"Dottie" writes:

I am in FL. and every year there are a few days when we need a small
electric heater to help warm up the great room - no point in heating
up the rest of the house by running the furnace. Last year, I bought a
Pelonis oil filled radiator and brought it home and tried it.... we put
the built in thermostat on high and turned it on. The room itself was
not cold when I did this...the heat came on but it put out very small
amount of heat. It would not have helped on a real cold day so I
returned it to the store.

Today I went looking and was only able to find two brands. One was
Pelonis the other Honeywell and they appeared to be twins in everything
but name.

Does anyone have experience with these? Would the heater have put out
more heat if the room had been cold? Or should I be looking for a
different kind of heater? Thanks for any help.

All electric heaters are essentially 100% efficient, and will put out
as much heat as their indicated wattage. The kind with a fan and a
high-temperature heating element will heat up the air in a room a lot
faster than the oil-filled radiator types, though. The latter take a
while to get going when you turn them on, and because they put out
lower temperatures over a larger surface area, you may not think they
are putting out as much heat as they are.

I use one of the oil-filled heaters for supplemental heating in my
bedroom in the winter. One of the previous owners of the house put in
an addition that doubled the size of the master bedroom without
expanding the main heating system into the addition, and instead put
in a wall unit electric heater with a noisy fan. For sleeping I much
prefer to use the radiator-type thing when it's cold enough to need
some extra heat up there since it's totally quiet. Just have to
remember to turn it on an hour or two before I go to bed.

-Sandra