Convection Wall Heater

If you have an area of your house that could use supplemental heating, I recommend the Econo-Heat convection heater. My experience with Econo-Heat is in our "Three Season Room" (aka "Sun Porch" in warmer areas of the country) which so far this season, with its earliest snowfall in history, has been kept comfortably warm.

The Econo-Heat is a 24" square panel that mounts on the wall using 1" standoffs. It's completely silent and designed for continuous operation. Just plug it in, turn it on, and forget about it. The surface of the square, which is made of some sort of sturdy composite, gets very warm to the touch but not hot. So it's safe for kids, pets, and clumsy adults. The closer you are to the square the more you can feel the heat, but the general idea is that the whole room is kept warm via convection. I know, I was skeptical too, but as I said it actually does work. The wattage is fairly low, under 500 watts, so leaving it turned on all the time not only ensures it has a chance to warm the whole area, but also doesn't cost you too much. (Compare that to a traditional space heater which typically consumes 1500 watts and makes your electric meter spin like whirling dervish.)

I actually use two Econo-Heat units in our Three Season Room because its completely uninsulated, is a large room, and has lots of windows. (The manufacturer's website describes the square footage and other parameters necessary to determine if you need more than one unit.) I bought mine from the manufacturer, without checking Amazon first, where I could have saved about twenty bucks. As you can see in the photo, I haven't gotten around to painting the heaters yet, but that hasn't stopped me from considering them a welcome and toasty addition to my home.

Comments

[Jay Ducharme]

Hi again, Gordon. Just wanted to update you on my EconoHeat adventures. This summer I gutted our bedroom down to the studs. It's the only room in our house with three exterior walls. The "monkeyboard" on the walls was 3/8 of an inch thick. The only insulation was the original Kimsul, which was about 1/4" thick and had been sandwiched between the studs and the exterior plywood. The ceiling was made of the same monkeyboard, with the same insulation. So that probably explains why the room was always so cold. I put R19 fiberglass insulation in the walls and R32 in the ceiling. I put a vapor barrier on the walls as well, and I had someone install 1/2" sheetrock on every surface. My old EconoHeat panel was still okay; the small crack that had appeared the previous year hadn't gotten any bigger. But just the same I replaced it with a new unit.

Obviously, at this point we haven't had any really cold weather. But the room is now much quieter than it used to be and -- without the heater running -- hasn't gotten below 62 degrees even when it's been in the low 40s outside. And just in case we get another spell like last year, with temps holding below zero, I bought a Drolet Pyropak wood stove for our basement. That will also help in the event of a power outage. I think we're going to be all set for whatever Mother Nature can throw at us this season.

[dave]

We bought 8 of them last year all but the 2 with the decorative photo ones cracked some real bad,I am calling today wonder if its a laminating Issie as the ones with the photo mask on them have no issues.at 50$+ a pop i cant afford that.

[Gordon Meyer]

Hey folks, the makers of the Econo-heat have released a new, similar product called the Envi. I haven't tried it, but based on the design it looks to address the problems that some of seen with the Econo-heat. Click here to read more: http://www.gordonmeyer.com/2009/10/envi-envy-a-new-convection-wall-heater.html

[Jay Ducharme]

I saw the Envi. It's interesting that it's smaller than the EconoHeaters and uses the same wattage -- but supposedly heats a larger area. I'm still a fan of the old design, though, which seems to blend in better with the wall. The new one looks like ... well ... a heater. But if anyone gets an Envi, I'd be interested in hearing how they perform.

[Jeane Saunders]

I was thinking about getting one for my dinning room which has NO HEAT AT ALL, so we don't eat in there, but as I kept reading the cracks worry me has any caught fire? this is a very old home lat and plaster walls still (working on that) and what company did every one buy there's from that cracks? Thank you, Jeane

[Jay Ducharme]

The key to avoiding cracks in the old-style panels is to make sure that they're not overly tight when you mount them to the wall. You should be able to slightly turn the plastic spacers with your fingers.

Another option for you would be to try out their new Envi heater, which is completely assembled for you, is apparently more efficient and shouldn't crack at all.

[Gordon Meyer]

I'll just add that nobody seems to know for certain if there are any problems, other than cosmetic, associated with the cracking. One of mine cracked after years of service and still works fine, and others have reported similar results.

[Mary Vogt]

I had an Econo-Heater installed in my workroom. After 3 years of efficient use, the heater element burned out, melted through the outer element cover and fortunatly it was a electrical ground fault plug and it shut down the electricity to the unit before it burned down my shop. We have reported the problem to the company and are awaiting their response. The heater was installed exactly to instructions, just malfunctioned and while serious damage was averted, the public should be aware of the potential for fire.

