Customer Reviews

Holmes HFH111T-U Heater Fan with Comfort-Control Thermostat

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Living in the snow belt of NY state and using space heaters as the main source of heat in my home for the last few winters, I know a thing or two about them. I haven't been able to afford a heating oil delivery, so naturally, I turned to electric heat.

My first heater purchase was a highly rated $75 radiant heater which was alright, except it was pretty darn big, and the heat it provided seemed so-so for the price I paid. The next one was a $50 bionaire heater which was still rather large and so-so for the price I paid.

Being on a budget, my next two heaters were this particular one. I love how small they are, and it can get downright HOT, even on the coldest nights if you don't have it on medium/low. I had them running almost on a constant basis for 6 months, 2 years running, and this is the third year and have had no issues with them quitting on me. I did go and buy them from a physical store, so maybe bad handling was the case with others who had a problem with it.

Anyway, on the subject of electric bills, mine were pretty high. A winter of electric bills was pretty much equivalent to a winters worth of heating oil, but at least I didn't have to pay that in a lump sum, up front.

This heater is not a bad heater if you don't mind the noise. We bought it for our baby's room and took it back next day. When the heater goes on it is just too noisy so our baby would wake up. It is cheap, it works but it is awful noisy.

I bought this heater 2 years ago. For my laundry room to keep my dog and her 10 puppies warm through the cold winter. Warmed the room within 10 mins and if kept on high it was too DARN HOT! Best thing about this heater if the pups ever knoked it over it shut off. After two years of having this heater it hasn't failed me yet. And it has been thrown knocked over and stomped on by my dogs. Very Harty heater does a great job! Of and my laundry room has a dog door and windows all around so not very insulated. I would run it 6 hours a day every day and didn't even see a change in the pge bill

I needed a couple of new inexpensive space heaters so I decided to do a bake off between this LASKO 754200 and the HOLMES HFH111T.

Both have a single fan speed, and a choice of fan only, low heat, and high heat.
Both have a thermostat which will turn the unit off once the desired temperature is reached.
Both have internal over temperature protection which needs to be reset by unplugging the device and letting things cool down.

LASKO PLUS

The light is lit if the unit is plugged in so you know if it's plugged in by a look only. I want to leave space heaters unplugged when I'm not around and this makes it easy to tell.

Quieter than HOLMES: ~55DB vs the HOLMES 60DB

Seems more efficient at heating a given volume of air. Passing my hand in front of either unit at about 18 inches away with heat on high, my hand got rather hot with the LASKO which seemed to have good even hot air distribution over an arc +/-20 degrees of center, but the HOLMES air distribution seemed uneven with more air going to one side, and my hand never got uncomfortable.

HOLMES PLUS

Simpler packaging: no internal packaging.... LASKO had: 2 pieces of pressed formed cardboard, plastic wrapping and tape to recycle.

The light is lit once the switch is no longer in the OFF position, even if the thermostat has caused the fan to turn off. Thus you can look at the light to know that the heater *may* be on. With the LASKO you need to look at the switch to make sure it's going to stay off.

More sensitive thermostat. It takes only a 5 or 10 degree rotation to get the thermostat to go on or off, while the LASKO took about 30 degrees.

May very well move more air for the noise.

Tip over protection. It has a weight on a switch. If the unit leaves vertical by more then 60 degrees tipping front or back, the unit will shut off.

BOTTOM LINE

If no kids or cats I'd recommend LASKO. If tip over is a concern, the the HOLMES is an acceptable low cost solution.

The LASKO will go in my office where I will appreciate the quiet and the more direct heat, and the HOMES will in the bathroom where the noise and uneven direct heating is less of an issue.

First of all, I agree with prior reviewers that this unit is very noisy vs. other forced air space heaters.

