What do we know about small room space heaters?

[Scott Douglas]

My wife had the idea that now would be a good time to look into a small heater for our family room. The central air/heating that we put in some 10 years ago just doesn't cut it now as the thermostat is in the living room.

The family room on the other side of the house gets cooler than the rest of the house during the winter time. Since adding the white latex like roof goo to the flat roof roll paper to help extend its life, the room is noticeably cooler during both summer and winter.

It's open beam ceiling so I don't hold much hope of getting it too warm with a space heater. She'll use it while sitting at her sewing machine and/or computer.

What does the collective have to say or any reco's for one?

The central heat replaced wall heaters, but with the thermostat in the living room the family room is left out in the cold so to speak. When it is warm 'enough' the rest of the house is too warm.

[stevej37]

I have this one...works great and quiet.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002QZ11J6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_image?ie=UTF8&th=1

[Scott Douglas]

That looks great, Steve.
How large a room do you use yours in?
Our family room is 17x22 but she'd only use it in the front half where she has her sewing machines set up.

[stevej37]

It's in a 24X12 room. I like the heat that is provides with almost no forced air.
The furnace runs way less when it's on in the winter.....and it's very comfortable.

[Por_sha911]

I had a 20x22 basement refinished and our central HVAC was barely keeping up before we added the extra square footage. I would turn on this:
https://www.amazon.com/DeLonghi-TRH0715-Oil-Filled-Radiator/dp/B000FT1XZW/ref=asc_df_B000FT1XZW?tag=bngsmtphsnus-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=80058307777708&hvnetw=s&hvqmt=e&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=&hvtargid=pla-4583657837150630&psc=1
and it was a great supplemental heat to the HVAC. Best of all, unlike ones that blow hot air, it would be totally quiet, and used far less electric.

[Scott Douglas]

I like the idea of not blowing the hot air, Joe. I'll have to talk to my wife to see how she might feel about it though. She likes having a fan blowing air at her when trying to stay cool, like today. No a/c on but she has the fan going to keep the room comfortable.

Keep the ideas coming guys as we usually don't deal with this problem out here in CA. We were caught off guard when we put in dual pane windows as we lost a lot of 'heat' from the sun during the winter. The white coating on the roof has done the same to a lesser extent.

[Por_sha911]

A ceiling fan does wonders for feeling cooler. Also inexpensive, uses very little power.

[Brian 162]

What about a gas fireplace?
They can heat a room plus they have built in fans to circulate the warm air

[A930Rocket]

Electricity is not my forte, but isn’t a 1500W device the same thing as burning (15) 100W lightbulbs? Not that the lightbulbs will warm the house, I’m just thinking out loud.

Sorry for the sidetrack.

[Bill Douglas]

Scott, these ceramic panel heaters work well and are cheap to run.

[gregpark]

Do you have a lot of sun on your roof? Do you pay a lot for electric? If so you might do the math on going solar. I pulled the trigger a few years ago and it changed our lives on cooling and heating. We have a large basement that seldom got used during winter because it was chilly down there. I installed a couple of 8 foot juice sucking electric base board heaters and now we enjoy the whole house in the dead of winter. And we leave the AC on full time all summer even when we're not home. I purchased 5 panels more than necessary to cover our electric bill and I just keep adding electric devices like a full electric car and an electric pre heater to supplement the gas heater for the hot tub. We leave lights inside and out on all the time and it doesn't matter. It's really a feeling of freedom I didn't anticipate and the house is super comfy year round. It pays for itself in 2 more years and then it's all gravy. The tax rebate is still happening but going away soon.

[David Inc.]

Another idea is to get a smart thermostat with remote sensors so you can have the system target certain rooms depending on your use. Might also want to do seasonal balancing of your duct dampers.

[Scott Douglas]

Here's a picture of most of the room we're talking about.
We have a fireplace that is gas, but, she hates using it as the house is so 'tight' now you have to have a window open to get the draft right so the smoke doesn't come back into the room. It hasn't been lit in years, but, when it was used it would drive you out of the room in short order from the heat it put out once warmed up.
I'm sure the fluorescent fixtures I have up between the first beam and the far wall add some heat, but they haven't been on in a while. They're old style so use more electricity than the LED's I've put in the kitchen.
I really don't want to add things like ceiling fans as you can't hide the wires etc as there's no attic space.
I don't want to add solar as that would mean having guys tramping around on the roof and well, it's not all that old but it is water tight now and I can count on one hand the number of people who've been up on it since it was put on.
I told her about the two early suggestions and she's opposed to the oil filled radiator. Not sure about the latest ceramic panel suggestion, will have to investigate further.
Thanks for all the suggestions so far.
I do appreciate your taking the time to offer them.

[Por_sha911]

Originally Posted by A930Rocket

Electricity is not my forte, but isn’t a 1500W device the same thing as burning (15) 100W lightbulbs? Not that the lightbulbs will warm the house, I’m just thinking out loud.
Sorry for the sidetrack.

You are pretty much right. The nice thing about the oil filled radiator is you don't have to have it at the highest setting. I think it starts at 500 watts and unlike a force hot air unit, it retains the heat it creates to give a very even steady temp in the room as opposed to on:hot/off:cold/hot/cold...

[masraum]

Aren't there thermostats that can have remote sensors? Couldn't you change out the thermostat for one that had a second sensor that you could put in the other room?

I know we have also had a similar issue in houses with multiple floors but systems with a thermostat downstairs. In those cases, I either just run the fan in the "on" position, or in a previous house, I had a thermostat that would kick the fan on every once in a while without having to kick the heat or AC on just to circulate the air in the house to get a more even temp.

[mattdavis11]

The little girl in my avatar will sell you an electric space heater!

[Scott Douglas]

Here's the heater my wife bought based on the reco's given here...



It's 1500W, total, so not as bad as her 1600W iron she has on most days for her sewing. This will be used sparingly I hope and the twins will have to learn that it's hot when on so not something to touch.

Thanks again for the help. It's 95*F here already this morning so it's hard to think about heaters today.

[billybek]

Try leaving the central system fan in the "on" position to try to even the temperatures out through the house.
I have a small gas fireplace in our basement TV room that does not need electricity to operate (powerpile pilot system). Great to have maybe enough heat to keep the house from freezing if the power goes out and heats the space nicely when it is occupied during the fall/winter/spring months.