Lee valley Quartz Radiant Heater

[Brian Knop]

Has anyone bought these? I need to change my heat source and these look
pretty good. Two would be 10,000 BTU's which is what I run now in kerosene. I bought kerosene last week $3.78 a gallon!
thanks Brian

[Jim Becker]

If you mean the Marvin units for ceiling mount, I have three of them and am quite satisfied. They are not "real inexpensive" to run, but they work fine as long as it's not deep cold. (I then use a Kero heater to get things up to temp and then remove it from the shop to avoid the fumes)

[Steve Clardy]

Interested in those also.

Thinking about getting two later on for my 16x32 car shop area

[Jesse Thornton]

I have one of these running in my very small shop, plus a small block heater. The two of them together are enough to keep the Canadian winter at bay, but as Jim says (and despite being marketed as an economical heat source) they do cost a fair bit to run continuously. I have the one with the built in halogen light, and while that is a nice feature, it is also a bit silly that you cannot turn off the light without turning off the heater - even though you can have the light on without the heater. If I knew that before I bought it, I would have bought the heater without the light and used different light sources, so that if I want to keep the shop warm overnight (which I often do) I don't have to waste electricity on the light as well (taking the bulb in and out is not practical either - besides being extremely hot after use, even when they're cool you can't touch halogens with bare skin, and there are a couple of screws to be taken out and put back in each time). In fact, when the bulb burned out I didn't replace it because I have ample lighting without it now.
It's a decent unit, but I think there are probably more energy efficient ways to go.

[Kent Parker]

Hi Brian,

I bought one sold by Home Depot this year for about $ 10.00 less that LV. Placed it right above my work bench and boy does it get toasty. Nice to have the two power options as it can get too hot sometimes. It is pretty directional so don't expect it to heat a large area. I wired it to an outlet that looses power when I turn my shop lights off. That way I don't accidentally leave the heater on when I leave the shop.

I supplement mine with a radiant type propane heater which is great for my two car garage shop.

Cheers,

Kent

[Brad Noble]

Jesse,

You said "but I think there are probably more energy efficient ways to go." I have a smallish shop in South Central Ohio that is 16' x 24' and is insulated rather well and I already have a 16K BTU electric heater with fan but it doen't seem to be able to heat the shop up on cold days and evenings. Do you think one of these units from Lee Valley would work well enough to augment my heat source? Or would it be too costly.

Brad

[Kent Fitzgerald]

so that if I want to keep the shop warm overnight (which I often do) I don't have to waste electricity on the light as well
Actually, you're not wasting any electricity - all the energy used by the bulb gets converted into heat, so it's just acting like another heating element.

Bulb life is a different story.