With home heating oil so expensive this year, I am considering ordering a Hydrosil portable heater for my living room. My dear husband sits in the living room during the winter with the furnace wide open and I am wondering if I purchase one if I can get by with less gas heat?
This will run on 110 v and has a thermostat that you can set. Once the room becomes the temp you want it will shut itself off. I just want some input on this product if anyone has used them before.
They aren't real expensive but I hate to spend a couple of hundred dollars and have it not make a difference in our heating costs.
TIA!~
Cookiepom
I bought a Hydrosil portable heater a couple of years ago, used it once and then put it in the garage. I do plan on giving it another try this year though because of the high cost of gas heat.
If I remember correctly, it did not come with a guarantee or else I have to believe I would have sent it back. The only info I could find on it was from their own website and I would expect that to be very biased.
There is no fan on it and I never felt its warmth. I tried it in the fall before I ever turned on the furnace so I did not expect it to perform well in cold weather as it did so poorly in cool weather . Baking something in the oven provided a greater heat source.
I hope this helps you. I would still like to see some responses though from actual customers saying they had great success before I go digging around in the garage for this oversized, space heater that I can't see providing much heat.
(09/11/2005)
By Catherine
I was thinking about purchasing a Hydrosil portable heater, but before I decided to purchase from Hydrosil.com, I did a check through the Better Business Bureau on the company. Based on the BBB's report, the company had an unsatisfactory business record based on sales practice issues, refund issues, and service repair issues. So, I have decided that I will not waste my money on this product. It seemed too good to be true anyway. (11/15/2005)
By Cathy
This is a shame. It looks like a wonderful idea. In the future, when we are harnessing more solar and wind power, electric heat will be the way to go. A clean source of electricity and heat. (12/02/2005)
By John
We purchased five units for 2 homes and are exremely satisfied with the performance. Also we had a problem with a part being left out of one of hte packings and the company responded quickly to the problem and sent it right away.
Our electricity bill changed very little in both homes and the gas bill was about the same as last year although it would have doubled had we not had the heaters as it's increased so much. Areas we placed the heaters are toasty warm. We set our thermostat and they kick in with the proper amount of supplemental heat.
By ET and Sue
If you can control your existing system and not heat unused space beyond a minimum, I can't see how Hydrosil can help. It's electric heat, and a certain number of watts produces a certain amount of heat, no matter what the medium. You might as well use any electric space heater that suits the space, maybe an oil-filled radiator, a radiant unit or whatever. (07/23/2006)
By Ray
I purchased one this summer, because I am not looking forward to facing another cold year in our 115 year old home. We have electric heat that is not only expensive, but useless with our 12 foot ceilings. We tried space heaters, adding plastic to the windows, insulating the attic and under the floors, and put in a gas fireplace.
I'm going to hydrosil to order a few more heaters. It really does seem to work. (10/24/2006)
By Pam
I purchased hydrosil heaters to heat 5 rooms on my third floor. I haven't had a reason to turn them on just yet so my comments are only about customer service. It was wonderful. Ordering was easy. They were very helpful with sizing the radiators to the rooms. Shipping was fast. My electrician tells me the installation instructions were clear and they were easy to install. One room is octagonal and I screwed up on the size of the wall and had to exchange a heater. They were very accomodating. So far its been a good experience. (11/01/2006)
By Tracy LaRou
I've had 2 customer experiences with Hydrosil:
1) I installed 2 six foot sections connected to their programmable thermostat. Worked as well as can be expected.
2) I ordered 2 additional six foot sections with a programmable thermostat for each. Upon receipt, both heaters were extremely banged up; scratched and bent in several places. Hydrosil replaced them. Upon receipt of the second set, only one of them was bent this time. It was bent in the back so I didn't make a big deal. Now to hook them up. My electrician wired them and couldn't get the thermostats to work. Hydrosil tech support treated him like an idiot only to come to the conclusion that the thermostats were defective. Now to replace them. Hydrosil actually wanted us to call the thermostat manufacturer that they sub to so that they would replace them even though we ordered the units from them. Customer service was awful. The service rep cut me off many times...refused to let me finish a sentance...didn't want to listen to the whole customer experience story. What are they paying this guy for? I'm still waiting on replacements. Meanwhile I have $960.00 dollars of equipment installed and not functional in the middle of winter. GOOD TIMES!!!! I would not use hydrosil again.
