Ideal for Localized Heating, Despite Being An Electrical Hog

When we installed a solar photovoltaic system on our roof this past summer, I was thrilled with the idea of producing all the energy my house would need. Then the chill of a California winter set in (alright, alright, I know 40 degrees isn't that cold!) and I realized our gas-powered furnace wouldn't benefit at all from the solar system.

While I might have left the gas furnace off and just piled on more layers, I didn't want my daughter to be cold, since she tends to kick off her blankets.

Thus, I wanted to figure out how to use my solar system to power a heating source, and I recalled the old DeLonghi oil-filled radiator heater I had in college more than 10 years ago. This model is a nice step up and I'm delighted to find it fits our needs exactly.

A Great Way to Heat Small Spaces
This radiator is basically a large, heavy (23 pounds!) metal object filled with oil. It works by slowly heating up the oil, which then warms up a room. Te radiator is permanently sealed, so there's no need to refill with oil or do any maintenance.

Unlike the first heater I bought for my college apartment, there are no exposed coils, and thus little to no risk of fire. I had a blanket fall on the first heater one night, catching on fire. Luckily, no one was hurt, but ever since then I've avoided the exposed coil-type heaters, even though they heat up much more quickly than these oil-filled radiators.

Like the Delonghi I bought over 10 years ago, this model has an adjustable thermostat. But this model boasts a couple innovations:

- A 24 hour timer function (in 15 minute increments), which enables you to set on/off time. This is handy for those who want to come home to a warm room, or who like to go to sleep in a cool room but have some warmth before you rise out of bed.

- The option of operating at 1 of 3 different wattages/strengths: 700 watts, 800 watts, or 1500 watts. I leave ours set on 700 watts because it's on a timer to turn on about 30 minutes before I put my daughter to bed, so I don't need instant warmth. I recall my old college apartment with its outdated electrical wiring (at least 40 years old) kept burning out fuses because my Delonghi heater required so much wattage. Thus, even though I live in a newer house, I still prefer to keep it at low wattage.

- The wheels are on casters that unfold, rather than having to be clicked in after unpacking it (which I remember was quite difficult to do!).

- This model has an anti-freeze setting which would come in handy for colder regions. For instance, this might be a more efficient way to prevent frozen pipes in rarely used rooms of your home.

My Experience
What I most appreciate about this heater is the silence. I had purchased a small ceramic heater with a fan 2 years ago, but I found the fan noisy. Thus, I only use that in the mornings when I am awake. This DeLonghi model is so quiet my daughter can still hear the bedtime music playing on her CD.

While the heater is slow to heat up a room, the timer function helps negate the problem. I merely set the heater to turn on at least 30 minutes before I enter the room.

I also am much more confident about this model not posing a fire risk like the exposed coil heaters or even the ceramic heater (as the housing and even the plug itself feel hot to the touch when it's been on for more than 10 minutes). If you hold your hand above the radiator, you can feel the warmth rising from the radiator. Yet touching the radiator is not a problem. It's not cool, but its warmth is more than tolerable (and a great deal cooler than the hot housing and hot electrical plug on my ceramic heater). There is no way it is going to burn you, so that's reassuring for parents.

The manual also says that the radiator is equipped with a safety device that will shut it off in case of accidental overheating.

Finally, now that my central heating system is set extremely low, there is less of a drying effect on the air in my house, since this electrical heater doesn't have the same effect.

Final thoughts
I would not have purchased such a heater had it not been for our solar system, since the reality is that electrical-powered heaters in multiple rooms are still more expensive than using a gas furnace (at least in CA). But given our unique situation and my desire to only heat a small room, this product is ideal.

Dec. 12, 2008 update:
We used this DeLonghi heater all last winter in my daughter's nursery, but since she moved out of her crib to a "big girl room" shortly thereafter, we no longer felt comfortable having her use this heater again this winter.  Instead, we opted for the Vornado VH2 heater, which has more child-safe features and works just as well (albeit slightly noisier).