Best Budget Portable Electric Space Heaters 2016

It's not always easy to get heat to the right part of your house. It's not always economical either.

A portable electric space heater not only gives you convenience, but may save you money over time if you're willing to adjust your furnace.

While space heaters were a fire concern in the past, many of today's best electric space heaters now have some type of fail safe type option.

In addition intelligent features like temperature gauges tell the space heater to turn off when it's time.

How Much Can you Save by Using a Space Heater?

In his post on Energy Savings Mr. Electricity himself estimated you could save on average around *$1023 a year by heating two rooms with space heaters instead of the entire house and by turning off the heat altogether when you aren't home.

*This calculation is assuming an energy rate of 15¢/kW and was based upon a 5000 watt central system running 16 hours per day for four months against 2 1500 watt heaters running 8 hours a day (or 1 for 16 hours a day) for four months.

Electric Vs. Gas Heaters

Here's a few of the pros and cons of having an electric space heater vs. a gas powered one.

Advantages:

• Safety
• Venting isn't Needed / no Carbon Monoxide issues
• Good Energy Efficiency
• Good for enclosed areas
• No need for an external source of fuel

Disadvantages:

• Cost. Although efficient, electricity is generally more costly for heating than gas.
• Only Work When the Lights are On as it needs an outlet.
• Take Longer to Warm Up

How Powerful of a Space Heater do You Need in terms of Overall Wattage?

While space heaters vary in their features and effectiveness, in general, you can take the square footage of your room and multiply it by 10 for a decent estimate. For example, if I had a 10 foot x 12 foot room, then I'd want an electric space heater with at least 1200 watts.

1. Go Big or Go Home: Always overestimate the wattage you need as underestimating may lead to an additional purchase or eliminate the point of having a space heater altogether.

2. Oscillating Fan: You want a heater that can evenly heat a room. If you purchase a space heater without an oscillating fan, then expect a very warm part of the room.

3. Thermostat: It'll save you a lot of effort and potentially money if you purchase a space heater or at least one with multiple wattage settings up front.

4. Remote Control: This is perfect for when you're feeling lazy and can't get out of your chair.

5. Built-in Safety features: Many modern space heaters come with over-heat protection or tip switch and will turn off when things get a bit too hot. It's easy to leave the house or forget to turn off your space heater. For those occasions the over-heat protection is a must-have. While should never leave a space heater unattended, it's still a good fail safe feature to have. Also, consider purchasing a ceramic space heater. The components in these units don't get as hot and have self-regulating features.

While other space heaters seem to lack in functionality and design, it's hard to go wrong with the value Delonghi and Lasko models on the market in 2016.

Lasko 755320 Ceramic Heater

This is probably one of the most popular space heaters because of it's low price and high functionality. It's ceramic with a self-regulating element and has widespread oscillation to quickly and evenly heat your room. In addition the thermostat makes it efficient and easy-to-use.

A step up from the 755320 is the 5591 which has touch control and can be controlled with a remote control. Other than this is pretty similar to the before-mentioned model.

Another solid choice in this price range is the DeLonghi TCH7090ER. With motorized oscillation, a fan-only option, and an EcoEnergy function that saves you up to 40% on your energy bill, it's a great value at under $70.

Although it comes with wheels this highly efficient unit can also be mounted to your wall. The thermostat can be adjusted to 1500 or 750 watts for additional heat savings.

For a smaller profile consider the Lasko 5624. It won't heat the room as quickly, but it's not the eyesore that other units can be either.