Cove Heaters

Nebraska Cowman · Dec 19, 2014

When I come in from working on my old tractors I like the bathroom to be warm. The bath is at the back of the house and the only heat is what comes through the open door. So naturally it is always on the cool side. I have been using a 1500 watt electric "milkhouse" heater but it isn't hardly enough. A couple of outfits are trying to talk me into a cove heater. They say a 1200 watt 8 footer will fix me right up. Are they blowing smoke? Will a 1200 watt cove do what a 1500 watt portable won't?

showcrop · Dec 19, 2014

When I bought my house, which is about 170 years old, it had just been rehabbed with all new systems and walls etc, but there was no heat in the main bathroom except for an electric unit mounted on an inner wall. Before we moved in I drilled holes through the wall between the bath and an adjacent bedroom, and ran the baseboard forced hot water through the wall to the bathroom. It keeps the bathroom nice and warm. Describe your heating system and the layout of your rooms and probably the in- house heating gurus can tell you an economical way to heat your bathroom.

Bob Harvey · Dec 19, 2014

Have you tried one of those (looks like a steam radiator) oil filled jobs ? Cost about $60. Work great. Has a timer and thermostat in.

dpendzic · Dec 19, 2014

a cove heater is a radiant heater--so you do feel warmer when the rays strike you or objects in the room

Bob · Dec 19, 2014

WOW! It must be a BIG or very CCCOLD bathroom is 5100 BTU's won't heat it!

David G · Dec 19, 2014

You can get electric warm tiles for the bathroom.

VicS · Dec 19, 2014

I think 1500 watts are 1500watts. heating oil doesn't make them bigger. Have two of those old barn heater type in our hunting cabin. One heats the bathroom and the other the down stairs bedroom. Will do it on the 1200 watt setting and the fan on medium. Don't have to run all the time when it is down to 20 F. Do have a warm morning LP stove in the main room. We just have 1/2 foam board, silver on one side. for insulation. Vic

Chris Jones · Dec 19, 2014

I wanted a warm bathroom too. I had an electric baseboard heater in there from before adding the heatpump to the house but I have to turn it on so far ahead of time to warm the room up that it was not really helpful.

Didn't find a good inexpensive answer. Best I could do was replace the exhaust fan with a heat lamp/exhaust fan combo unit. Lots of hotels/motels used to have those heat lamps--don't know if they do any more or not. It helps when standing right under it but it's not great.

teddy52food · Dec 19, 2014

Any time you have a fan running , the heater has to be much warmer to feel right. Especially when you are wet out of the shower.

T in NE · Dec 19, 2014

Radiant heaters work pretty good. Much better than an element and fan. Pick up a small one next time in town and set it by your milk house heater. Bet it will warm you more.
And the milk house heaters have a habit of melting a wire out of a spade connector behind the t-stat.

todd hamilton · Dec 20, 2014

We rented a house a few years ago with a huge master bathroom but the heat from the vent wouldn't warm it. We got one of the oil filled radiators worked great, safe, won't burn you, no fumes. We have since moved a didn't need it anymore. However my sister's guest room is cold in the wintertime when we stay there, she got a present from us

NoNewParts · Dec 20, 2014

cold winters, ever climbing heat costs.
We just have to adapt.
My big old house gets pretty small in the winter with rooms closed off.
If a room/area doesn't have a door, a blanket hung up as a door works well.
And then we have to adjust our schedules.
Shower? half hour before, door gets shut, or blanket let down, heater in there turned on.(those small milkhouse heaters work fine then.)
'nature calls' no preheat...we deal with it, it's still warmer than an outhouse.

It's really not a big deal when you get used to it.
Our ancestors did it, heating and living in 1 room.
Really ain't no different than summer with a window air conditioner in only one room.
Where is everybody?....in that room LOL

2underage · Dec 20, 2014

No.. you will only get out of any heater the same as you put in. All those other out put claims are just B.S. to sucker you into buying their product. Remember P.T. Barnum said "there is a sucker born every minute."

farmboy48 · Dec 20, 2014

I put 2 1200 watt cove heaters in a 12x12 bedroom I added back in the 70's, you could feel warmth on your body when in the room, but seemed the air temp felt cool. I think the waterbed at that time did more to heat the room than the heaters. As for watts to watts, any heater with a 1500 watt rating will put out the same heat, be it cove, infrared, milkhouse or whatever. Lot of people used to call and complain about their electric bill being so high in winter, since they had one of those advertised to cut your heat bill 30%. I used to tell them "sure your gas/oil bill will go down, but you just added a pile to your electric bill. And electric heat is more costly than fuel, unless your power co. has an electric heat rate metered separately.

Dick ND

T in NE · Dec 21, 2014

I plug my bathtub drain and put a fan on it before I
leave. No sense letting that heat go down the drain
and it helps add some moisture to the air.

rankrank1 · Dec 21, 2014

I too like the bathroom a little warmer than the rest of the house when I get wet.

For a small bathroom those deluxe units that replace the 2 mode ceiling light/exhaust fan with a 3-mode 1500 watt heater, ceiling light, and exhaust fan work great as supplemental heat to remove the chill.

I have done 4 bathrooms like this and it is wonderful to flip that unit on for 10 minutes or less to remove the chill from the room. Do not have to worry about tripping over it or the heater getting knocked into the tub and electrocuting anyone either. They are just the ticket for a small bathroom IMOP and very affordable too.

Cove Heaters

Nebraska Cowman

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showcrop

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Bob Harvey

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dpendzic

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Bob

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David G

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VicS

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Chris Jones

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teddy52food

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T in NE

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todd hamilton

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NoNewParts

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2underage

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farmboy48

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T in NE

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rankrank1

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