Although the 4 million consumers rely on Consumer Reports to inform their purchase decision, there is no substitute for reading reviews from people who actually own the product and operate under different conditions and circumstances. I always ignore all the good reviews and directly to clunk. As far as electric space heaters go, the number one complaint of noise, but that’s a topic for another day.

What I would like to point out is the number two complaint: disappointing performance, or in other words, consider the lack of heat. What has me on this issue was a review I recently read by the owner of a typical 1500-watt heating system, complaining that they be properly un insulated glass-enclosed porch in freezing failed. This got me thinking about the importance of factoring heat loss in the heater making. No matter how well your house is “buttoned up” some of the heat escape is still visible. And if your poorly insulated house or flat and weatherproof your heating dollars are literally flowing through the cracks.

Most households use for heating zone “heating” by dialing back the master thermostat to a temperature in the low 60s and use the space heating for the inclusion of the slack, let ’say, 8 degrees, and once the temperature in the room they occupy a comfortable level. To show how dramatic home heat loss efficiency space heater I’ve put together affects the table below set. The room size for this example is 200 sq. ft. Isolation Level / Air Leakage watts needed to Avg Temp 8 degrees Raise / number of 1500 watt heaters NeededGood insulation / Tight Leakage 800 Watt – 1 heating. Insulation / Avg. Leakage 1600 Watts – 1 heating Poor insulation / Loose Leakage 3200 Watts – 2 heaters No insulation / Outside 8000 Watts – 5 heaters It is clear from the table that a single space heater will not stand a chance in an un-heated veranda isolated. But the example shows how effectively extend a few cans of foam insulation, weather stripping and a small number of window film will reduce heat loss home and are increasing the efficiency of your heating.