![]() If you want a warm toilet seat, try a bidet. So unless they’re designed and approved for it-and most are not-keep your space heater out of all wet locations such as kitchens or bathrooms. This should go without saying, but electricity and water are an even deadlier combination than orange juice and toothpaste. Even if you can find a way around that, don’t. But you can’t tilt them any further yourself Like many space heaters come with tip-over switches that make it difficult to tilt them. Some of our picks, such as the Vornado VH200 and AVH10 are angled slightly upward by default. Generally speaking, you should always place your space heater on the flattest, smoothest surface available. If at all possible, keep it off the rug, too. And definitely don’t put it on top of your bed, with all those flammable fabrics and feathery fillings. Don’t set it on a shelf or a stool or a dusty wooden workbench in the basement. Don’t do that-unless you’re lying flat on the floor, which is the only place your space heater should ever go. It can be tempting to place your space heater somewhere so it blows right in your face. Put your space heater on the floor and leave it there So here are a few ways to ensure you’re using a heater safely. These organizations ensure that heaters have certain safety features built in, such as a thermal shutoff that automatically cuts the power when the heater gets too hot.īut as my amp action demonstrated, nothing is idiot-proof. it still has a heating element, so it isn’t as safe as an air purifier, for example.” Hotz went on to clarify that most home space heaters available today (including our picks) need to be approved by an independent safety testing laboratory such as Intertek (whose certification often appears as an “ETL” seal on the item) or UL. ![]() “Most heaters today are 100 times better, but. “The electric heaters that I grew up with were open element,” said Linda Hotz, former category director for the Home Comfort team at the home appliance maker De’Longhi, in a phone call. ![]() The National Fire Protection Association puts that figure into even starker context, noting that space heaters factor into about 46 percent of home heating-related fires (which includes items like water heaters and fireplaces) and 88 percent of associated deaths.ĭespite those dire numbers, modern space heaters are actually much safer now than they used to be. But as I watched the sparks fade from the smoldering lump of freshly burnt plastic before me, I knew it was up there on the list.Īccording to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, space heaters are involved in more than a thousand home fires every year. This might not have been the single dumbest thing I’d ever done in my life. Five seconds later, the power strip blew up. I placed it down on top of the wooden workbench where my digital audio workstation was set up and plugged it into the nearest power strip, which just so happened to be the same one through which I ran my half-stack Marshall amplifier. So I grabbed a space heater I was long-term testing for Wirecutter. I had to get through only a few more guitar overdubs, but my fingers were too cold to play the parts quite right. It was the winter of 2019, and I was down in my unfinished basement putting the finishing touches on my band’s next album. ![]()
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