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Vornado Vortex Space Heater
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Quick Overview
Are space heaters energy efficient? Some are better than others; we like the Vornado best.
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Product Description
Yep. The dirty truth is that sometimes you want individualized heat in a particular space, and this electric space heater (gasp!) is the most energy efficient option. But don't feel guilty -- using a space heater instead of heating the whole house saves energy and money. This is the one we recommend.
This pint size powerhouse gets heat where you are, and keeps it there using as little power as possible. Unlike conventional heaters that warm the spot directly in front of the heating coils, the Vortex has a thermostatic remote control that can be placed anywhere in a room to sense conditions. The heater runs that data through its digital brain, and then directs the heating core and fan to circulate warmth around the entire room.
The Vortex space heater is an energy efficient way to reach out of the way places that are hard to heat. For those spots -- corners of the attic or the basement where your office is, an electric heater (that's right) is more efficient and less expensive.
This heater, because it's so smart, is great at producing amazingly comfortable heat that surrounds you rather than just blows at your feet. You'll feel warm immediately and you don't need to sit with it beneath your chair. The touch screen control panel makes adjustments easy.
And Vortex has built in multi-level safety protections. If the heater tips over, it automatically shuts off. It also has a non-glowing heat element, a cabinet that is cool to the touch, and tight grille spirals to keep fingers out of harms way.
We Thought You'd Like To Know
There have been some issues with quality in the past as reported on Amazon and other sites. However we have not had a complaint or return in over a year, and believe that the manufacturer has dealt with their issues suitably.
The Vornado heater is unlike most other electric space heaters, some of which have exposed heating elements hot enough to ignite cloth and start a fire -- the Vornado has an exceptional design to prevent injuries and fire. Nevertheless, we strongly recommend that you locate the Vornado in a place that will allow its warm forced air to circulate properly.
As one of the recent comments points out, the Vornado can draw up to 12.5 amps, which is slightly more than the 80% load recommended for a 15 amp circuit. While many household appliances draw this kind of load (hair dryers, coffee makers, toasters, etc.) with this or any electric heater, or other high-load device, we recommend using a circuit that has no other significant loads, and ideally a 20 amp circuit.
Nitty Gritty
Electrical Specifications:
- 120v AC
- 60 Hz
- 12.5 amps
- 1500 watts
- Heat Output (max): 5,118 BTUs per hour (3.4 BTUs/hr/w)
- Dimensions: 10.25" deep x 13" wide x 12.25" high
- Approvals: ETL
- Manufacturer Warranty: 2 Years
Customer Reviews
These heaters work great compared to just about every other type I have used. I had one finally give out after 3 years of hard use and just bought another one. They are a little more expensive than most space heaters but are very efficient and most of the time mine is on low (750 watt setting) so it uses very little power for my 16x20 room. These are very safe heaters and don't get hot to the touch. My only complaint is the digital ones cause RF noise on some of my radio gear so I bought my new one with just an analog thermostat and it works just as good.
Posted by Anonymous on Nov 23, 2011 4:37pmTom; My question to you is. With over 25000 fires,6000 injured and 300 needing hospitalization because of space heaters last year why isn't your product UL listed?
Posted by R&R Electric on Nov 16, 2010 6:50amNEC code recommends not loading an electrical circuit over 80% of it's rated load and your product does that by .5 amps. If someone plugs it into a 15 amp receptacle. That doesn't leave much room for anything else to be plugged in on that circuit.
R&R Electric --
Thank you for your comment. You raise some important points for people considering space heaters.
The Vornado is ETL Listed, and is tested against and meets UL (and other) safety standards. It was recently given a top listing in Consumer Reports, which as I am sure you know has a strong focus on safety.
Your statistics on space heaters are certainly worth noting. I found a matching statistic from the National Fire Prevention Association -- space heaters in general are a potentially dangerous method of heating. However, this statistic includes all forms of space heaters including wood burning stoves, kerosene, liquid and compressed gas and other fuel along with electricity -- the significant majority of fires were not from electric heaters. This is not reason for complacency -- careful placement of any space heater is advised, and any electrical component, especially a higher load one such as a resistive electrical device should be monitored.
You are correct that the heater draws 12.5 amps at maximum output -- this is a little less than 4% over the 80% target set by the NEC and other electrical codes for a 15 amp circuit. It is, of course, the same wattage as most hair dryers. This is a good point, and we'll update our product description to alert buyers that they should either use a 20A circuit, or ensure that the circuit it's plugged into is mainly dedicated to the heater. As I am sure you also know, the same code specifies that that a circuit breaker should be sized according t0 80% of the safe load (that is, a 15A breaker will trip at 15A, but tthis is 80% of what the circuit should be safely able to handle). Again, this is not a reason for complacency: the Vornado or any high load device should be carefully located, and if a circuit breaker trips this should not be ignored as it indicates you have the heater on an inappropriate circuit.