(12/29/2006)
By Chris
I have purchased a Hydro-Sil heater and it was the biggest mistake of my life. It doesn't put out ANY warmth. I called the company and was laughed at and rudely told it does not come with any guarantee. They were very pleasant when I bought the unit but absolutely the rudest people when I had a problem. It has never worked and I can't get anyone to do anything about it. Don't make my mistake. (01/07/2007)
By mary williams
My elderly mother converted her 40+ year home from oil heat to Hydrosil heat. We cannot say enough good things about the heat. The silicon heat technology and LIFETIME warranty are the absolute best way to go with heat. The electrician that installed the heaters called Hydrosil several times and found the customer service to be excellent. I would recommend Hydrosil to anybody. The electrician decided to order these heaters for his home. (01/08/2007)
By Dean Hicks
I have both portable heaters and permanent heaters from Hydrosil. I have never been happier with a heating source. One of my portable heaters was damaged in shipping, but I realized it to be the carrier, not Hydrosil. Hydrosil did however, replace my portable at no cost to me. They could not have been more helpful. I highly recommend their products! (01/09/2007)
By Kathy
Wow. I had made my mind up to purchase a hydrosil heater until I read all the neg feedbacks. This can't be good so as my grand dad would say if it sounds to good to be true then it usually isn't. Thank God for feedbacks. How can this company survive?(quote)(/quote) (02/14/2007)
By terry lawrence
I, too, was about to purchase an 8-ft unit for an addition, but this product is either wonderful or awful. Before I have my electrician install it, it would be nice to see a few more positive posts that are recent. (03/16/2007)
By Susan
I have a 5 ft portable for my master bedroom which the unit is too small (190 sq ft.)for. I ran a test today in my computer room which is 130 sq ft. My main objective is comfort and electric cost. I locked myself in the computer room for 3 hours and turned my gas heat off. It's a 30 degree day. I turned the unit all the way up until it was warmmmm.Then I kicked it backed to about 5 or 6. I put a thermometer in the room. The room was about 68 to 70 degrees and it really felt warm from head to toe. So I have my comfort. So what about electric cost. I really don't know that since the whole house is not being heated this way. I called the company and worked with a tech rep that was just wonderful.
He said my cost would be a liitle over ten dollars a month for this room keeping it at 70 degrees on a zero temp day. The heat light that tells when the electricity is been used only came on about 15 to 20 minutes in a hour. That's where the silicon comes in. I'm planning to build a new home. So what I saw for myself, this probably is the heating source I want to use. The unit was not on all the time in this test situation.
It could differ for others based on how insulated your home is and how high your ceiling are plus the temp outside. Here is direct heat w/o having heat travel thru ducts. The permenant heaters with the wall thermostat are 10% more efficient then the portable ones because they are 220v vs 110V based on Hydrol-Sil's comments. Also don't buy heaters too small for the room. They will over work and cost you more electric. The 130 sq. ft room test for this size heater was (In my opinion) an accurate test.
(04/06/2007)
By Randy
My wife and I have installed Hydrosil Heaters in each room of our house. We are very pleased with the convenience and operation of the Hydrosil. We especially like the clean air, and the ability to use or not use a heater in each room.
As good as the heaters are, I am writing this letter because you have a gentleman by the name of Jay Strause in sales who was very kind and helpful.
With my business I have had contact with many people and I can honestly tell you that Jay Strause is one of the best people I have ever dealt with. I have and do appreciate his help and he is also very informative.
(04/16/2007)
By Wil Leese
I have been researching Hydrosil, as I want to convert my garage into a heated workshop. Based on the comments I have seen on Hydrosil, it would interesting to know if any of these posts are from people living in New England. As cold as winters get up here, I want to ensure that the space I heat with Hydrosil in the garage (after insulating) will not be a waste of $$. Since the company is out of SC, it makes me wonder if these units work best in "warmer" climates. Any advice is welcome. (05/28/2007)
I did the 4/6/07 post about the product. I live by Chicago so it gets cold here by Lake Michigan. Hydro-sil claims they sell to many cold areas in the country. I have a portable one from the company.
I did the test in a 130 sq ft bedroom and I was impressed. Please read my post. (05/28/2007)
By RFJack
I did the post from 4/6/07. I live by Chicago so it really gets cold here. The company claims that they sell to many cold areas in the country. (05/28/2007)
By Randy
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