[Jay Ducharme]

I've noticed that the company is now downplaying the EconoHeat panels and seemed to be focusing on the new Envi. If you go to their website (http://www.eheat.com/) there's no longer any mention of the old style panels.

As for my house, I lost one panel when we had a party last month and a guest pushed a chair into the panel. It split right down the middle, but continued to function. I replaced it with a spare panel I had. The last few days have brought 40 mph winds with 16 degree temperatures. But no room in our house has dropped below 60 degrees. The bedrooms have stayed about 64 degrees. Our basement wood stove has helped a bit, too. Over time, I'll probably replace our panels with the Envi heaters, even though I don't like their appearance as much. But for now I'm still happy with the old EconoHeaters.

[Jay Ducharme]

With a week of over 100 degree temperatures, I've been considering ways to cool the house efficiently. As it turns out, one solution I've discovered would be a perfect companion for our EconoHeaters: an AireShare.

It's basically a fan that installs in the floor, like a heat register, in whichever room needs it. It would take the cool dry air from our de-humidified basement and draw it up into the house. With our wood stove in the basement, we can also use AireShares in the winter to pull up the hot air in the basement. It sounds like an inexpensive way to create a pseudo central air system. Each AireShare has an on/off switch, sort of like the EconoHeaters. So it's easy to control which rooms get the extra cold or heat.

[Richard Decker]

I have had six of the bigger panels and they have all cracked. I recieved new ones and mounted the loosely to help avoid expanding and contracting pressure and they still all cracked again.

[plumbing]

Placing the heater in an area that is overly drafty, will decrease the efficiency of the heater. Placing a unit directly under a drafty window, or near a door, is not the best idea.

[plumbing]

Having a patio heater keeps your patio area nice and warm and allows you to enjoy the outdoors regardless of how cold the temperatures may be. If you are considering buying one of these heaters there are some things you should keep an eye out for.

[Jay Ducharme]

My EconoHeater adventures continue. We remodeled our dining room a few weeks ago. When I removed the two EconoHeaters, I discovered one of them had split down the middle. The other was perfect. In our living room, one of the heaters had cracked pretty badly in three places, but the other one was perfect. So I ordered two of the new Envi heaters to replace the old EconoHeaters.

The first thing that struck me when I unwrapped the Envis was how much thicker they were than the EconoHeaters, sticking out from the wall about two-and-a-half inches. There was no mention in the instructions about hard-wiring them, though it was briefly mentioned they could be controlled by an external thermostat (which I have). So I salvaged the good EconoHeaters and placed them in the dining room, where I needed the heaters to be flatter against the wall. I installed the two Envis in our living room, but it was a much more involved job than I had expected. I have electrical boxes wired to the living room thermostat. The old EconoHeaters easily allowed me to snake their power cord behind the unit and into the box. But the Envis sit flush against the wall and have a steel plate for a back. I had to cut a channel in my wall to feed the cord through so that the heater could hang properly. It would have been better if (like an old wall-hanging phone) the Envi had a channel in its steel back through which the cord could be fed.

The units are attractive, if a little "chubbier" and obvious. Luckily our living room is a tan color, so the Envis blend in pretty well. But I would imagine that on any other color wall, the units would certainly call attention to themselves. I guess I'll have to wait till this winter to see how the new units perform.

[Gordon Meyer]

Thanks for the update, Jay!

[Jay Ducharme]

Here's an ironic twist: a couple months after I bought the Envis, EHeat came out with a new model specifically made for hard-wiring to a thermostat. (They don't have a built-in thermostat, either.) If I had waited a bit longer, I wouldn't have struggled with the Envi installation. So hard-wiring is now possible with these heaters -- you just have to make sure you order that specific style.

[Jay Ducharme]

Yet another update: about a month ago, www.eheat.com came out with a new model of the Envi made for hard-wiring and connecting to an external thermostat. I wish I had known that in July. :-/ The winter season in New England has begun a bit early, and I was pleased to discover that the new Envi heaters that I installed are working fine with my thermostat. The Envis seem to put out a lot more heat than the old EconoHeaters. After a prolonged blackout from the recent east coast storm, our living room was at 56 degrees. When power was restored and the heaters came on, the ambient living room temperature rose 8 degrees in about an hour. That was pretty impressive. They seem to have no trouble keeping the temperature stable at 68 degrees. Hopefully they'll continue to perform well through the rest of the season.

[Michelle]

Does anyone know if these can be mounted on wood or composite paneling?