nothing in life is free, and if something sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

That said, I don't see the chances of this portable heater causing a fire, so I guess that's a good thing.

I wouldn't buy another, but am happy with the one I have

And with the one I'm currently using, I actually do like it, but there is no way I'd buy one.

They are WAY to expensive for doing what a $15 dollar heater can do.

And that's why I'd probably never buy one.

I'll stick to my warm floors myself.

Best comfortable heat for a home IMO. That said, live south of the Mason Dixon line and it gets hard for homeowners to justify the expense for that type of system.

 

[Bob_In_MN]

My buddy has one in his cabin in northern MN and it was the only heat source we used on a rather cool (but not cold) night this past September. It was in the 40's when we got to the cabin on Friday night and the heater did a nice job of warming a living/dining/kitchen area (probably 20 x 20).

I've owned the cheaper electric heaters as well and they do a similar job, however the Edenpure is not hot to the touch and in my opinion is not as great a fire hazard.

I have a rental property that has a family room with no air ducts--my renters use an Edenpure to heat that room up when they get home at night.

So--just like most other products they won't solve all issues, but they have their place. And--as others have mentioned, there are more economical ways to heat a space.

 

[LD1]

IMO that is the only benefit of an eden pure is not being hot to the touch IE less fire hazard. But you cant cure stupid either. Makes me wonder how people heat with wood, ot coom on their stove for that matter.

But if not bing hot to the touch is a priority, there are other types of heaters that are way cheaper that aren't hot to the touch either. To me the benefit is not the less fire hazard, rather worrying about kids. But the oil filled ones (at least the ones I have been around) don't get hot enough to burn. Neither do the little fan types. Sure the elements get hot, but they are well guarded.

The real fire risk (with ANY) electric heater IMO is the household wiring. They do suck doen a ton of amps.