Oil Filled Radiant Heater Issue

[EppsDynasty]

So this morning when I walked into the Tort room it was cold.....what the @#*%. I have a 1500 watt Soleil Oil Filled Radiant heater backed up by a Inkbird 1800 watt temperature controller so this exact problem would not happen. It seems the switch that shuts the heater down if "Tipped Over" has failed. A it shut down the heater without being tipped over. I wiggled the heater and it came back on so I left it for 10 minutes to see if it would shut down on it's own again. Within 5 minutes the room was filled with the smell of "Electrical Burning." So junk now and will never use this companies products ever again. Their warranty is for a 1 year period on Materials, Parts and Workmanship .... So you mean the company is admitting that the Material the heater is made of (Metal) can fail after a year. You mean to tell me that the parts in it can fail after just 1 year ... and the company is fully admitting this ...
So I went online to order a new one and found almost all of them have the same "Limited Warranty" and at their discretion they can decide to not fix it even within the 1 year warranty. Oil filled Heaters do not dry out the air so they are perfect for tort heating but does anyone here know of a GOOD brand that stands behind their product. I CAN NOT risk burning down a house over a $100 piece of S*%T. Our "Tort Room" is actually a Home on our property that we heat for the SOLE purpose of keeping Torts and Turtles warm. If I can not find a RELIABLE heater I will be forced to go a different route such as a Ceramic Element heater with a Humidifier over it to compensate for the Desiccant effects of the heater.

 

[SinLA]

I bought one locally 20 years ago when I moved not aware that Santa Monica is COLD and old apartments only have a heater in the living room. I still use it today. Its a Delonghi

 

[Len B]

I find the older ones last longer than the new ones. Check for used older heaters at thrift stores. And if you have a Nextdoor site in your area ask your neighbors if anyone has one they are willing to sell. I've never paid more than $20 for one. I do buy the new mini heaters because I haven't come across a used mini for sale. Also check out the chicken heater and brooder at Tractor Supply, they may work for what you are trying to heat. I use them in a couple of my tortoise houses.

 

[EppsDynasty]

Thank you @SinLA and @Len B.

 

[wellington]

I find the older ones last longer than the new ones. Check for used older heaters at thrift stores. And if you have a Nextdoor site in your area ask your neighbors if anyone has one they are willing to sell. I've never paid more than $20 for one. I do buy the new mini heaters because I haven't come across a used mini for sale. Also check out the chicken heater and brooder at Tractor Supply, they may work for what you are trying to heat. I use them in a couple of my tortoise houses.

Totally agree with this. The newer ones don't last long. The safety crap on them makes them crap. Since 2014, when I had to buy the newer ones, I have had 3 fail. Lasting only two years tops. One actually rusted thru and leaked it's oil substance over the floor.
I always keep at least one new one on hand. I just got one yesterday, as one of mine isn't working all the time. It's only two winters old, actually one and half. I use two in my shed when/if our temps get below freezing because one won't go high enough in its temps before shutting off.
I have used the De'Longhi one and it's the same as the rest. Older ones lasted a lot longer.

 

[SinLA]

I am struggling with the idea of something 20 years ago is so "old" now. I remember buying it like it was yesterday!

 

[Yvonne G]

I've been using the same Delonghi oil filled radiant heater every winter in my greenhouse for over 20 years. It has two settings, 600v and 1200v, with dial from 1-6 on each setting. I use the lower voltage and dial it midway. (I'm writing this from memory as I'm too lazy to get up and look at the heater, so the numbers may be off) All I'm aiming for is to keep the plants above 50°F, and at these settings it does the job.

 

[Cathie G]

Amen to all of the above. Especially delonghi. I still have one that's the original for Sapphire. It's been going on 18 years I have several of the digital ones. I hate them. And they will fail. I've had that happen. But I do disagree with one thing. They do dry out the air. So we just need to compensate for that with some humidity through a humidifier system of some kind..

 

[Cathie G]

I've been using the same Delonghi oil filled radiant heater every winter in my greenhouse for over 20 years. It has two settings, 600v and 1200v, with dial from 1-6 on each setting. I use the lower voltage and dial it midway. (I'm writing this from memory as I'm too lazy to get up and look at the heater, so the numbers may be off) All I'm aiming for is to keep the plants above 50°F, and at these settings it does the job.

