Thread: Electric wall mount space heaters

I never see these guys around here so know very little about them. Anyone know the life expectancy of these. Condo, built in 78 and these appear to be original. Im uning my color code dating chart

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Expectancy is about 15-20 years but they always seem to last longer. I typically see units like these in entry vestibules at the bottom of a stairwell and assume they last long because they are used infrequently.

What's with the dark staining on that one Matt?

Scorching

I'll bet that black stuff is burnt dust. One guy never used it, then someone else turned it on and baked a couple of years worth of dust.

Those heaters should have a built-in fan, so they throw lots of heat for their size.

When the bearings go dry on the fan, they die. There should be a little circuit breaker which pops when the fan fails. I can't say if that particular unit has the safety breaker.

I ALWAYS try to get a look behind those if I can, often they are homeowner or "handyman" installs, and I find them wired wired with zip cord... or worse.

Mathew, Looks like a Cadet space heater.Cadet models FW, FX, LX, TK, ZA, Z, RA, RK, RLX, RX, RW and ZC wall heaters have been recalled. Visit the following link for more info: In-Wall Heaters Recalled by Cadet

Originally Posted by mathew stouffer

Anyone know the life expectancy of these.

They typically work great right up until the fire

Anything over about 15 years gets written up as past its life expectancy. Anything over about 25 years is very likely on a recall list.

Pretty much anytime I hear about a house fire locally the cause is an electric heater. I'd imagine a huge part of that is people being stupid and putting things too close but these old electrical ones just burn up sometimes.