We've been using an older Holmes Tower Quartz Heater at the office for eight years. That's right the same unit for eight years. It's still going strong. My boss and I sometimes covertly fight over who gets it, and coworkers are envious. So, when I decided to look for a space heater at home, I looked to a name and performace I knew and opted for this model, the HQH308C, under $50 at a local hardware store. My living room, which is open to the shotgun kitchen, measures about 12x18, kitchen excluded, and it does a decent job of warming the area. It does a fantastic job of warming me within 12 feet. Yes, the infrared heating is somewhat directional, but unlike regular radiant or forced air heaters, the quartz elements warm the objects in the room the floor, the wall, that cool desktop or cold leather sofa, that cold you as opposed to just warming the air. It feels a bit like sitting in front of a roaring fireplace, especially if you're too close and it's set on high. At work or home, we've never had to run one of these on high. We tried it once, but in a smaller space, you're quickly coming out of your cardigan and turning it down. Also, at the office, the building has forced air that NEVER stops, so heating the air is almost impossible since that air is quickly cycled out of the building and replaced. Because it primarily heats the objects in the room rather than the air, this little number makes all the difference, even in summer when the office temp has been (I kid you not) 55 degrees and all the windows were covered in condensation while we shivered. The drawback: coworkers would look for any excuse to hang out in front of my desk for as long as they could.
I like to be comfortable, especially at home, and don't want to spend my evenings bundled up for the sake of saving on utilities. This unit lets me set my thermostat to around 65 but still watch TV on the couch or whip up a quick cup of cocoa while barefoot and wearing short sleeves, which is just the way I like it. Last winter, having only the central heat (electric) meant heating the whole place when I spent most of my time in only half of my 700 square foot home, so evenings at 74 degrees meant some hellacious bills. This winter, it's going to be a LOT more affordable.
If you're looking for something you can put in a corner and aim at a general area, this heater will more than suffice. You can kick off your shoes, sprawl like it's still summer, and be truly comfortable. If you're looking for something that will make the space behind it equally toasty, then this is not the heater for you you'll need to warm the area air, which is not specifically what an infrared radiant heater is designed for. This is a great little heater, though, and I would recommend it (and have) to a friend.
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We live in a rural area and our large home is heated by baseboard heaters utilizing oil to heat the water. Needless to say....very expensive right now. I work at home and my office is located at one end of a very large family room with a full wall of windows next to my work area. I thought if I could find an effective little heater, I could save money by setting the thermostat lower at least 3 or 4 degrees. I tried 3 other heaters all closely priced in comparison. One was a heater that blew hot air, but by the time the air got where it was going, it felt cold. The other type of heater was a floor baseboard radiant type without a fan. The third...just way too noisy, forget it! None of the three fans could raise the temperature in our large family room more than one degree. I had about given up when I was in Lowe's shopping for something else. I spotted this fan there and took out my handy iPhone and used my FANTASTIC Amazon app to scan the barcode and find the reviews. Even though there were only two...I liked what the reviewers had to say enough to give the fan a try. As my toes are toasty and I'm pushing up my sleeves from warmth while writing this, I have to say that this fan beats the others by a mile. I haven't received an electric bill yet, so I don't know how much of a difference it's going to make from that spectrum, but I'm returning the other crappy fans and I may purchase another Holmes for the master bedroom if the electric bill doesn't show a noticeable spike. Incidentally, using the Holmes, we can set our thermostat in the family room up to 5 degrees less than our desired heat level and the Holmes does the rest.
update...April 2012: we have now used this heater through its second winter and it's going strong. What with the high cost of fuel, I purchased another smaller Holmes heater early this winter to use upstairs in the bedroom and office. My electric bill hasn't shown much of a spike, but the two heaters...together with blocking off part of the house with thermal curtains has reduced our oil consumption significantly. I can't say enough about Holmes and the two heaters we have!
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We've been using this heater for about 2 years and it works really well. We live in a very old house (about 90 years) with no central heat. Just a wood stove that doesn't heat the whole house. We run this heater and it keeps the living room and bedroom comfortably warm. The auto shut off feature is great since we have large dog tails swishing around that could knock it over. (Hasn't happened yet but you never know.) The only draw back is that it's a bit noisy. We will be adding an infrared heater this year and hopefully we won't have to use the wood heat as much. All in all, it was a good purchase for us and we are pleased with it. I would recommend it.
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My family and I have used this heater to supplement the heat in our main room for about a year now. It has worked great until last night (1/29/12) when I smelt an electric fire smell coming from it. We immediately turned it off, but anyone with this type of heater needs to be very careful with it. Only use it while you are near it or you may catch your house on fire.
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Bought this heater in april of 2011. Did not use much until nov. at the end of dec. 2011 the heater started itself on fire. does not work at all now. need i say more?