At Energy Circle we don't sell lots of heaters -- of the hundreds on the market, we sell two -- not just the ones we thought were best, but electric space heaters that were safe and effective.
We're not just a store where you can buy whatever happens to be available. We take care, time, personal use and testing to consider which of the many choices consumers have are ones that are safe, actually meet the manufacturer's claims (I can show you several boxes of CFL bulbs we have tested that did not, for example), and which we believe are safe, reliable, and beneficial. We recently stopped selling one of the more popular energy monitors on the market today because it was not meeting the needs of our customers. We care about what we put in our store. We believe the Vornado, while not the cheapest, is the best portable electric heater our customers can buy.
Tom Harrison
Posted by Tom Harrison on Nov 16, 2010 10:50amElectric heat is the most wasteful way to heat. 1500 watts = 1.5 kilowatts per hour of use. At a rate of .12 cents per kWh. That's .18 cents an hr. Times 8hrs., that's $1.44 a day. Times 31, that's $44.60 a month. Plus the 200 you pay for the heater, you're better off heating the house. Now if you have more than one of those, that's double or triple of this.
Posted by Anonymous on Nov 15, 2010 6:05pmHi Anonymous --
You're right: electric heat is typically the worst way to heat, compared to oil or gas. In fact, it is about 1/3 as efficient as natural gas.
We definitely do not advocate heating your house, or even a large space with this heater, or any electric heater (unless you get your electricity from PV panels on your roof).
However: if your heat is not zoned, heating the whole house to keep a small room warm is almost certainly a bad deal. I work in a small home office. During the day it's just me. I can turn on the Vornado and it can run for a few minutes, aimed at the right place, and provide just enough heat to keep me warm. My home furnace stays off all day, except on the coldest days. I am heating a small area around me, the rest of my 2,000 square foot house doesn't need to be warm.
The Vornado is different than most. It does a better job of getting heat where you need it. The thermostatic control works. I would bet on a cold day, mine will run for perhaps 1 hour, in short 10 minute bursts. That's 1.25 kWH (watt hours) for which here in New England I pay the high rate of $0.191/kWh. So about $0.25/day, work days only, and only when the rest of the heat is not on, and when it's cold, probably 4 months, 20 days a month. So that's $20/year (less at your $0.12/hour rate).
Local heating like this makes sense.
Tom
Posted by Tom Harrison on Nov 15, 2010 6:43pmThis is a response to Craig's review. While true that the Vornado heater is, like all other electric heaters almost completely efficient at its job of turning electricity into heat, this misses the more important point, which is that the Vornado gets only the heat you need to the place you are.
This is decidedly not the case with many other heaters such as the cheap one I bought a few years back which noisily sits on the floor barely blowing the heated air out of a small zone around the heater. Within several days last winter, I realized that it was doing a great job of heating some other place ... actually overheating that place. Cold ankles and air around where I was sitting, so I needed to heat the whole house a little warmer for my office (the only part of the house used during the day) to be tolerable: that's inefficient.
The Vornado has a thermostat at the place where you want the heat. It's a real thermostat, so you can set a reasonable temperature. It has a fan that runs at the proper speed and in a way that spreads the warm air around. Warm air all around, running only for as long as needed allowed me to set the home thermostat several degrees lower and still work comfortably. That's efficient.
Few other heaters work this way, and none that I know of are as quiet at the Vornado. This is indeed a "you get what you pay for" product.
Posted by Tom Harrison on Jun 23, 2010 8:09pmThis is a critique of the propaganda not the heater. It draws 12.5 amps and puts out 1500 watts (max). Those are the specs on nearly all the electric space heaters on the market for the past 30+ years.
Posted by Craig on Jun 23, 2010 6:27pmAhhh ... the power of advertising.
I used this for the first time last night, just to warm up the bedroom. It was so quiet and so effective! I slept wonderfully and didn't have to brace myself to get out of bed. When I opened the bedroom door to the cold hallway, I realized how well it had worked. I love it & highly recommend it! Why warm up the whole house, just to sleep in comfort? I'll definitely be moving it around with me, and using a second one in the office.
Posted by Natalie on Nov 10, 2009 5:15pmread the review on energycircle, bought one, couldn't be happier. was running it all winter and spring (even some of the summer), its quiet, heats the whole room, about as efficient as a space heater can be. like to support energycircle too these guys are doing good stuff (i'm looking to hit those air leaks when i get a spare minute)
Posted by jims. on Jul 7, 2009 6:50pmSometimes it makes sense to turn the house heat down and just warm up a single room. This little baby does the trick. It's smart: you control with a remote & it delivers your command. and it's really really quiet.
Posted by Lisa on Apr 8, 2009 10:39am