I have tenants who, for whatever reason, prefer to use cheap electric space heaters (bought at Walmart) instead of using the Gas wall heaters which come with the house they rent. Even houses with Central Heat/Air with a Gas furnace, they will not have the Gas service turned on and then plug-in their own 15 amp electric space heaters in each room to heat the house with.

There is nothing I can do to stop this. It is their choice, not mine.

My question is this: just how safe are electric space heaters?

Would you feel comfortable sleeping in a room with a space heater running on high all night long?

I would have no problem using a good electric space heater. I have numerous times used the liquid filled radiator style electric heaters for temporary heat during renovations. We have never left them running on high while unattended.

However I would be very leery of a tenant being responsible enough to use one as their primary source of heat. I see issues arising with tenants using improper gauge extension cords, placing them too close to combustibles, storing items on them, unsupervised children, overloading circuits, etc.

In an upstairs front apartment I had a nice dual sided wall furnace that heated the bedroom and living room. But like your tenant, the family preferred using an electric space heater.

The children before school had a pillow fight and left a pillow against the electric space heater. The mother didn't check on the heater before walking her kids to school. When she returned her unit was destroyed in the fire. The fire department couldn't get through her front metal security door and had to enter through the window with a tall ladder.

The family said, "It wasn't their fault". When asked was the wall furnace broken, they replied no, the gas was turned off because they didn't pay their bill!.

So the Fire Martial, The Gas Company contacted "Housing" that I was some kind of landlord that allowed tenant to live without heat! I was summoned to a hearing. I told the jury, the husband had purchased a new Jaguar XJ6 and had to decide either to pay the heating bill or let he car be repossessed. I also caught them plugging in the heater using an outlet in the central hallway off of the house meter. They were stealing my utility.

Question #2: if an electric space heater is rated for 15 amps,...would you put that on a 15 or 20 amp breaker?

Baseboard heat is considered safe and up to code, right? But in my opinion they are not very different than plug-in electric heaters: if you put your couch or curtains right near or on the heater, they can catch fire, as noted on the stickers on the front of the heaters.

We have some box heaters that are very nice: put off great heat and on wheels so very easy to move about. We give these to tenants in a heat emergency, and feel they are about as safe as anything we could provide.

Similar to this, I can't find our exact model.

WMH,

Many years ago, I use to have 240 volt baseboard heaters in a few of my houses. Tenants would cover them with furniture

They have been made safer in the last few years but none is completely safe. Tenants use them because the electric company is forbidden to turn off electric in the winter.

These type tenants typically move in April or May when electric company is allowed to terminate for non payment.

They do not care about your rules and will use these heaters no matter what you say.

I would bet 90+ percent do not have electric in their own name.

Most space heaters these days have tip over shutoff and overheat protection. The weak point is the cord and plug. Like anything, using them properly is safe, but will tenants use them properly. Do they keep combustibles away, plug them into the proper outlet/circuit, not put the cord under rugs, not use leads? I don't trust most tenants with that on a day to day basis. I also would not trust they keep it running enough to keep my pipes from freezing (here in the north east).

Generally, newer heaters are safe if used according to the instructions. But as others have said, the tenant A) don't read the instructions and B) don't care.

So they'll use a 16 gauge, 50 ft extension cord so they can plug the heater in and move it right next to their bed. And they'll tuck the cord under a rug so they don't trip over it.

regarding tip-over prevention. I bought a new, brand name 120v space heater. It did NOT have feature for shutoff when tip over.

Jason

I called my favorite electrician this morning about this issue. He recommends a 20 amp home-run circuit with 12/2 Romex.

Roy, you should be requiring proof of both electric and gas transfer at lease signing.

David (MI)

If my tenants were any smarter, they would be home-owners instead of tenants! However, even homeowners do stupid things too,...so it all goes back to the notion that you can't fix stupid.

Roy, I think Linda J's idea of adding some hard wired electric baseboard or perhaps some hard wired in the wall electric fan powered heat might greatly lower the risk of potential problems in the units that Tenants never get the gas turned on.

David,

Not to beat a dead horse here, but 6 years ago, I had (2) brand new vent-less gas heaters installed by a licensed professional in this small 750 sq. ft house. These 2 gas heaters will heat up this small house in about 30 minutes on any cold day or night. These heaters still have that unused brand new look to them.

