Discount Honeywell Safety Sentinel Electronic Ceramic Tower Heater, HZ-385BP

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $79.99
Sale Price: $69.99
Today's Bonus: 13% Off

Update: My 20'x 20' master bedroom with a 15' vaulted ceiling is just too big for this heater. It runs continuously and can only warm the room 7 degrees above the temp of the rest of the house. It looks like I will need to switch back to central heating, since no electric space heater goes above 1500w.

Overview: Overall this seems like a great little heater, the handle does make it hard to carry, a slight curve in the inside of the handle would have made all of the difference in the world, but I had already read all of the complaints regarding the handle before I bought it so I knew what to expect.

I am using it in a master bedroom that is approximately 20x20 with a high 15' vaulted ceiling. I will find out tonight if the room is too big for this little heater. I also have it plugged into Kill-A-Watt to approximate how much it will cost me per month to run, but more on that later.

Problems: One big gotcha, big enough to almost make me take it back because I thought it was not working, was that the tip-over sensor does not work on thick carpet. After unboxing it and plugging it up nothing happened, so I looked all over it thinking maybe it needed a fuse or something. Finally figured out that the carpet was so deep that it thought it was tipped over so it would not come on. The remedy was to place a piece of cardboard between the carpet and the underside of the heater so that the tipover sensor would be pushed up inside the heater. A gravity based sensor or a more sophisticated pressure sensor would not have this problem, but it would probably drive up the cost.

Quality of Materials: Seems about on par for the price range, mostly plastic, I believe the grill in the front is metal, a nice touch is the heat indicator alerting you to when the grill is hot to the touch. It definitely is not 'cool to the touch' within a few minutes of running I would not recommend touching the front grill. As others have said, moving the heater when it is hot is a challenge due to the poorly designed handle.

Annoyances: The brilliant blue light in the front is quite annoying at night as others have mentioned. I am considering opening up the heater and just disconnecting it, but I'll give it a few days before I decide. Also, as others have mentioned the fan is really loud, its almost as loud as a window AC unit, and it did wake me up a few times during the night.

Ease of Use: Knobs and buttons are clearly labeled, unpacking was a breeze

Now the fun stuff: Most people buy a space heater to save power, the thinking being of course is that heating one or two rooms of a house is far cheaper than heating a whole house. I do not claim to be a HVAC expert by any means, but what I can tell you is that if used improperly a space heater can end up costing just as much if not more than a central heating system. For example, I intend on using my space heater from around 10pm each night until around 7am in the morning (9hrs). This heater uses 1500W of power which equals 1.5kW/h. So if this heater were to run continuously for 9hrs a day, 7 days a week for 30 days it would consume 405kWh x 0.097 which TECO charges per kWh = $40/month. So this one heater has the potential to cost me $40/month.

Of course in the previous example the heater ran continuously, which would mean the room is too big for this heater, if that is really the case then I have other problems. But it does go to show that these heaters can still rack up electric bill costs. To be certain I am saving money with this heater, I am using Kill-A-Watt to see how much it is actually going to cost me per month, I would also recommend putting a heavy duty timer on your outlet such as this: Intermatic TN311C 120 Volt Heavy Duty Grounded Timer to ensure it does not run during the day when you are not home.

Obviously my results will in no way be comparable to anyone else's results due to many variables: square footage of the room, outside temperature, building materials (i.e. block holds heat better than wood), insulation, etc. But I would recommend to anyone expecting to save power with one of these to do your own power usage testing instead of just assuming heating one or two rooms is cheaper than heating a whole house.

Scary stuff: Using the same .097/kw/h rate above and imagine placing this heater in a place that is too large for it to heat, thereby causing it to run 24 hrs/day. This one heater would add $104.76 to your power bill (((1.5kW * 24hrs) x 30 days)) x .097cents per kWh) = $104.76. Moral of the example is, make sure you put it in a room it can handle, make sure the room is reasonably insulated and the door(s) are closed as much as possible, and whatever you do, don't leave one of these running when you are not home unless you have to.

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Even though this model is not the top of the honeywell line, I'm glad I made the decision to go with it. I have three other brands in my home and none can compete with this model. Heat fills the room quickly and there is a positive difference in the electric bill. And by the way....I shopped around and couldn't find anyone that beat the amazon price.

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After reading some of the negative reviews of this product, I was a bit wary about buying, but it was recommended to me by a source I trust.

As it turns out, there is NO beeping sound when the temperature changes, and as for the annoying light...I've had alarm clocks that were worse than the light from the tower heater. If the light bugs you, all the more reason to snuggle under the blankets. I love being able to set the timer on the heater and crawl under the blankets, and not having to crawl out to turn it off!

Honest reviews on Honeywell Safety Sentinel Electronic Ceramic Tower Heater, HZ-385BP

Initially when I purchased this a month back, it was heating up pretty good. The only problem I had was that the temperature difference between the heater turning off and on again was like 4 degrees. This created both cold and hot zones.

After about 3 weeks, the automatic shut-off got activated and the heater stopped working. There is instruction on the cord that advices you to unplug the heater and wait for 10 mins before using it again. I followed it and it again started working. But after another week, everyday, the auto shut-off would kick-in within like 5 mins of switching on the heater. After that it was consistently just working only for 5 mins and then will automatically get reset after about several hours to only run for another 5 mins. It became so frustrating that I returned this back to Target.

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I've used this heater for over 1 year now and I am still extremely happy with it. It heats up a room quickly, it is portable and my kids carry it from one room to the next. It has a great thermostat. I highly recommend this product. The noise is minimal.