I wouldn't call it a waste of money but rather a misguided design decision. It claims it uses less than 1/3 the electricity which is half true, but only because it's only a 400W heater instead of 1500W which means if set to reach the same room temperature as a 1500W heater, it won't save any electricity because it just has to run longer in the on-cycle to do so.
On the other hand, given the large surface area and lower wattage it should run cooler but you might end up needing more than one of them to do a room.
Ok, let me explain my term of "waste your money" here:
Lets say on one side we have 1500W oil heater for $50 . On 2nd side - this $67 400W heater
I have both. Actually, I have 2 of econo-heats (bought them for $35 each a year ago)
E.g., mine oil heater is pretty simple. It has 2 buttons on consumed power (500W, 1000W and combined 1500W) plus a kind on temp regulator which turns heater off when some (internal) temp is achieved. So, in simple case I can turn on just that 500W button and put temp.regulator on max and get what 400W Econoheat does.
But I also have a flexibility to heat my room fast by turning the oil heater to max 1500W. Or flexibility to warm room a little bit by setting 500W and term.regulator at middle position. That will consume 250W average. That is about "lower wattage".
About "large surface area": oil heater usually have metallic ribbed case. So, I doubt that its common area is smaller then the flat heater has. Plus metal exchanges temperature faster then ceramic. I read some advises to attach some aluminium radiators to the ceramic econoheaters to increase speed of heating like you do with CPU. But that is additional charges.
The only two advantages of the econo-heater I see are: flat case which doesn't take almost any space (I've put mine under windows) and quiet performance. So, I've put the heaters in my grandma's bedroom.
But to get what oil heater does you need to buy 4 econo-heaters (4x$67=$268) + 1 temp control (~$40).
So, for $300+ you will get better heater then the $50 oil one. And the same power consumed.
I believe that these econo-heaters are a way overpriced. They should be like $20 no more.
It's like Windows-By-Anderson which cost more then LED TV comparable by surface area. Just because their sales persons are extremely polite, dressed like Jehovah's Witnesses and involved into finance pyramid kind of business.
^ Yeah I had assumed it had a thermostat. I wouldn't buy any heater without one.
However consider this scenario: You have central heat, and you want to conserve power or gas /bill but you still want to heat the home so all the rooms stay above 50F. In that case you may not need more than 400W to keep individual rooms that people occupy, up higher at a comfortable temperature.
In that case it could be worth it to get a heater like this that mounts up on a wall, out of the way. I do think a grid like this will stay cooler as it's a higher surface area to wattage than most oil heaters, unless they're the big/heavy radiator type which takes up that much more floor space as well as the space in front of it to get good airflow, plus being paintable you can make the featured heater match or contrast the room so it looks more unobtrusive.
It may not be the most watts per dollar to purchase but it has other things going for it and is the same cost per heat production on the electric bill.
I'd definitely value it at more than $20 which usually only gets you a tiny /noisy fan-based ceramic heater or a short lived nichrome wire heater.
Comments & Reviews (5)
On the other hand, given the large surface area and lower wattage it should run cooler but you might end up needing more than one of them to do a room.
Lets say on one side we have 1500W oil heater for $50 . On 2nd side - this $67 400W heater
I have both. Actually, I have 2 of econo-heats (bought them for $35 each a year ago)
E.g., mine oil heater is pretty simple. It has 2 buttons on consumed power (500W, 1000W and combined 1500W) plus a kind on temp regulator which turns heater off when some (internal) temp is achieved. So, in simple case I can turn on just that 500W button and put temp.regulator on max and get what 400W Econoheat does.
But I also have a flexibility to heat my room fast by turning the oil heater to max 1500W. Or flexibility to warm room a little bit by setting 500W and term.regulator at middle position. That will consume 250W average. That is about "lower wattage".
About "large surface area": oil heater usually have metallic ribbed case. So, I doubt that its common area is smaller then the flat heater has. Plus metal exchanges temperature faster then ceramic. I read some advises to attach some aluminium radiators to the ceramic econoheaters to increase speed of heating like you do with CPU. But that is additional charges.
The only two advantages of the econo-heater I see are: flat case which doesn't take almost any space (I've put mine under windows) and quiet performance. So, I've put the heaters in my grandma's bedroom.
But to get what oil heater does you need to buy 4 econo-heaters (4x$67=$268) + 1 temp control (~$40).
So, for $300+ you will get better heater then the $50 oil one. And the same power consumed.
I believe that these econo-heaters are a way overpriced. They should be like $20 no more.
It's like Windows-By-Anderson which cost more then LED TV comparable by surface area. Just because their sales persons are extremely polite, dressed like Jehovah's Witnesses and involved into finance pyramid kind of business.
However consider this scenario: You have central heat, and you want to conserve power or gas /bill but you still want to heat the home so all the rooms stay above 50F. In that case you may not need more than 400W to keep individual rooms that people occupy, up higher at a comfortable temperature.
In that case it could be worth it to get a heater like this that mounts up on a wall, out of the way. I do think a grid like this will stay cooler as it's a higher surface area to wattage than most oil heaters, unless they're the big/heavy radiator type which takes up that much more floor space as well as the space in front of it to get good airflow, plus being paintable you can make the featured heater match or contrast the room so it looks more unobtrusive.
It may not be the most watts per dollar to purchase but it has other things going for it and is the same cost per heat production on the electric bill.
I'd definitely value it at more than $20 which usually only gets you a tiny /noisy fan-based ceramic heater or a short lived nichrome wire heater.
Thank you!