wall heater

Using A Wall Heater Safely

Not all of your house uses heat in the same way. Perhaps the back rooms get chilly when the wind whips up. Maybe the basement needs more heat when there’s a cold rain. It doesn’t make sense to turn up the thermostat just to make a room or two more comfortable. Not when heating costs are rising. The answer may be a wall heater for those cold rooms.

Many Choices

These days, space heaters come in all shapes and sizes. Assess your heating needs before you make your choice. You can find portable heaters that can be moved from room to room as needed and even warm up and area on the deck or in the back yard. You can find heaters for almost every kind of fuel: electric, gas, propane and solar. If your heating needs are fairly permanent and you have safety concerns with the portable units, you might want to consider a professionally-installed wall heater.

Once installed, you won’t have to worry about the heater being tipped over or a child or pet becoming dangerously curious. Although today’s space heaters have many safety features, it is always better to provide your own additional features by planning for the best installation for your needs. Have the wall heater installed in an area where there won’t be objects that will block the air circulation around it or where flammable things may be kept. Think about how you use the room, especially at the colder times of the year. If that is the room where you set up the Christmas tree, make sure the wall heater is in the part of the room away from decorations.

A wall heater with an ignition is safer than one that needs to be lit with a match. A thermostat will prevent overheating and over drying the contents of your room. A ventless wall heater should have an oxygen-depletion-sensing shutoff feature. The ventless heater takes the air from the room to heat it. With an automatic shutoff, it will stop heating if there is not enough fresh air in the room. Of course, the heating element should be shielded. Many heaters are safe even around blowing curtains.

Once the wall heater is installed, make sure that you understand the maintenance directions in the manual. A wall heater needs to be cleaned once or twice a year to remove debris that has been taken in with the air. You can enjoy warmth in every room of your home all year round and save money, too, with a good wall heater.

Saving Money With A Bedroom Heater

It seems like money spent in the summer is spent on fun while money spent in the winter is spent on necessities. If it were possible to spend less winter money, there might be more summer money available. Even those who live in the warmest parts of the world have to budget for winter heating. There are always ways to trim that expenditure a bit.

The Space Heater

Before adding any new heating elements, make sure that all of the existing heating is as efficient as possible. Check for drafts and look into increasing insulation as necessary. A draft barrier around the outside doors might save a few dollars and storm windows can make a difference in most climates.

That said, how can you adjust your heat to do the best job? Timers can be added to your central heating to turn temperatures down when you don’t need it. If there is no one home during the day, set the timer to start warming the house in time to be greeted by a toasty home after work. This only works if there are no pets, of course. During the work week, you may only need a warm living room, bathroom and kitchen for a few hours each evening. One third of your life is spent in bed. Turning down the central heating at night and adding a bedroom heater could make a large saving.

There are many varieties of space or wall heaters that can serve as a bedroom heater. Choose a form of fuel that is economical in your area. Propane or electricity should be good for most. Select one that doesn’t need constant attention. You’ll be asleep for most of its operating hours. Avoid an exposed radiant element for your bedroom heater. One night of open window sleeping could mean curtains blowing across a heating element and a fire. That sort of bedroom heater can’t be used with timers either. You’ll want higher heat as you’re preparing for bed and a timed increase just before the alarm goes off. While you’re under the covers or after you’ve showered and dressed, the heat is less important. The new models of bedroom heater can easily be adjusted for blustery weather, too.

The point is that there is no sense in heating an entire house all night any more than there is any sense in waking to a freezing room. The energy-efficient bedroom heater is the answer to both problems.

A Gas Wall Heater For Your Garage

Life in the space age often means running out of space. There is always some new way to use a room. In the old days, a home only needed a kitchen and a bedroom with a place somewhere to put a chair. Now you need a media room, an office, a sewing/crafting room, a workshop, an exercise room, storage and so on. Once, a finished basement was unusual. Now you need a finished attic, an outdoor eating area, a deck and a place to put your car while you work in the garage. The trouble is, the garage isn’t always work friendly.
Make It Cozy
The garage has a roof and a floor and all the walls you could possibly need. It might have a window. It probably has a light. It has the biggest door in the place. But once in a while, it helps if you can work in a warm place. The car doesn’t need heat while it sleeps, so there’s no heat in the garage. The obvious answer is a space heater. The problem is that the space it heats is a small one. The right answer is to get a gas wall heater and have it installed professionally.
There are many choices for a gas wall heater on the market. You can find one that is meant to heat an area just the size of your garage. These days it makes sense to be able to control heat with a thermostat. You can set it to keep your area as warm as you need without wasting energy. You will find a gas wall heater in either vented or ventless types. The vent refers to input not output. A ventless gas wall heater will need sufficient oxygen in the garage to continue to feed it. If you are planning to use oxygen while the heater is working, get a model with an wall heater. If the gas wall heater senses that there is not enough fresh air, it will turn off. This will help keep you from turning off from lack of air.
Of course, you can get a vented gas wall heater that will take air from the outside. That works well too. There are special safety considerations for use in a garage. If you store flammable things in your garage, make sure that they are far away from the heater. You wouldn’t want to lose your garage to a paint fire or an explosion from the gasoline you keep for the weed whacker. Any gas wall heater will need good air circulation. Keep the clutter away even if it’s non-flammable clutter. If you’re using the garage for woodworking projects, shut off the heater while you work on your sawdust making project. Clean the heater off before turning it back on. You don’t want to clog the intake, especially with flammable material. With a little care, you can develop a really warm relationship with your gas wall heater.