Best Space Heaters in 2023: Buying Guide

A 500-gallon tank can cost over $1,000 to fill, depending on the rate and region. Turn-of-the-19th-century homes may have outdated boiler systems, which tend to leak and become inefficient. While forced-air-systems are a solution to expensive propane and antiquated boilers, the cost of installation can be prohibitive for many homeowners.

Whether your current heating set-up is expensive, inefficient broken or non-existent, a space heater can be a lifesaver on frigid days and nights. They come in all sizes and outputs, so buying the right one for your needs is a challenge. We’ve chosen the best space heaters and broken down their features, so you can get one step closer to enjoying a warm house during all winter.

Introduction

When the winter months roll around, there’s nothing cozier than an extra boost of hot air circulating around the room keeping everyone toasty. If you don’t fancy turning the thermostat up just yet, or you’re working alone in a smaller room and don’t want to waste money heating the whole house, a space heater could be perfect for you.

Our Recommended Space Heaters in 2023

5. GiveBest Portable Electric Space Heater

The GiveBest electric space heater is a 2-in-1 device that functions as both a heater and a standard fan. It offers two heat levels—750W and 1500W—or you can operate it on its lower wattage setting to cool down a room. It has an effective range of 200 square feet, so it’s great for apartments and single-room use.

4. Amazon Basics 1500W Oscillating Ceramic Heater

The Amazon Basics ceramic heater is a unique space heater in several ways. First, it has 3 heat output levels, though there’s no control panel to know which mode is currently active. Instead of featuring a powerful internal fan, this unit comes with an oscillating function, which evenly distributes heat in rooms of up to 200 square feet.

3. GAIATOP Space Heater

The GAIATOP is a uniquely designed space heater that sits atop 3 wooden legs. From a higher elevation, it can distribute heat evenly across 150-plus-square-foot rooms in very little time. The GAIATOP comes with 3 heat levels, with a max of 1000W output, while an internal fan blows heated air to all 4 corners of a room.

2. Andily Space Heater

The Andily Space Heater measures just 6.2 x 4.74 x 8.3 inches in size, making it incredibly space-efficient. The open-coil design of this space heater ensures better heat distribution in a single direction. It has 3 modes, including a fan option, with a max output of 1500W to heat up 200-square-foot rooms in very little time.

1. Lasko-22 Digital Ceramic Oscillating Remote (751320)

The Lasko 751320 is a tower space heater. Its sheer size allows it to deliver heated air across wide areas of up to 300 square feet. This unit also has a wireless remote control, which lets you scroll between heat settings, turn the oscillation function on and off, set a timer (up to 4 hours), and regulate the thermostat.

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Buying Guide for the Best space heaters

Space heaters are affordable, and do their job incredibly well; it’s no wonder they’re so popular.

There are plenty of things you should keep in mind when investing in one of these heaters though, which we’ll run through in greater detail throughout this guide. Taking consideration of room size, heater size, costs, and safety is really important when you’re choosing your perfect space heater, so let’s find out exactly what you should be looking out for.

Finding the Right Space Heater

Heater size vs room size

When looking for the right sized space heater, it’s important that you already have a room in mind. You should always take the room size into consideration to make sure you get the best warmth ratio you can get. After all, a space heater won’t be able to heat up a large room easily. You’re more likely to lose a lot of heat in the process and your energy bills may take a beating.

There are so many sizes of space heater to choose from, from mini personal heaters, to larger ones that can keep two or three people warm and comfortable.

See our section on ‘what size space heater should I buy?’ below to find out the size of your perfect space heater.

Caution: don’t leave your space heater alone when it’s turned on. There always needs to be a pair of eyes open around these heaters.

Portability

Take portability into consideration too. It’s more than likely that you’ll have to move your space heater from one room to another – or it’s good to at least have the option to if you’re going to be relying on it as your heat source throughout winter.

Many space heaters are easy to move. They’ll either be light and small enough to pick up with two hands, or they’ll be equipped with a handle or even wheels for easy rolling.

Do take care when you move your space heater: move it before use, or wait until it’s cooled down enough to move without burning yourself.

Energy efficient heaters

Linking back to finding the right sized heater for your room, you should always check out how energy efficient the heater you’ve chosen is. There’s no fun in using one all winter only to be hit with sky high energy bills at the end of the season.

In general, many space heaters aren’t the most energy efficient machines because they have to work pretty hard to warm up small spaces. However, there are plenty of energy efficient heaters on the market that won’t cost the earth and will still give off plenty of heat.