I've been using the same Delonghi oil filled radiant heater every winter in my greenhouse for over 20 years. It has two settings, 600v and 1200v, with dial from 1-6 on each setting. I use the lower voltage and dial it midway. (I'm writing this from memory as I'm too lazy to get up and look at the heater, so the numbers may be off) All I'm aiming for is to keep the plants above 50°F, and at these settings it does the job.

The numbers aren't off.🤗

 

[Yvonne G]

I have two occupied Vision enclosures in my reptile room. They are heated with a radiant heat panel in each.

My house is heated by a wood stove and I'm frequently too lazy to make a fire, plus when there IS a fire it doesn't last through the night.

At the beginning of cold weather my enclosures were showing in the 60's in the morning. So I set up a little 25 watt CHE in each. Still not warm enough. So I safely hung a 250 watt brooder light in the center of the room which is on day and night, and i keep the door to the room closed. problem solved. Each enclosure now shows 85°F in the morning.

I didn't like heating the whole room, but that's what it took to get the enclosures warm enough.

 

[Maggie3fan]

I bought one locally 20 years ago when I moved not aware that Santa Monica is COLD and old apartments only have a heater in the living room. I still use it today. Its a Delonghi

My DeLonghi is 19 years old it's on 24/7

 

[wellington]

Yeah, the problem is, all of yours are all old. They did last. The new ones do not, even the De'Longhi ones.
Take care of your old ones, you will hate the new ones.

 

[Cathie G]

The numbers aren't off.🤗

Also when you use both buttons at the same time it ups the heat even more. They are so efficient though I've never had to do that.

 

[Yvonne G]

Also when you use both buttons at the same time it ups the heat even more. They are so efficient though I've never had to do that.

To anyone wanting to try this option - DON'T unless you stay right there and monitor it. The cord isn't heavy enough to handle it for very long.

I did that and almost burned down my house.

 

[wellington]

To anyone wanting to try this option - DON'T unless you stay right there and monitor it. The cord isn't heavy enough to handle it for very long.

I did that and almost burned down my house.

If you mean using both buttons in order to use the full 1500 watts, I use the full 1500 watts, both buttons 24/7 in the winter on one the other is on a thermostat. Then a ceiling fan runs 24/7 in winter too. When it's above 32 and into the upper 30's, 40's they both run on a thermostat.
Never use them on an extension cord though. That could cause a fire.

 

[Tom]

So this morning when I walked into the Tort room it was cold.....what the @#*%. I have a 1500 watt Soleil Oil Filled Radiant heater backed up by a Inkbird 1800 watt temperature controller so this exact problem would not happen. It seems the switch that shuts the heater down if "Tipped Over" has failed. A it shut down the heater without being tipped over. I wiggled the heater and it came back on so I left it for 10 minutes to see if it would shut down on it's own again. Within 5 minutes the room was filled with the smell of "Electrical Burning." So junk now and will never use this companies products ever again. Their warranty is for a 1 year period on Materials, Parts and Workmanship .... So you mean the company is admitting that the Material the heater is made of (Metal) can fail after a year. You mean to tell me that the parts in it can fail after just 1 year ... and the company is fully admitting this ...
So I went online to order a new one and found almost all of them have the same "Limited Warranty" and at their discretion they can decide to not fix it even within the 1 year warranty. Oil filled Heaters do not dry out the air so they are perfect for tort heating but does anyone here know of a GOOD brand that stands behind their product. I CAN NOT risk burning down a house over a $100 piece of S*%T. Our "Tort Room" is actually a Home on our property that we heat for the SOLE purpose of keeping Torts and Turtles warm. If I can not find a RELIABLE heater I will be forced to go a different route such as a Ceramic Element heater with a Humidifier over it to compensate for the Desiccant effects of the heater.

Tom's tips:
-Never buy the kind with the tip over feature, or one that can be set digitally. I disable the tip over feature if it has one, but now I just don't buy those. The digital ones reset to factory settings every time the power goes off, and...
-Always run them on a separate reptile thermostat that is rated to handle the wattage. Doing this kills the power to the unit and resets the digital types to factory settings, mine was 65 degrees, so we can't use the digital ones. I buy the most basic "stripped" models I can find.
-Mine all have two switches. Low is 600 watts. Medium is 900 watts. Turn both on at the same time for High, which is then 1500 watts. ONLY use these heaters on low, as Yvonne said. Don't even touch that other switch. If low won't do it, add a second heater. If that doesn't do it, you need a different heating strategy. I use one on low for my whole reptile room. In December, January and February, when temps occasionally drop to near freezing at night I set up a second heater on a separate thermostat. This keeps it 80 all the time.

