DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Electricity (space heating) question

So ive been looking at buying a small electric fireplace and replace the space heater I use now. In the fall/winter I usually use a space heater instead of gas to heat my apartment (or whatever room im in). The current one I use is just a simple 1500w holmes space heater. However last winter my buddy purchased a "dimplex" electric stove and he said it heats his place nicely, and it also has a pretty realistic flame.


So the question is, will 1,500 watt (the holmes I have now) space heater kick out more heat than the Dimplex im looking at, which is 1,440 watts? The dimplex has 4,910 BTU's and I couldnt find the BTU specs on the holmes? Do more watts equal more heat?

Theoretically, more wattage equals more heat because it is the friction of the watts of electrons going through the heating element which generates your heat... thus more wattage equals more electrons which equals more heat, with all else being equal. What that doesn't take into account is the efficiency levels of the heating element, design of the heater in terms of its ability to reflect heat into the room, etc...

From Holmes' site: "The average peak output of a heater for 1500 watts is 5120 BTUs per hour."


What you may want to look into is one of the oil filled radiators. When they get fully up to temp, they can really warm a room.

I have 4 of the oil filled heaters and I really like them. I can flip one on in whatever room I am in and it heats up really quickly.

They even make a unit now that has a blower fan worked in.

Are the oil heaters big? I'm def leaning towards the lifelike flames of the dimplex.

They are actually fairly small.

They are about 5 inches deep, 24 inches tall, and 12 inches or so wide. (approx, from memory)

They look like the oil radiator heaters.

I put fireplaces in my bedroom and living room for ambiance ..... have candle sets to go in them if I want a flame ...... and have the high power and energy effecient oil filled radiators for heat.

(I bought the fireplace enclosures at Marcs this past summer for $60 each)

Not sure which brand I have but we bought one of the electris fireplaces from Lowe's last year. I think it is only 4000 watt or so. It heats the living room up 2-4 degrees depending on how cold it is out side. It's nice but not what I would use for sole source of heat, plus being electric it's warm but a colder warm if that makes sense.

We use an "oil" heater - radiant heater - in one of our bedrooms. An upstairs room, and I don't heat the rest of the upstairs to more than 62 or so - but the bedroom, with the door shut, will stay about 75 with the oil heater. Fairly large bedroom as well - about 12 by 17. With a west facing window - and it is normally windy here. (oh, the 75 degree temp is with the thing running at 900 watts. Our heater has a 600 setting, a 900 setting, or if you turn them both on, it's 1500. 900, with the temp set just below half - nice cozy bedroom for my daughter.

Do these oil heaters have fans or anything?

I keep a small electric heater around the house for some of the colder nights we have a few times a year. Running the central heat jacks my electric bill, so I use a small heater in the bedroom to take the chill out of the air while sleeping, but the one I have has a noisy fan, and during start-up cycles can be very loud.