Portable heaters are one of the best inventions of the past 100 years. There are just some times when you need the ease and convenience of being able to take a heater with you where ever you go. Maybe your office is too cold, maybe your spouse likes to keep the TV room cooler than you’d like, maybe you like your dorm room to be nice and toasty, you might even need a portable heater for outdoor use, like on a deck or at a job site. The possibilities are pretty much endless. But there are so many varieties of heaters out there and it’s often difficult to sort your way through all of the different types of heaters. Let’s take a look at the different types of portable heaters, what you should look for if you’re going to buy one, and what sorts of things you should be aware of.
Things To Consider Before Buying
The primary thing you should think about before you purchase a portable heater is to consider where you’ll be using the heater. Is it indoor or outdoors? Are there electrical plugs available? Is it in some remote and distant location without access to any amenities?
Another thing to consider is how long you’ll need to use the heater for at a time. Are you going to be in the location you need heated for hours or days at a time? Or are you just there for a few minutes intermittently? Another thing to consider is how much money you want to spend. You can probably pick up a cheapo heater at Walmart for 10 bucks, but if you spend a little more you can get a much more powerful and efficient model.
Indoor Portable Heaters
If you’re going to be using your heater indoors, your best bet is to go with a portable electric heater. Electric heaters are great for indoor use as they are powerful and efficient, and electrical plugs are widely available in any home or office building.
There are several types of electric heaters that would work well for your needs here. We’ll cover the basics, but if you want to know more, you can read our electric heater guide.
The first type of electric heater is called a convection heater. Electric convection heaters run the electricity through a resistor of some sort which gives off heat. This heat is absorbed by the surrounding air, which then starts to circulate around the room as it becomes warm. Cooler air is pulled down to the heater and is then warmed, and the cycle repeats. Convection heaters are very efficient and do a great job of warming a room or office, but they take a while to get going. The heat they produce is dispersed around the room so it can take some time before the heat builds up to a noticeable level.
Another type of heater, called a fan heater, uses the same principles to work as convection heaters, but they use a fan to force the air through faster, thereby heating the room more quickly.
The third type of electric heater is called a radiant heater, or infrared heater. Radiant heaters usually look like they have a large light bulb in them. This “light bulb” is actually the heat source and it is designed to be more efficient in giving off heat than in lighting. Radiant heaters work by emitting infrared waves that travel through the air and are converted into heat when they contact a solid object, such as a person or piece of furniture.
The main advantage to using portable radiant heaters is that they can heat a room much more quickly then convection heaters. The reason for this is that the heat given off by radiant heaters is not absorbed by the air, but instead travels through it until it reaches a solid object. This means that the heat given off by a radiant heater is usually felt almost instantaneously. The disadvantage to this is that the heat does not linger after the heater is turned off like it would with a convection heater.
If you are going to be using a portable electric heater indoors, the main thing to consider is how long you’ll be needing the room or space to be heated for at a time. If you’re going to be heating an office all day long, then a convection heater is going to be more efficient, as it can be switched off at times without the temperature in the room falling. Since convection heaters warm the air itself, the heat they produce will linger for some time. In fact, many portable convection heaters come equipped with a thermostat that will automatically turn the heater on and off to keep the temperature constant.
On the other hand, if you don’t need the room or space to be heated for hours at a time, then a radiant heater would probably be a better choice, as it will heat the room much more quickly.
Outdoor Portable Heaters
If you’re primarily going to be using your heater outdoors, then a portable propane heater or portable gas heater is going to be your best bet. Propane and gas heaters are both very efficient and the gas tanks they run on can be taken virtually anywhere. (Again, we’re only covering the basics here, but if you want to know more about these heaters, read our propane heater guide and our gas heater guide.)
The best way to go when choosing a portable outdoor heater is to go with a radiant or infrared heater, like the one pictured. The wind currents outside are unpredictable, and this can disrupt the heat generation of a convection heater. Radiant heaters operate independent of the air currents, and will heat whatever area they are aimed at regardless of how the wind is swirling and blowing.
Another option for outdoor heating is a portable kerosene heater, pictured to the right. These heaters are going to be less efficient than radiant heaters, but can do the job in a pinch. The biggest issue with running them is that kerosene is not as widely available today as it once was. It’s certainly harder to find a reliable source of good kerosene than it is to find a propane or natural gas supplier.
Kerosene heaters are technically convection heaters, and so will also face the issue of having to battle the air currents to provide heat. Some people do like to use these heaters, but a good radiant heater is going to do a much better job of heating outdoors.
One other thing to consider if you’re going to be outdoors for several days is a portable water heater. These heaters run on propane and can provide you with a hot shower pretty much anywhere. I can’t see one of these being used at a job site, but they’d be great on a long camping trip.