DeLonghi TRN0812T Portable Oil-Filled Radiator with Programmable Timer

Update Feb. 2014: I had one unit die- it was the most heavily used one the last 3 years (24/7 for 5 months a year). The other 2 are still working fine. I used one of my mothballed ones as its replacement. We are having wind chill down to -20 so I have both switches on at this time. Lots of heat being generated. I was concerned about the possibility of oil leaking based on some of the reviews. What I have done from the beginning is to place the heater in an aluminum foil turkey pan. Although I've never seen a drop of oil, if a leak should develop, the oil will not get out of the pan and onto my carpet. It is far more expensive to replace your main furnace than to periodically replace these units. By supplementing the heat and keeping the rooms I am spending most of my time in warmer, I can set my thermostat at 60 for the main furnace and lengthen its life. Yet the house is comfortable. Perhaps this may give you some ideas.Update Dec. 2012: This is the 3rd winter that I am using these heaters. They are great for continuous heat. I'm still using only the "Low" switch and around "3" on the dial. We just had zero degree temps and I turned the closed laundry room heater to 4.5 for a couple of days to protect the pipes.Here's how simple it is to test and learn to use your heater:Take the heater to a room that you can close the door to and will not use for the next 24 hours- spare bedroom, bath, or garage. Before you plug it in- push all the red pins on the timer dial toward the center. This will prevent the heater from going on and off during your testing. You can program it later.Plug the cord in. Click both red switches to on and they will light up. Each switch controls a separate heating coil. If they do not light up, go to the black box on the power cord and press the red button. If you now have both switches light up, you have just solved the problems of over half who have written reviews saying the heater did not work. Rotate the temperature dial to the highest setting. Run the heater for 3 hours. There should be a lot of heat coming off the unit. If both switches are still red, the heater is working.You will smell the burn off but it is over at this point. Turn the switch for the hotter side off. You can continue the test in the room you want to run the heater in or leave it where it is. Turn the temperature dial down to a lower setting if you wish. It is better to run the unit on a low setting 24 hours a day than to have it going on and off. I found that I had to leave the door to the room open at setting #3 to keep it from getting too hot in my mountain home during the winter.I ran 3 of these units in my 2 story home all winter and the main furnace hardly kicked on. They cost about $20 more a month in electricity compared to gas. Not bad.I bought 7 of these units. I left each on for a month. I then boxed it up and tried the next one. I had one quit after 2 weeks and got a replacement. Once a room has been at a constant temperature for several days it does not take much to keep it there. If you want a warm bathroom, leave it on a low setting and crack the door. The excess heat will warm your hall and other rooms over time. The bath will stay warm no matter when you use it.Timers are a weak spot and they will fail before the heater is worn out. Its your money. Other than a factory defect-like the one I had- most of the complaints are because the people did not follow these steps. The manufacturer failed to explain these details.

This item immediately goes into my list of "best purchases". It's a fantastic heater with practically every single feature I could possibly want.My girlfriend lives in a cold, upstairs apartment and doesn't like to use her baseboard heating. I purchased this heater for myself during a move, and loaned it to her until I could make use of it. It's been nothing short of amazing! The "medium" setting makes the entire room feel comfortable (good for late at night, right before bedtime) and high makes you feel nice and warm on a cold morning -- especially while you're getting dressed. It heats up her bedroom quickly, and will also heat the entire apartment (albeit much less so) if turned all the way up to max, and on maximum heat.I have to say, I've never, ever seen a space heater perform like this. It doesn't produce large amounts of directed heat, so sitting near it to warm up in the morning doesn't work out as you'd expect. However, the timer function takes care of that entirely! I set the heater to turn itself on about 15 minutes before I get up in the morning, and when I'm up, the room is warm enough that it really doesn't matter.The timer function is a little odd -- the dial on the front of the heater has a bunch of small physical switches on it. The idea is that you plug in the heater, flip the switches (down for on, up for off) according to the times you'd like the heater to automatically turn on. The heater does make an audible (but pretty quiet) clicking sound whenever it has power, which isn't my favorite. The upside of this is that, if the power goes out or if you unplug the heater, you just have to rotate the dial to the approximate time of day in order to get back on schedule (unlike every single flipping digital alarm clock I've ever owned).The first few times I used this heater, I was saddened to note how long it took to heat up. However, now that I've used it more, I find that it heats up faster. Other reviewers mention a funny oily smell the first few times they used it, and I can also attest to this. It took about a week of intermittent use before the smell went away.One last thing to note: this heater is HEAVY. It's definitely portable, but it isn't like an electric heater that you can cart around with one hand. You definitely need both arms to carry it, you should probably lift with your legs, and you should ABSOLUTELY make sure it's been off for quite a while before you move it.That last part is the only major downside I'd note. Most of the heating elements exist deep down in parts of the heater that are hard to touch. You can leave your hand on the outside surface for two or three seconds before you feel the heat.However, the plastic plates on both ends of the heater cover up these vents, and so heat actually goes through the plastic and out of the hand holds on both sides. This part can be rocket hot! You definitely need to let the heater cool down (or use towels or an oven mitt or something like that) before you try to move it!All that aside, this is still one of the best items I've ever purchased.