10 Best Portable Heaters 2024 in the US

Portable heaters are an essential piece of equipment in your home when you want to heat specific areas. When buying these heaters, you need to understand their features, performance, their benefits and the best brands and models you can use. This guide gives you an insight into the best portable heaters and what features you need to look at when selecting the right unit for you.

What Are Portable Heaters?

A portable heater is a small piece of heating equipment designed to heat up targeted, small spaces. Portable heaters cannot adequately heat a large space or several rooms; however, they can be used to provide short, targeted warmth. For example, you can use the heaters to heat the bathroom or bedroom.

What Types of Portable Heaters Exist?

There are various types of portable heaters:

• Convection heaters offer evenly-distributed warmth in a room. They radiate warmth consistently in a room but tend to be slow in warming up areas.
• Fan-forced portable electric heaters have an electric coil that creates heat and blows it across the room.
• Radiant heaters produce quick, targeted heating within a small space. These heaters work by emitting infrared radiation that heats people or objects within sight.
• Micathermic heaters produce fast widespread heating while also saving space.
• There are also portable propane heaters that use propane gas.

What Should You Look For When Buying a Portable Heater?

When buying a small portable heater, you need to determine the kind of heating technology it uses. As we mentioned, the main types of heating technologies are convection, radiant, fan-forced, and micathermic. The heating capacity of the portable heater also helps you determine the amount of space it can adequately heat without it being strained beyond its ability.

Energy-efficient portable heaters help you save energy, so when buying such a heater, ensure you check how much energy they conserve. However, remember that the efficiency of heaters will depend on the environment in which you are using them, and the amount of space they are heating. Additional features such as an adjustable thermostat, energy-saving modes, programmable timers, and low wattage, all help reduce power usage.

When using a portable space heater, you need to ensure safety. Different manufacturers have different safety features for portable heaters. For example, some heaters automatically shut themselves off when they are knocked over. Others have an overheat protection feature to shut them off when temperatures reach unsafe levels. The noise level is also something to consider since some models tend to produce more noise than others. This is especially true with fan-forced heaters.

To ensure your portable heaters function efficiently and safely, there are ways you can position them in the room. You need to keep the heater at least a foot away from the wall, and on a flat surface. Some portable heaters can be placed right against the wall because they have the intake and exhaust vents located on the front.

You also need to place the heater in a dry area to reduce moisture damage and the risk of electric shock. However, some heaters are designed to work in moist areas such as bathrooms. If your heater is not for wet areas, keep the heater away from areas where spills may occur, such as near the kitchen sink. You also want to place them in confined areas where they can heat the targeted location efficiently. A buffer zone of around 3 foot would help prevent burn injuries to children and pets when the heaters are set on. The buffer zone ensures sufficient clearance if the space becomes too hot.

The Main Features of Portable Heaters

Portable heaters have different features, depending on the technology they use to heat up a room. One main feature is their portability: you can easily move them around in your home. For example, if you want to heat a space outside your house which is not connected to the central heating system, you can use a portable heater. Also, if you want to heat a specific location or room, these heaters will also come in handy.

Portable heaters are energy efficient: they have components like programmable thermostats that help save energy. Portable heaters can work in energy-saving mode to help save energy.

To ensure the safety of the users, the heaters have safety features such as an overheat protection switch that acts as a sensor to detect unsafe internal temperatures. A cool-to-the-touch feature helps prevent accidental burns when a person touches the unit. The tip-over protection switch shuts off the heater if it is accidentally knocked over.

Automatic oscillation is a feature that lets the heater evenly distribute heat in different directions- say, from left to right. But micathermic heaters are some of the most efficient portable heaters. These heaters combine radiation and convection technology when heating a space. They use mica sheets and release infrared radiation that heats the space. Micathermic heaters consist of heating elements similar to those of convection heaters; however, the elements are in the form of panels in a mica sheet. When the mica heats up, electromagnetic rays are released into the room, heating it up more quickly.

Oil-filled heaters consist of a thermal oil that is heated by electricity the same way as a car or machine radiator allowing the heat to be released into the room. That said, oil-filled heaters are cumbersome and take longer to warm up. When turned off, they stay warm for quite some time, meaning that they continue releasing heat and warming up the area.

Radiation is another feature you can find in some portable heaters. Radiant heaters or halogen heaters radiate heat straight to the nearby objects--meaning that they are efficient. If you want to heat up your body, and not the room itself, you can use a radiant heaters; they are quick but struggle to heat large spaces.

What Are The Main Benefits Of Portable Heaters?

There are many reasons why you would want to use a portable heater in your home or office. This piece of heating equipment is portable, in that you can easily move them around. However, some may be somewhat heavier than others. This is especially true with the oil-filled heaters. The heaters are safe in that they come with safety features like a tip-over protection switch, cool-to-touch feature, overheat protection switch, and ALCI plugs to prevent against shock. They are also energy efficient since they only target a specific location or spot or object and not an entire room.

Portable heaters are affordable: you can get a unit for as low as $50. They are also versatile in that they can be used in different locations: for example, they can be used inside or even outside the home like on the balcony. The heaters are quiet and you can use them in areas like the bedroom or reading room, but the fan-forced ones can be a little noisy.

Top 5 Portable Heaters

De’Longhi Comfort Temp Full Room Radiant Heater

• Includes wheels that you just snap on, letting you move the heater where you need the heat

• Three heat settings + thermostat

• With thermal shutoff to prevent overheating

De’Longhi Comfort Temp Full Room Radiant Heater

Voweek 24” 1500 W Space Heater

• It has a ceramic heating element to heat quickly

• With overheating protection and auto shutoff

• Three heating modes

• Programmable thermostat with remote control

Voweek 24” 1500 W Space Heater

Lasko 755320 Ceramic Space Tower Heater

• Has a high and low heat setting, and oscillates to distribute the heat evenly

• Can be timed to work for anywhere from 1-8 hours continuously

• Adjustable digital thermostat

Lasko 755320 Ceramic Space Tower Heater

Mr. Heater Propane Portable Buddy Heater

• Connects to a 1-lb. Cylinder of liquid propane

• For heating a tent of up to 200 sq. ft. in area

• Safety features to detect if there is low oxygen, with auto-shutoff

Mr. Heater Propane Portable Buddy Heater

Optimus Portable Utility Heater with Thermostat

• 3 settings: low heat, high heat, and fan (which can be used to cool as well)

• Thermostat control

• Thermal cutoff safety device and tip-over shutoff

Optimus Portable Utility Heater with Thermostat

Final Verdict

Portable heaters come in different forms with different heating technologies. The kind of portable heater you choose will depend on your heating needs and the features it possesses. For example, although fan-forced heaters are light and cheap, they tend to be noisy and you may not be able to use them in quiet areas like your bedroom. Radiant portable heaters are an efficient choice if you are only going to use them for a few hours and won't leave them unattended. They are also efficient if you are only using a room or area for a short time. Micathermic portable heaters are very efficient and use. They also can employ a combination of technologies.