Energy-Efficient Portable Heaters for the Home
If the Goldilocks story were about efficient home heating instead of beds and porridge, an infrared heater would undoubtedly have earned her famously laconic stamp of approval. With portable heaters, there's no BTU overkill like you get with gas fireplace heaters. And with infrared, you heat what needs to be heated - namely, your shivering self - instead of circulated air. Add a lightweight, cabinet-style design that can be easily transported in case of sudden bear attack, and you have the best portable infrared heaters for any homes - bears' or girls'. Energy efficient infrared heaters are always just right.
Infrared heaters, like electric fireplace heaters, increase energy savings by providing targeted heat rather than whole-house heat. Rather than pay the cost of heating an entire home via a 90,000-BTU furnace, an energy-smart homeowner can spend just pennies an hour by using a bedroom infrared quartz heater as an overnight heat source.
The best portable heater for your needs is determined by wattage or BTU output, which translates to maximum square footage of heated space. The most energy efficient infrared heaters offer multiple settings, e.g. low and high. A typical portable heater from ElectricFireplaceSource.com is 1,500 watts, which is equivalent to 5,100 BTU. That's enough power to heat an unobstructed room as large as 1,500 square feet, or 500 square feet on the low setting.
The "unobstructed" part is important. Unlike a convection heater which heats air and circulates it, an infrared heater emits long-wave infrared radiation which isn't absorbed by the air. Instead, when the waves strike a solid object within the heater's line of sight, the radiation is converted to heat. So not only does an infrared portable heater heat the room where heat is most needed, but it also specifically heats the one thing in the room that most needs that heat: you.
The best infrared heaters use quartz tubes or a ceramic core rather than a metal coil. Quartz and ceramic heating elements require less energy to reach a higher temperature than metal, which is why quartz and ceramic infrareds are some of the most efficient infrared heaters on the market.
Though looking good is less important than keeping warm in winter (ever seen a model walk down a runway while wearing a bulky parka?), we know that the best infrared heater for your needs will also fit in with your home decor. Our selection of portable heaters features handsome Amish-style wood cabinets for both contemporary and traditional decors. Decorators who appreciate the aesthetic appeal of flames rather than the practical benefits of heat will also love our free-standing and portable gel fireplaces, which make striking accent pieces on a desk or end table.