Design

Think about how your space heater will fit into your space. For some it may not matter all that much, but for other’s the design of the heater may be a deal breaker.

Of course, you usually get what you pay for – so the higher the price, the more likely your space heater is to be aesthetically pleasing, and there are plenty of styles out there to take your pick from. In fact, some space heaters are so cleverly designed, you wouldn’t be able to guess what they were: that’s perfect for the modern home, or in rooms without storage.

Looking for the quietest heater? Heaters equipped with fans are well-known as being nosier than those without

What Size Space Heater Should I Buy

As we’ve said, choosing the right size space heater for your room is paramount. With that in mind, there is a simple rule of thumb you can follow to ensure you’ve got the best size: for each square foot in your desired space, you’ll need around 10 Watts to heat it effectively.

So, in a room of 75 square feet, you’d need a 750W heater, in a 150 square foot room you’d need a 1,500W heater, in a 400 square foot room you’d need a 4,000W heater, and so on.

Types of Space Heater

There are 3 types of space heaters, which make them perfect for almost any home.

Firstly, there’s the ceramic space heater. This type uses an internal, ceramic heating element and is popular because it can regulate its own temperature. That means that when the room reaches its desired temperature, the ceramic space heater will turn itself off. It will then turn itself back on when the room has lost some heat.

Secondly, there’s infrared space heaters. These use one of two heating elements: a tubular heating element, or quartz tubes. These elements work similarly to that of an oven, with internally heating wires and tubes to transfer the heat out into the room.

Finally, there’s the oil-filled space heater. This type of heater works via convection. The oil is spread and dispersed through the heater, heating up the room quickly.

Space Heater Power Consumption

Space heaters often come with more than one power setting, which means you can set them to the perfect temperature.

If you want to get to grips with how to understand your space heater’s power consumption, all it takes is a simple mathematical sum. Most heaters will work with watts or BTU (British Thermal Units). We’ve covered how many watts it takes to heat up certain areas, but what about BTUs?

BTUs measure the heating capacity of the space heater. In order to work out the space heater’s BTU, you should multiply the wattage of the space heater by 3.413. Why this number? That’s the number of BTUs that are equal to 1 Watt.

So, for a heater with a wattage of 750, the BTU output would equal 2,559. 750 x 3.143 = 2,559.

Why is this important? The higher the BTU output from your space heater, the better it’ll be at heating your room.

For your safety – never cover a space heater whilst it’s turned on. They can overheat and create fires if you’re not careful!

Space Heater Placement Tips

Due to the size and shape of most space heaters, they’re perfect for nightstands, other tables or the floor.

Did you know: space heaters are one of the cheapest sources of heating for small spaces. You could get your hands on one for less than $20

Related Post: Indoor Electric vs. Natural Gas Space Heaters

Space Heater FAQ

What are the safety features like on a space heater?

This is a good question. You should always look for a space heater with good safety features, as they can cause fires if you leave them on for too long, or if they tip over and break.

Whilst space heaters are ‘safe’ on the whole, looking out for one that has a tip-over kill switch, which turns the heater off automatically should it fall or tip over, or overheat protection, a function that shuts the power off if your heater starts to overheat, is a great way to ensure you’re going to be safe whenever you use the heater.

Do all space heaters turn themselves off when they’ve adequately warmed the room up?

No, not every space heater is equipped to turn itself off once you’ve reached the desired temperature.

However, many are, so always do your research beforehand. With intuitive analog controls that help discover the perfect temperature, these are the best models to go for when looking for a space heater that can turn itself off when it’s done its job.

Analog controlled space heaters are currently better at this than digitally controlled versions, although these are getting better.

How much am I likely to pay for a good space heater?

This can be dramatically different, depending on how good you want your space heater to be.
Starting at the lower end, you can expect a personal space heater to come in at around $15 or $20. However, if you’re looking for something that has everything you need and more, you could be looking at paying up to a whopping $2,500.

As we’ve mentioned before, this depends entirely on the size of the room you want to heat, plus how intuitive or fancy you want your space heater to be. Many ‘uglier’ space heaters are on the cheaper side, yet they work just as well as a more expensive model, so this is mostly a matter of taste.

If you have any questions or comments, please add them below in the comment section. Similarly, please let us know if you spot any mistakes or omissions. Thanks!

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Last Update: 2024-04-17 | Affiliate links/Images from Amazon Product Advertising API