The primary reason for my negative review, though, is that I think this unit is downright dangerous. I used this unit on the "low" setting for about 12 mos (used only in winter months). It worked fine. Today, for the first time, I used it on the high setting. It had been on for about one hour, when one of the internal supports for the heating coils collapsed. This caused the coils to collapse into the metal fan, which then caused a short. A huge flame shot out of the front of the unit and turned the plastic housing black. If I hadn't been sitting there to unplug it immediately who knows what might have happened. This unit has basically never been moved, so the weakness in the support is not due to operator misuse. It is likely a manufacturing and/or design issue.

Very poor design. It's cheap for a reason. Don't risk your safety for a few bucks.

I own this Heater & I highly recommened it, I use it in my bathroom & it is very warm & yet it is a quite heater & I like the shut off safty feature... I accidently tipped it over & it shut off very fast & did not come on again until I reset it.... if you're looking for a small, but warm heater....THIS IS THE ONE!!!!!

I've had all kinds of electric heaters over the years--ceramic, oscillating, electronic with wireless remote... This is the best. Unlike the ceramic heaters, its open-coil design never clogs up with dust and lint. Unlike the fancy digital heaters, its mechanical thermostat never gets confused or forgets its setting. It's compact, quiet, reliable, and produces lots of heat (I usually run it on the low 750W setting). And it's cheap. Highly recommended!

I have only had this a few days but I love it so far. It is very compact and has a strong fan, with a nice "gust" of warm air. I have a room that gets really cold in the winter. I have set it on low/medium because it got too hot in the room when I put it on a higher setting. I have it on all night and the outside of the fan never gets hot. There is one small spot where I can feel that it is slightly warm. It turns off after about 10 seconds when it tips over. It is like a typical heater in a house where it gets the room to a certain temperature (based on the setting you choose) and it will turn on and off to maintain that temperature. It is slightly loud but not bothersome. It does scare my cats though. It is a good deal for how cheap it was.

I have a very small, 5x8 bathroom in the basement that gets quite chilly during the colder months. Most heaters are simply a little too much for such a tiny space. The problem with the small space heater line is that most of them are simply cheap. They get really hot for their size and unfortunately seem to burn out rather prematurely compared to beefier models. This little Holmes unit I bought locally is as good as they come quality wise for the money. There was one other unit I saw a little cheaper at the same store. However it was a low, flat model that was designed more as a shelf unit. That model had the control knob on the side which was a pain to get at and operate unless you held the unit still with the other hand. This Holmes model stands upright and has its controls conveniently at the top, where they belong in my opinion. It has two levels of heat and a fan only option. Although just about all of these small models have a high and low setting for heat, the higher one usually being 1500 watts, I neither recommend buying one that carries just the high setting alone, nor do I consider it necessary or economical running any of these small heaters on the high setting for any length of time. They are all capable and safe to operate at that wattage, but the heaters get very hot at that setting, and running it almost exclusively on high is what tends to burn them out prematurely in my opinion. I would suggest anyone buying one of these economy units to run them on the lower settings as much as possible. They may need a little more time to provide the same level of comfort you desire, but they will not get so hot to handle that you cannot pick it up or get that close to it. And it will end up lasting you years longer than running it full throttle. Mine is going on three years old now and still looks and operates like new.

In short, their are only a couple of models in this line that are slightly cheaper than this unit. Both are made by companies that I have never seen in stores. That is not a condemnation, simply an observation. Holmes heaters are available everywhere, and are probably the oldest company around in the field of small space heaters. I recommend this model for your small heating needs. I think its convenient to operate, safe and durable, and the very best of the economy line of space heaters...

This heater has a great price but several flaws:

1. The thermostat is so sensitive that the heater comes on and shuts off about every 30 seconds.

2. When it turns on it dims light and you here an electrical arc. Other space heaters used at the same location do not have the dimming effect.

3. Very little heat production. You can keep your hand right against this heater and it is luke warm at best.

4. The tilt sensor arcs out whenever activated.

5. When my toddler jumps up and down on the floor he often causes the heater to stop or start.

Returned it to Amazon for a refund, we went with the Honeywell HZ-370GP and it is 100%