The highs this weekend here in Philadelphia were in the forties, with lows in the thirties. Winter came early this year! Our house is big enough that we don’t use more than half of the rooms on a regular basis so we don’t like to run the central heat because it wastes so much energy. Since we moved in here we’ve been keeping the heater at 60 and just using space heaters to keep the rooms we use warmer. Last year it was a little chillier than we would’ve liked so we decided to get another space heater.ed doing research on what kind of heater we should get, who had the best prices, etc.. During my search I came across micathermic heaters, apparently this is the lastest advancement in space heater technology. They are lighweight, have a flat panel design, heat up shockingly fast, and are arguably more efficient. Being the gadget nut that I am I decided this was the heater for us! I found a highly rated model (based on amazon ratings) available at Home Depot for $40 less than a comparable model at Lowes (research before shopping pays off). They are admittedly more expensive than other types of space heaters and don’t use less energy than a similarly sized ceramic or oil filled space heater but so far, in my opinion, it was worth the money.

Previously we had been using one 1500W oil filled radiator style heater and a 1500W ceramic tower style heater to heat our living room area. Together they would keep the area above seventy when it was in the thirties outside. So far since we got the micathermic heater, which is also 1500W, we’ve been using it alone and it has been in the thirties in the evenings and it has been able to keep it at seventy.  When you add how quickly it heats up and actually starts warming the room I am very impressed. Another cool feature is that since it is so lightweight you can even mount it on the wall like a flat panel tv, this is a big benefit for people with children or slow witted pets because the front can get quite hot. (My dog and cat can both sense the heat and don’t touch, unless yours are debilitated they should be able to tell it’s hot.) Being able to mount it out of reach puts it far above most other space heaters out there.