Review: Holmes Quartz Tower Heater
OUR RATING
Value
Design
Quality
Summary
4.2
The Holmes Quartz Tower Heater is a space heater that provides radiant heat with quartz elements. This means that the heat feels more like that experienced in sunlight, rather than that experienced by conventional radiant heaters, or the heated air provided by convection heaters.
The type of radiant heat is preferred by many and the Holmes Quartz Tower Heater is a very affordable heater for buyers particularly looking for this type of heating. The heater is housed in a reasonably attractive, albeit utility, white casing with a grill on the front and incorporates thermostatic control together with a useful overheat / tip-over cut-out safety feature.
Construction
The Holmes Quartz Tower Heater is a radiant heater that utilises quartz elements. Quartz heaters differ from most electrical infrared heaters in that the radiation has a much shorter wavelength. This means that the heater tends to warm people and objects who are situated within the radiant area, rather than warming the air itself. The effect of this type of heating is that a person sitting within the radiant area have the sensation of sitting in a pleasant location that is both fresh and warm. Much like sitting in a sheltered area in the sunlight.
This Holmes Quartz Heater also utilises a fan system, which homes describe as being the MaxFlow fan system, which allows the heater to circulate the heat within the room in a larger area.
Read our article on the best infrared heaters available
The age has two power settings, a low-power setting running at 750 watts and a high power setting which runs at the fairly standard 1500 watts.
This quartz tower heater is a relatively large heater, compared to many modern heaters these days standing at a little over 24 inches high, by 14 inches wide by 10 inches deep. This portable space heater weighs 7.4 pounds out of the box.
Good Points
The Holmes Quartz Tower Heater has the following benefits:
- Type of Heating - quartz heaters provide a very pleasant type of heating, akin to that which is experienced when sitting in the sun. This type of heating is proven very popular with some people, especially those who dislike the often directional heating from alternative portable room heaters.
- Safety – the Holmes Quartz Heater is designed with a tip over cut-out, meaning that in the event that it is accidentally knocked over, the unit will immediately shut off. In addition, it would also shut off in the event that the thermostat fails and the heater becomes overheated.
- Thermostatic control – the Holmes Quartz Tower Heater incorporates a thermostat which ensures that the heater does not heat a room which is sufficiently warm already. The thermostat measures the temperature in the room, and when it has reached a pre-set threshold turns the space heater off. This improves the energy utilisation of the space heater.
Points to Note
- Safety – when in use the front grill of this quartz heater becomes very hot. So hot that if it were to be touched then it would definitely burn. This makes the heater less useful for busy family environments where there may well be children and pets. It is also a potential hazard in the event that this Holmes quartz radiant heater gets knocked over, as although the heater incorporates a cut out switch in the event of being tipped over, the residual heat in the grill may well still do some damage.
- Timer – many modern day heaters incorporate a timer which ensures that they will switch themselves off after a set period of time in order to improve energy efficiency, and to prevent overuse due to the fact that the owners have neglected to turn the heater off when it was no longer needed. This issue can be overcome by using a timer socket, which can be found on Amazon here.
Verdict
The key selling point of the Holmes Quartz Tower Heater is the attractive nature of the heating, being similar to that experienced when in gentle sunlight. The drawback of this quartz heater, in our view, is the size of the unit and the fact that the front grill gets very hot.
The Holmes Quartz Tower Heater retails at around the $40 mark (click here to find the lowest price on Amazon) which is a very reasonable price for a decent quality quartz heater.
