A good space heater can save you misery—and money
PLUS: Humidifiers, purifiers, and whatever else makes your air perfect. View in browser | Your newsletter preferences This year's winter weather has been brutal for much of the country, and the heating bills have been equally brutal. Electric space heaters aren't efficient compared to a furnace, but they can still save you money and misery by heating a small space to a comfortable temperature so you don't have to turn up the temperature for the whole house. Older space heaters can be potentially unsafe, and often irritatingly loud. I am WIRED's designated tester for gadgets involving water or air. For the past two winters, I turned down my thermostat to test more than 30 space heaters. I abuse these heaters—kick them over and smother them with blankets to see if they shut off, and whether they then turn back on. I have thermometers stashed all over the room. I pace around the heaters with a decibel meter. And I record energy usage with a watt meter. What...