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When I first shopped for this item, there were no reviews here, DeLonghi was not much help, and the manual they published on their website did not show the back of the heater. They mentioned "wall mounting" in the MARKETING information. Why wasn't this part of the USER MANUAL? Trust me, if you have a problem and go to the manufacturer, they will tell you to refer to the manual -NOT to a website listing that may be long gone.But it's hardly the most important feature of this product, so it doesn't seem helpful that somebody would go to the trouble to log on here, refute my earlier comments, but say nothing about the heater's performance AS A HEATER.
Well, I now have two of them, and I will try to give some idea what it is like. Unfortunately, it's a mixed message.
GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS.
One of the two units I ordered was shipped in its retail carton. That box was beat up terribly in transit. However -surprise -the heater that came in it works fine (so far). So ironically, the beat up box is where we get the good news.
THE GOOD NEWS. I think this product is just great, in the set of features, and the design. It uses DeLonghi's "ECC" -a very cool feature (I have other DeLonghi models that use it, too). To see it in action, you need to set the "power" (wattage consumption) control to High.
Again, to clarify: the "power" switch does not change the target temperature. It changes how warm the coils get, which in effect controls how quickly the heater warms things up. In anything but a really cold setting, this feature can really cut down on wasted electricity by dropping out of high, to medium or low, once the room is mostly warm.
To pick a desired temperature, you use its thermostat dial, which is not terribly precise, but which is typical for a device like this. The numbers on the thermostat dial are white on white -a really invisible way to mark a control dial! And they have only vague relation to actual Farenheit degrees. They'll get you into the ballpark, but fine tuning will be up to you and your senses (or a separate thermometer, if you have one).
You find a temperature setting that you're comfortable with, and once that's done, presumably you can leave it there from day to day. If one had to constantly reset that dial -for example, if it is used by different people with different tastes, or whatever -I suppose it could be a drag. But it's a fairly inexpensive device, and has a lot of other features, so I can live with it. Speaking of multiple users: if you want to move it around a lot, that is made easy by the light weight and built in handle.
ELECTRONIC CLIMATE CONTROL. Once you figure out a temperature setting, the ECC feature can go to work. Again, you need to *set* it to high, for it to switch downward, or back up, as needed. I do not think it will switch upward from a lower setting to high, if you have manually chosen one of those lower settings to start with.
With ECC, the heater senses how close the current room temperature is to the setting you have chosen, and as it gets closer to that temperature, it lowers the power setting from high to medium, or to low. During the few days I've used it so far, a cold draft kept it from ever shutting off entirely, but it would do in a better-sealed room.
Note: when the heater shuts off, the fan and oscillation also shut off. Unlike other models, the oscillation does not continue unless the fan is on. And the fan can be run without oscillation.
There is a totally separate setting to run the fan by itself (for cooling); but the fan only runs at one speed, and is quite meek. It will not be mistaken for a wind tunnel! The fan always runs when the heater is on, and I'm sure the reason for that is to prevent the plastic case from melting. The only heaters I've seen where the fan can be turned off are ceramic or convection designs, and come in metal cases. So there's a good reason that it works this way.
In any case, the ECC feature has worked great for me so far. For the most part, the heater ran on lower power settings even though I had set it to High. On a couple of nights when the draft got worse, I could see it kick up to high for a while, then go back to a lower setting. The room (15x15) was plenty warm, with not much effort by the heater. I'll probably set the thermostat a bit lower next time I use it, and perhaps it may hardly ever need to use the High setting at all. That would save a lot of electricity.
The remote control works fine. It can control everything on the heater except the thermostat setting, which -as noted above -is a rotary dial. Everything else is electronic, even including the oscillation feature, and can be operated from across the room (as well as by the physical switch on the unit itself). To use the remote you will need to supply the two AAA batteries yourself.
SAFETY. One of the reasons I specifically wanted this heater is because it has multiple safety cutoffs. Some are thermal, but I was also interested in the tipover switch. If it tips over at all, it powers down completely. It does not turn itself back on when set back on its base. I've seen reviews of other heaters complain about this, but such complaints REALLY miss the point.
There are two things you want from a portable heater. 1) Heat up the room; and 2) DO NOT BURN DOWN THE BUILDING. Just scan the headlines in any given winter, and you'll find people dying from fires caused by heaters. So, safety is an important buying issue.
