How to Choose a Portable Heater

Having a large heating system can be great for warming a house, but if you only want to heat certain areas or if you're away from your main home then they don't do much good. Instead, you're going to need to use a portable heater that can be brought to exactly where you need it and will produce just as much heat as you want. Many of these portable heaters can be used in shops, on job sites, in the garage, or even when out camping or otherwise away from home.

The trick, of course, is finding the portable heater that will do exactly what you want it to do without having to mess with things that you don't. There are a number of things that you should consider in order to make sure that you get the best heater for your needs, including how easy it is to move and the type of fuel source that the heater uses. To help you choose the portable heater that meets your needs, here are a few suggestions of what to look for.

Portability

Obviously, one of the main advantages that a portable heater has is the fact that it's portable. A heater may not be as easily portable as you would like, though, and depending on your intended use this may be a problem. Stop to consider how often you'll likely be moving the heater and whether it can be easily moved to a new location if necessary. If you're planning on using the heater in the same location much of the time then portability isn't a major concern, but if one of the selling points of the heater is the fact that you can take it with you then you're going to want to make sure that it's easy to transport.

Electrical or Fuel Needs

Your heater will require fuel or power in order to produce heat, and this should be taken into consideration as well. If your portable heater is going to be used around the house or in places with ready access to electricity then a corded electrical heater might serve you well. At the same time, you'll definitely want to have a heater that uses propane or some other fuel if you're going to be using the heater in outdoors locations or in places and situations where you won't have access to electricity. Make sure that the heater you choose will work where and when you need it to, and that the cost to keep it running won't be more than you're willing to pay.

Setup Concerns

Another consideration with portable heaters should be how easy or difficult the heater is to set up when you want to use it. Many heaters simply need to be placed where you want them and turned on or started, but others may require some form of mounting or other types of stabilization. You're going to want to make sure that any setup required, either for the first usage or every use, is easy enough to do that you can accomplish it in a reasonable amount of time. This includes the physical setup of heater, the connecting of a fuel source, the time it takes to get the heater started, and how long it takes the heater to start producing heat.

Heat Production

Make sure that the portable heater that you choose can produce as much heat as you need it to. Most heaters will have a suggested area that it can heat printed on the box, as well as a BTU rating that tells how much heat it actually produces. This will let you know whether a particular heater will be able to do the job that you need, or whether you'll need more than one heater. You should also remember that if it produces too much heat for the area you're heating then you might have to adjust the temperature on the heater numerous times in order to keep the air temperature from being too warm or too cold.

Storage

Unless you live in the tundra, there's a good chance that you're going to need to put your portable heater into storage for at least a decent portion of the year. Take into consideration how easy or difficult it will be to store the heater you choose and whether you're likely to damage it if it's stored incorrectly. You should also determine exactly how much storage space the heater will take up and make sure that you have somewhere at home, in your garage, or at your workplace where the heater can be stored.