 

[Yvonne G]

This is what happened one day when I turned the heater on high for a quick bedroom warm up, walked away to tend to other stuff. Good thing I came back when I did. This was one of the original Delonghi oil filled radiator type heaters.

 

[EppsDynasty]

View attachment 366313View attachment 366314

This is what happened one day when I turned the heater on high for a quick bedroom warm up, walked away to tend to other stuff. Good thing I came back when I did. This was one of the original Delonghi oil filled radiator type heaters.

HOLY %^$# ... I can say with 100% confidence that that outlet was NOT a 20 amp line. That is clearly a 15 amp line and outlet. To avoid this completely and never have to worry about the outlet or wire in the wall I ran all brand new wire and outlets all rated for 20 amp.

Tom's tips:
-Never buy the kind with the tip over feature, or one that can be set digitally. I disable the tip over feature if it has one, but now I just don't buy those. The digital ones reset to factory settings every time the power goes off, and...
-Always run them on a separate reptile thermostat that is rated to handle the wattage. Doing this kills the power to the unit and resets the digital types to factory settings, mine was 65 degrees, so we can't use the digital ones. I buy the most basic "stripped" models I can find.
-Mine all have two switches. Low is 600 watts. Medium is 900 watts. Turn both on at the same time for High, which is then 1500 watts. ONLY use these heaters on low, as Yvonne said. Don't even touch that other switch. If low won't do it, add a second heater. If that doesn't do it, you need a different heating strategy. I use one on low for my whole reptile room. In December, January and February, when temps occasionally drop to near freezing at night I set up a second heater on a separate thermostat. This keeps it 80 all the time.

I use the same 2 switch heaters 600, 900 and 1500 watt. I have an Inkbird 1800 watt temperature controller on it.. So I was thinking of taking the "tip over" device out completely as you said. What stopped me is their admission that materials and parts only are expected to be failure free for 1 year. Where in the hell is a 10 year warranty, even a 5 year? It's an oil filled heater not a device with moving parts and complex designs. The issue I have with heat is this ... The home is a 1965 mobile home and even in a room 9'x7' (master) 900 watts or more is needed to warm it up. I can just imagine how efficient 1965 insulation is, or was. It is clear I am wasting lots of money heating this structure BUT I have no other option. This year my wife and I are going to try and build a Tortoise House 20'x20' if financially we can swing it. This year None of our torts Brumated, not by our choice so we're stuck with this until it warms up. Plan better and next winter be in a position to Fridge brumate is the plan.
Thank you for the responses.

 

[wellington]

HOLY %^$# ... I can say with 100% confidence that that outlet was NOT a 20 amp line. That is clearly a 15 amp line and outlet. To avoid this completely and never have to worry about the outlet or wire in the wall I ran all brand new wire and outlets all rated for 20 amp.

I use the same 2 switch heaters 600, 900 and 1500 watt. I have an Inkbird 1800 watt temperature controller on it.. So I was thinking of taking the "tip over" device out completely as you said. What stopped me is their admission that materials and parts only are expected to be failure free for 1 year. Where in the hell is a 10 year warranty, even a 5 year? It's an oil filled heater not a device with moving parts and complex designs. The issue I have with heat is this ... The home is a 1965 mobile home and even in a room 9'x7' (master) 900 watts or more is needed to warm it up. I can just imagine how efficient 1965 insulation is, or was. It is clear I am wasting lots of money heating this structure BUT I have no other option. This year my wife and I are going to try and build a Tortoise House 20'x20' if financially we can swing it. This year None of our torts Brumated, not by our choice so we're stuck with this until it warms up. Plan better and next winter be in a position to Fridge brumate is the plan.
Thank you for the responses.

Totally agree, it's not the heater but the wiring of the socket that caused that to happen.
Like I said above, mine runs 1500 watt 24/7 in winter. Very seldom does it get turned down.

 

[Cathie G]

To anyone wanting to try this option - DON'T unless you stay right there and monitor it. The cord isn't heavy enough to handle it for very long.

I did that and almost burned down my house.

I've never had to try that option but I hear you.. I've seen electric cords blow apart. It's crazy so thanks it's time to check wires in our home 🤗 TFO strikes again. This is the same subject my family and I have been discussing for days 😜...usually I just use the lowest option or the higher option button. I don't use both at the same time and just dial it from 1-6. I never half to go above 5 . That room gets a lot of sunlight even in the winter and that helps too. I love then. If needed I'll have the cord replaced on my old delonghi though.