"Honey, can you please turn up the heat a bit - it's freezing up here?"

This was a phrase that was heard frequently the past few winters by my husband, as he made his way upstairs to bed at night. We live in a 3 story townhouse that is heated solely by a heat pump, which for the most part does a pretty good job at keeping our house fairly warm, but on those nights when the temperature drops below freezing - no matter how high the thermostat is set, I just can't seem to get warm.

After living through 2 or 3 winters, shivering underneath a mountain of blankets, last winter I finally decided to purchase a space heater. I was a bit hesitant in purchasing one, as I had heard of way too many incidents where fires were caused due to space heaters that were either being used improperly or were defective. After speaking with my next door neighbor, who had been experiencing the same problems with keeping warm in her house in the winter, I decided to purchase a Slant Fin Futura FE-1500 Electric Convection Heater. She had purchased her Slant Fin heater at a local home improvement store, and said that this heater had done a terrific job keeping the top story of her townhouse nice & toasty warm.

Slant Fin Corporation, located in Long Island NY is America's largest manufacturer of baseboard heating systems. This company, which has been in business since 1949, not only manufactures quality baseboard heaters, they also manufacture air purifiers, humidifiers, fans, in addition to the many different products made for residential, industrial & commercial heating.

One afternoon, while my husband and I were at our local Lowe's Home Improvement store purchasing some paint for my daughter's bedroom, we came across the Slant Fin Futura FE-1500 Electric Convection Heater. Although this heater was priced a bit higher than some of the other space heaters we saw, the price (under $60) was still affordable for us. Attractively designed with a black & grayish case, this heater looks more "futuristic" and stylish than most of the other heaters we saw. According to my neighbor, this heater also operated silently - which was a big plus for me, as my quartz heater at work is so loud sometimes that I have problems hearing my work phone ring!

That evening, when we arrived home, we unpacked the Slant Fin heater from the box & immediately plugged it in upstairs in the hallway that leads to my childrens' bedrooms. The Slant Fin Futura FE-1500 Electric Convection Heater is a bit less than 3 feet long, almost a foot in height, and about 5" wide. On the side of the heater are two indicator lights - a "plugged in" indicator light, and a "heating" indicator light; and a temperature control knob. The "plugged in" indicator light lights up immediately once the heater is plugged in into an AC outlet. Once the temperature control knob is turned from the off position to one of the 7 numbered settings, the "heating" indicator light turns on. This electric heater has no moving parts, and operates very quietly! As the room air is drawn up through openings in the bottom of the heater, it is heated through the internal heating element inside the heater & distributed through the openings in the top of the heater.

To tell you the truth, I began doubting whether or not this heater would serve it's purpose as their seemed to be no heat at all coming from the heater several minutes after we plugged it in & turned the temperature control knob to 5. Instead of boxing it back up & returning it to Lowe's, I decided to go downstairs and finish up some laundry, hopefully giving the heater some time to work.

About an hour or so later I returned upstairs to put the laundry away & get the kids ready for bed. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the heater was doing exactly what it was supposed to be doing - heating! In fact, the upstairs was so warm, that we did not need to turn up the heat that night! I was a bit hesitant to leave the heater on full strength all night long, but since this heater has a built in alarm for overheating, I turned the temperature control knob to 2 and went to bed.

When I woke up the next morning, I was pretty excited as it felt very comfortable upstairs. In fact, it was so nice & warm that I didn't want to get out of bed! Though the "heating" indicator light was off, the heater had obviously run intermittently during the night, keeping the upstairs at a comfortable temperature.

We used the Slant Fin Futura FE-1500 Electric Convection Heater continuously throughout last winter, and again this winter, and have been extremely pleased by it's ability to consistently deliver heat. Unlike some other space heaters, this heater does a wonderful job at keeping the room warm, without throwing out so much heat that you have to leave the room! Not only have we used this heater in the bedroom level of our townhouse, but we have also used it in the family room level (basement) of our townhouse, where we have guests stay that are spending the night; and have used it several times on the main floor when the temperatures dropped well below zero last winter.

I highly recommend the Slant Fin Futura FE-1500 Electric Convection Heater to anyone thinking about purchasing a space heater to supplement the heating system in their home. While this heater is not recommend to be used as the sole source of heat, it does a terrific job at warming small to medium sized areas. It is recommended that the heater be kept 3 feet away from walls, and that the top of the heater is not obstructed or covered. I also recommend unplugging this heater after each use, as the electric cord sometimes feels very hot to the touch.

The Slant Fin Futura FE-1500 Electric Convection Heater can be purchased at many home improvement stores including Home Depot & Lowe's and at many discount stores like Target, Wal-Mart, K-Mart etc. I recommend purchasing this heater during the spring, summer or early fall months, as heaters become very hard to find once winter begins.



Recommended: Yes