I purchased my first Optimus H-9010 about a month ago, and have been so pleased with it that I purchased a second one which I installed yesterday. Here are my impressions:
o The stated specification of 600/1200 Watts is incorrect or has been changed. My heaters are clearly labeled as being 750 / 1500 watts, and testing with an amp meter confirms this is about right as it draws 6.3 / 12.3 amps.
o The installation is easy and convenient, the mounting bracket is long enough to straddle two studs spaced 24 on center. Mounting bolts are included.
o Once mounted, the heater can be rotated through 90 degrees that is tilted 45 degrees off vertical each way.
o Build quality seems good, about the same as my original Marvin heater. Indeed, aside from the addition of the light, this Optimus seems to be the same design as the Marvin.
o The unit needs to burn off a bit of factory residue, and it will stink a bit for the first 30 minutes of run time. After this period it runs clean with no smells or odors whatsoever.
o The cord is a generous 82 inches. If you must use an extension cord, make sure it is at least 14 gauge and as short as possible.
o The switch, activated by tugging on the convenient cord, has the following modes:
(0)-Off
(I)-Lamp On
(II)-one quartz element glows (750 Watts) & Lamp On
(III)-both quartz elements glow (1500 Watts) & Lamp On
o The light is a 25 Watt Halogen bulb with a G9 base. It swivels in up-down and left-right so it can be aimed where you want it. Of course this is too tiny a lamp to be used by itself for any serious work, but it never hurts to have extra light in ones shop. I like it, and I don't mind that it is always on while the heat is on, but if it's a problem I guess one could just remove the bulb.
o Operation of the unit is completely silent, with the exception that there are some slight noises as it begins to warm up (due to metal expanding, I presume).
o There is no built in thermostat, the unit is either on or off which is probably adequate for most folks. I rigged up a wall mounted thermostat that powers a ceiling socket, so I can set the heat to any desired temperature (typically about 55-60 degrees), and have found this quite convenient as I can turn down the heat when I'm not in the shop (to about 40) but still ensure that it will not freeze.
o This ceiling mounted heater seems very safe in a dusty environment such as a woodworking shop, because it points down, keeping the red hot rods clean and dust free. In about 5 years of use (with my original Marvin heater) I never had any safety issues, even though I occasionally allow some heavy dust to accumulate on the top of the unit.
o Another nice effect of these ceiling heaters is that when I have glue-ups or finishing jobs I can place them on the bench directly under the heater and they will cure faster than if place off in a colder corner.
As stated in the title, I use this heater in my woodworking shop, which is actually a converted double garage, about 680 square feet in size, located in the Southern Interior of BC Canada. It is insulated, with a wood floor over the concrete slab. The automatic garage doors, which leaked a lot of air and heat, have been removed and walled in. Before I removed the automatic garage doors and covered the cement floor with wood, I was able to keep things from freezing with just a single 1500 Watt infrared heater in fact I was usually able to keep the shop at 50 degrees or better if I allowed the heater to run long enough.
If a single heater was sufficient for my original cement floored shop, you may be wondering why I need two heaters after I've added a cozy wood floor and improved the insulation. It is so that I can better spread the heat around (by running each on half power 750 watts), and also because I can run them both full blast for the first half hour or so to bring the shop up to a comfortable temperature faster (about twice as fast, in fact).
A quick word about comparing heaters to each other. Virtually all electric heaters produce an identical amount of heat per watt. So, in the long run, any 1500 Watt heater, say a fan based unit, will make a room as warm as any infrared heater that is also 1500 watts. The difference lies in what gets warmed up first. A fan based heater first heats the air, and the air then heats the stuff in your shop, including you. The infrared first heats the stuff it's pointing at, which then eventually heats the air. If it's pointing at you, well you feel warm right away, but if it's not, then you don't feel much warmth until the whole room is warm.
If you are comparing this heater to non-electric units, it's best to compare BTUs. This one puts out about 5,000 BTUs.
Hope this was useful.
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THIS THING ROCKS!I absolutely love this heater. I've had it for quite some time now and it puts out a good amount of warmth in my garage.
No, it doesn't make the entire garage an 80ยบ paradise on freezing winter nights, but it does help, and quite a bit. I installed it just above and behind my work bench area and in just a few minutes I can feel the air get noticeably warmer.
WELL worth the money. Would recommend to anyone who works in the garage on cold days/nights.
It installs easily, too.
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It took over 2 weeks for my order to ship so be warned that if you order this item it won't be received for around 3 weeks. It's identical to other heaters which have a different brand name, and it's cheaper but you have to hunt for it by looking for the Optimus heater and then click on the cheaper price which comes up unless you want to pay around $70. I got mine for $46.The mounting bracket is pure crap; a soup can is made of stouter steel. Thankfully the heater unit is very light and long, sturdy screws are included for screwing into wall or ceiling studs. There's a fair bit of heat which escapes from the slits in the housing on the top of the unit which ends up hitting the ceiling. Your ceiling will get warm but not HOT.
Like others have done, I didn't really need the halogen light in the unit so I removed the bulbs. I wonder how much cheaper the heater would be without including the light.
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