Space heaters

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Originally Posted by Sputnik

The oil space heaters Brad mentioned are great, we have an issue with humidity here, in particular, a lack of it. So I sit a stainless steal pot with water in it on top of the space heater to add humidity to the room! :)

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Great idea...I love old school :carrot:

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Originally Posted by lord jackel

Great idea...I love old school :carrot:

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It's not exactly high tech, but it works for us.... and costs nothing at the same time....LOL :)

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Originally Posted by Sputnik

It's not exactly high tech, but it works for us.... and costs nothing at the same time....LOL :)

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That is the reason I like it...too much "tech" is just more stuff to break down. :)

I plan to try your idea this year.

Yup, I'm looking to get a space heater soon as well. Gotta love those Colorado winters, and this will be the first one with two snakes. :)

Great info, everyone, thanks. So the oil-filled is the way to go and there's a unit for under 35 at WM? Great to hear! I can't afford those 50+ ones. Also, that idea with the pot of water is awesome! Saves from having to get a humidifier that just dries out fast and won't work. My question for that would be: is it safe to put the pot up there on the radiator part or are you putting it on the front where the heat isnt being put out directly? I'm really nervous about things melting and overheating and such. :)

I would think a metal pan on top would be your best bet.

I need to go get one of these things as soon as possible. I hate keeping the whole house so warm.

Does the one at walmart have a digital thermostat? I'm not too excited about having to use another thermostat with a space heater.

Or is anybody/everybody that's using that one having good luck with it?

Hi everyone, I am in Iowa and have been playing the electric heater game for about a month now. One thing I have found is that the thermostats on these units are totally unreliable. I have gone through three different units, the latest one is a $50 DeLonghi (a nice brand) with thermostat. Even it is off by up to 3 degrees, which can be quite a bit considering ambient cage temps are tied to ambient air temps. The problem is that the temp probe is in the housing next to the heating unit. So it always reads its own heat. Even if the heating coils aren't on it still reads the heat coming from the unit itself.

It became clear that I had to get an external thermostat, so I just ordered a Ranco from Rich at reptile basics today. I wanted to hook my Delonghi up to this one, but it has a safety where every time the power cuts it will NOT turn back on. This makes it impossible to use with external thermostats. (And I was also very surprised to find my room cold after the power went out early in the day and I didn't return until night).

I went to Wally world and got a $30 rotating ceramic Lasko model (the one with nothing digital). This one turns back on if the power gets cut, i.e. a thermostat is controlling it.

All in all my advice would be to get a very basic/analog heating unit (ceramic, radiator, micathermic, whatever) with a nice Ranco/Johnson thermostat controlling it. It probably cost me $100, but it will be worth it.

JonV