There are a million ways that a heater could be tipped over, but one thing you do not want is for an unattended heater to get knocked around -by whatever cause it might be -and then turn itself back on. Unattended, it could fall on something flammable, or into standing water, or who knows what. Being upright is no guarantee that it's safe. That's also why the unit also does not automatically reset itself after a loss of power. It's all about safety, and I think this model scores high in that regard.
The tipover switch sensor is in the base of the unit, relying on gravity, and works just like it should. I'll leave it to somebody else to test the thermal cutoff safety switch, or just trust DeLonghi. The unit supposedly sounds an audible alarm in the case of overheating, which is a great feature.
FINALLY, THE BAD NEWS
Okay, so we ordered a second unit. Unlike the first, this one was double boxed and the retail box looked perfect. We took out the heater, plugged it in, and turned it on.
ZAP! SPARK! ZAP! and with that, the heater died completely!
Very scary. That one is being returned to Amazon, and we've decided to make do with the one that (so far) works fine. I would have scored this product a five based on the first unit, which appears to live up to its designers' clever intentions. But I would have scored it a 1 (or zero) based on the second unit, which was at best a huge inconvenience (requiring a return) and at worst, a potential hazard. I think leaving it as a three is fair, under the circumstances.
Considering the difference between these two units, either there is really bad Quality Control at the manufacturer, or something in the distribution channels, or whatever. The first one is just delightful. But the second one? There is no excuse for a brand new product -shipped so carefully -to fail so completely and dangerously. It was a disaster waiting to happen, and I feel lucky that it killed itself immediately, rather than emitting sparks two weeks later in a bedroom or some such place.
With that in mind, follow the instructions in the manual for this heater -as for ANY heater -and keep it as far as possible from flammable items. That is very hard in most homes, but you need to be conscientious about it. This sort of goes back to the discussion about hanging it on a wall... that was something I contemplated doing, but if I want to get it off the floor, I think I'd rather set it on a metal filing cabinet or something. After all, many homes have plasterboard walls, which is basically gypsum coated in paper.
By the way, the whole thing can be tilted upward or downward, besides the horizontal oscillation. So the floor really is the most logical place for it, I think.
I hope this fills in any information gaps. I think the overall design is great, and the main reason I'm not more worried about the quality issue is because we own two new DeLonghi radiators that are good, reliable products that live up to their promises. I suggest that if you buy it, run it through all the features in the manual before putting it to regular use.
If you watch the price fluctuations at Amazon you can get a very good deal on it. It was out of stock for a long time before we finally got ours, so if you're thinking about it, you may not want to delay.
Best Deals on DeLonghi DFH550R Remote Control SafeHeat Motorized Oscillation Fan
This is a medium size heater that can heat from a small room to a medum and a half size room very well in less than 3 to 10 minutes depending on the size of the room. The thermostat is great. If it gets too hot just turn down the dial until you hear the fan turn off and just leave it. It will turn back on and reheat when the room temperatures lowers. The only cons I have with this heater are 1) that it does not have a timer and 2)one can barely see the numbers on the thermostat dial. Although it really doesn't need a timer because of the anti-freeze thermostat and although the numbers on it blends in with the dial just using a color marker pen can bring out the numbers so they can be read without having to use a magnifying glass will do the trick.Honest reviews on DeLonghi DFH550R Remote Control SafeHeat Motorized Oscillation Fan
This is a good looking, small unit. The remote control is very convienant and this heater has some great safety features. I dont feel that it gets warm enough however. I live in Vermont and it gets pretty cold. It takes a long time for this heater to have any effect on my room.If you live in an unusually cold region, I would recommend opting for a bigger sized space heater.
Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for DeLonghi DFH550R Remote Control SafeHeat Motorized Oscillation Fan
I have an office that is a decent size, on the smaller sizebut has a very large window and thin walls so it is arctic cold at times. I purchased this heater based on the reviews and the remote control...the remote is great, as is the safety feature. I have only had it a couple of days, but so far I am very happy. I have the thermostat cranked up as high as it will go and the heater on the highest setting and its so quiet I can barely tell its running. My office heats up so quickly my coworkers have been stopping by to warm up!FYI: if the safety button on the back is not pushed in, your heater won't operate. I thought mine was broken until I found this out...
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