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(More customer reviews)Here in Western North Carolina we are experiencing one of the harshest winter on the books, and all our newly acquired house had for heat was heat pumps. Useless in under-20-degree weather, and due to asthma I need a warm house (70 degrees). The electric bills were enormous, $500 a month or more. It was time to do something better, and we decided to add this HouseWarmer heater to our bedroom so that we could at least set back the rest of the house at night.
The result has been good, but not stellar. But before I comment on that, let me say that the installation instructions are top-quality and easy to follow; it took me about two hours from box to ready to hook up. The hardest part was cutting the vent pipes to the appropriate lengths, a bit of an exercise with tin snips. All of the necessary hardware is included, the only thing I had to separately source was high-temperature silicon caulking to seal the exhaust pipe on both ends.
Once hooked up, the heat pours out nicely, and the fan turns on and off as required. All of that is the good news.
The not as good news is as follows:
1. The unit looks pretty old-fashioned. I knew this going in, but it really does look (as someone in another post mentioned) like it's a holdover from 1970's government office. No big deal for me, but it could use a makeover. At the very least I would have preferred white over the tan color. The tan goes with about nothing.
2. The temperature control has no degree markings on it. In fact, when I received the unit I was uncertain whether it actually was a thermostat, I though it might just be a flame-height adjustment. Thankfully it is a real thermostat (cycles on and off with room temperature), and after a few nights of trial runs it turns out that roughly mid-range really is a good spot. You can NOT hook up an external thermostat, a down-side to the design. On the plus side, minus the fan it works without AC power, so it's super in a power-outage.
3. The heat output may be per the specs, but it seems a bit anemic to me. I expected it to be able to quickly heat up the bedroom (20 x 18 feet) and just cycle on/off occasionally. Instead it runs pretty much all night on nights when it's 20's out, and our bedroom is not particularly drafty. Good thing I didn't buy the 8000 btu unit, we'd freeze.
4. The fan, while quiet, does cause the sheet metal to buzz intermittently. I need to see about adding some kind of dampening to the metal cabinet, perhaps I can get rid of some of the resonances. The 60hz hum is quite loud at times.
In spite of all of the above, I would still buy this product. It's a super value, and does what it's there to do. Nowadays, that's saying a lot.
Click Here to see more reviews about: HouseWarmer Slim-Profile Direct-Vent Wall Heater with Built-In Blower - 18,000 BTU, Propane, Model# HWDV181BDVP
Slim-profile design is less obtrusive and more attractive than traditional vented heaters. Heater requires no electricity so it will even work in a power failure (electricity required for blower). 115V, .4 Amp blower has 4-ft. electric cord for a standard wall outlet. Use in accordance with local codes and ordinances. U.S.A. BTU Output: 18,000, Primary Heating Application: Wall, Blower Included: Yes, Fuel Type: Propane, Thermostat Included: Yes, Dimensions W x D x H (in.): 22 1/4 x 9 3/8 x 25 1/4
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