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6 min readSpace heaters can make a chilly home office feel toasty and welcoming. But when left unattended or misused, these appliances can become a serious fire hazard.
The good news is that home fires are preventable. By buying a quality space heater and following a few basic safety tips, you can stay comfortable all winter without putting your home at risk.
From tiny personal heaters for a chilly office to large outdoor heaters for the garage, space heaters come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and styles.
It’s important to match the power type and size to your need. Propane and carbon-burning space heaters are best left outdoors while electric and oil-filled heaters work well inside.
When you think of space heaters, chances are indoor space heaters come to mind. They can range from personal space heaters small enough for your home office to large units with enough power to warm your living room.
Electric space heaters and oil-filled space heaters can both be used indoors, but some fuel-burning models are best for outdoors or open spaces like your garage or patio.
You’ll come across a few common types of indoor space heaters: portable, radiant, and oil-filled. None of these categories are necessarily safer than others. It all depends on how well you take care of your space heater and how you use it.
The safety features that come with your space heater matter much more than what it’s made of. Look for overheat protection, timers, long cords, and tip over shut off.
A propane or kerosene heater is a good solution for a cold garage or back porch in the cold months, but they don’t belong indoors.
Space heaters that burn carbon-based fuels can release dangerous fumes like carbon monoxide, putting your whole household at risk.
These are a few common types of outdoor space heaters:
A space heater can be a great companion for winter outdoor activities. Here’s how to play it safe with these appliances:
Your space heater’s location and surroundings can make the difference between a cosy atmosphere and a fire hazard.
According to NSW Fire and Rescue, house fires increase up to 10% thanks to appliances like heaters and electric heaters.
Here are setup tips for space heaters so you can allocate more time for movie night and less time for worrying.
Space heaters require a lot of power to generate all that heat. Plug yours directly into the wall for the most secure electrical connection.
Using an extension cord or power strip might feel like a life hack, but we don’t recommend it. A loose connection can start a flame that can spread through your home in minutes.
Living rooms and bedrooms are among the most common places for fires to start in the home because of space heaters. So be sure to give yours room to do its job.
Set your portable space heater up at least a metre away from flammable objects like curtains, blankets, upholstery, or furniture. It only takes a few minutes for a blanket to catch fire from a space heater and spread to the couch or curtains.
Create a kid and pet-free zone around the space heater as well. Some models can have hot surfaces that can burn curious kids or pets.
When setting up your space heater, you may want to put it on a table, chair, or shelf to bask in the warmth. But even flat surfaces like these aren’t reliable.
We recommend keeping your portable space heater flat on the floor to avoid knocking it over. While many models turn off when they tip over, it’s safest to keep it low to the ground where it can’t fall.
Thankfully, many space heaters have features that minimise fire risks. If you’re shopping for a new space heater, look for one with these features.
If your space heater falls over, this feature turns it off automatically. This keeps it from scorching your carpet, rug, or anything below it. If you have kids or pets in your house, this is also a helpful feature. Just be sure to keep them far away from the space heater for extra safety.
Space heaters are designed to get hot, but too much heat can spread to flammable things in your room like bed sheets or curtains (yikes!). Check that your space heater has a temperature checker built in so it knows when to cool down.
Who doesn’t want to go to bed feeling all toasty and warm under the covers? Having a space heater in your room may make it feel more comfortable, but it’s a bad idea to fall asleep with one running if it doesn’t have a timer set.
You can find space heaters with timers as long as 12 hours, but we recommend running it for less time if you can help it.
Along with ventilation, heating (and cooling) accounts for 20-50% of energy use in Australian homes. Heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration equipment used more than 65,750 gigawatt hours of electricity in 2020. That's around 25% of all electricity produced in Australia that year.
You wouldn’t use a personal heater for your living room, so why use a giant space heater for a single apartment?
Consider the room you’ll put your space heater in and whether it can distribute heat evenly.
The fan feature is a common function on many new space heaters. Just like the fan on your air conditioner, this mode distributes heat without using the heating elements.
Run your space heater for a couple hours. Then, switch it to the fan mode to move the rest of the warm air through the house without using lots of energy.
The most energy efficient space heaters have smart eco modes that use less power to heat your home.
The longer you run the space heater, the more energy it uses. While you might want to keep the heater on all night while you sleep, it’s wasteful and potentially dangerous to leave it on for longer than a few hours.
Some heaters have a built-in timer that will turn off the unit after a certain amount of time. Use your heater to warm the house when you get home; then switch to a more energy-efficient way of staying toasty.
After all, jumpers, cosy blankets, warm socks, and hot chocolate are always en vogue during the winter months.
No. Space heaters are already a fire hazard, especially in a small area full of flammable materials like bedding and clothes. Instead, consider an electric blanket with an automatic shut-off for your winter hibernation.
If you need a heater while you sleep, look for one with a built-in timer that will turn off after a couple of hours.
Heat and lots of it. Regardless of your heater’s size or power source, it produces a lot of heat in a short amount of time. All that power can start an electrical fire or spread from a blanket or curtain touching the unit.
The material inside a space heater isn’t as important as its safety features. The safest space heaters have fire-preventative features like overheat protection, automatic shut off, timers, and long cords.