This Post leaves Me asking:

How many Here, (Lurkers and Posters)

Could (legally by Law)

or Would (intentionally knowing)

Rent a SFH, with the Gas Meter Valve Shut Off

and Locked,

to Multiple Tenants, over a 5 year period ?

Roy, the last five years have been Solar Maximum and it was probably not necessary to use the gas. Now it is Solar Minimum for five years and it is going to get even colder than this year.

I didn't read all the comments but something on your lease has to say no to space heaters. I just got two new tenants whose ancestry is from warmer climates. I installed two baseboard heaters, one in each of the north facing bedrooms. The house heater is gas hot air but there are huge windows so cold air drops off the windows.

Roy, what is a ventless gas heater as you mentioned above? Here are your exact words:

Not to beat a dead horse here, but 6 years ago, I had (2) brand new vent-less gas heaters installed by a licensed professional in this small 750 sq. ft house. These 2 gas heaters will heat up this small house in about 30 minutes on any cold day or night. These heaters still have that unused brand new look to them.

My HVAC cringes at the thought of space heaters. He can tell all sorts of stories of fried outlets due to these.

I'm in the deep south and every winter we might get a cold snap. When we do we're likely to a news item EACH DAY of at least one house burning down every night. The cause? Typically space heaters left running at night; curtains, blankets, sheets catching fire because of them.

One of my fellow tenants got cited by License and Inspection recently. His tenants had complained of the "high cost" of gas in their little "shotgun" house so he had the ventless gas heater removed and the gas line plugged. They started using space heaters and then complained about their electric bills!

Called License and Inspection who cited the LANDLORD and said space heaters were an illegal source of heat in the place. The landlord freaked out and called me thinking he needed to now invest big bucks for central heat/air in his $400 a month place. I told him to reconnect the gas line and go back to providing this as the source of heat and he would meet the requirements. He did.

There is likely nothing one can do to stop tenants from using those little space heaters. If they insist it would be better to provide them the oil filled radiators which would be safer in terms of curtains, sheets, etc. coming in contact with the source of heat.

I bet they are getting their electric bills paid by some welfare/charity organization.

RB (MI) methinks the reason for frequent turnovers and no notice move -outs has been uncovered.

I don't think the heaters are dangerous all on their own, but there are house fires that make the news where the cause of the fire was drapes, or blankets, or furniture left too close to the heater and that item caught on fire and started the house fire.

What about just installing forced air electric units?

Don, I agree that making a modification to a product had lots of liability. But, I'm a licensed Contractor with "Heating" credentials and "electrical" as well. Adding a shield to the front/side of a heater the keeps flammables a minimum 2, 3 or 4 inches from the face of the unit does add some security and safety.

Why are you all making such a BIG DEAL over my 2 vent-less gas heaters in this particular house?

RB- The only reason my gas meter is padlocked is because my previous tenants chose not to use the gas service which is only for heating purposes. If they had chosen not to use the water service, there would be a lock on the water meter as well,...so why are you making an issue over the lock on my gas meter?

Roy, sorry to say, but, the BIG DEAL is that YOU didn't notice!!

Class C tenants don't like to make waves. They sometimes assume the landlord knows these things 'are broken' and doesn't want to fix it. So, after their one year lease is up, they just move. Pretty soon the landlord gets a reputation as someone who doesn't fix anything.

I've said it on this board many times- ASK your tenants if every thing is going well. ASK your tenants if there are safety concerns they know about. Others on this board will stomp on that saying it increases liability. According to the business law class I took in college ( not that long ago, i was older than most of my instructors. Lest anyone think this is outdated,) making a tenant a partner in safety or maintenance by asking and then taking action reduces risk . Judges and juries like 'people who care'. So do tenants.

Roy, a comment you made a couple of weeks ago was very telling: the no-notice tenant was a two year tenant with no repairs during tenancy. If I understood correctly, you felt this was good because of no repairs. But, what if they could have become a four or six year tenant if you asked them a month or so after move in, and then with each change of season that first year if there were any issues? I've had tenants that didn't know how to use features of the house properly. A little training, and some continuing checks to keep them learning, and they stay longer., are very happy with the house, and when they do leave, they put in effort to leave the place in clean condition. Win!