Heater Help

Honeywell (HZ-341BL) Ceramic Heater Product HZ-341BL Key FeaturesHeating Element Ceramic MiscellaneousUPC 92926346...

As good as body heat to keep warm! - Honeywell (HZ-341BL) Ceramic Heater Our room faces the northwest side, so we really needed something to regulate the temperature. This was the best s...

Main Features:

Digital thermostat control of temperature

Remote control

Ceramic heating element

Lightweight and portable

Dual power settings, 1500W and 900W

Timer shutoff

Tipover safety

Description

I bought a couple Honeywell HZ-365 heaters some years back, and really liked them, so when I came across this HZ-341BL at Home Depot for $17.99, picked it up for use in another room. Maybe not the screaming deal I found at $9.99 back then, but still an outstanding value.

What I mainly like about this heater is the digital display and thermostat setting of the temperature; you can set the temperature from 55 to 85 deg. F (it comes on at a default setting of 75 degrees every time the unit is turned back on, which is a downgrade from the older model, which retains it as long as it remains plugged in). A thermistor located at the bottom, in back of the heater, senses the temperature to control the cycling on and off of the heater to maintain the temperature setting. Once the temperature setting is attained, the heater turns off, and a blinking temperature reading is displayed. Note: the fan turns off along with the heating element with a slight click of a relay when it cycles off, so light sleepers could be disturbed slightly by this as it cycles on and off.

Because the air is pulled in across the thermistor sensor when the fan is operating, it isn’t directly affected by the heater output, blowing out the front. However, because the fan output is relatively low compared to a real home heating system, the temperature in close proximity to the heater will be higher than the rest of the room. If this is really a problem, you could use a circulating fan like a Vornado to assist blowing the room air toward the rear of the heater where the sensor is located, and the heater will remain on until the room is more uniformly heated.

Note: It seems that a large batch of these were not properly assembled; if you look at the intake at the bottom rear of the unit, you’ll see a little blob (the thermistor) poking out through a white insulating sleeve; it should have been inserted into the small air channel provided for it, but instead, they are bent upwards. While not a major problem, it makes it more sensitive to the heating elements, and result in it registering a higher temperature and turning off prematurely, which appears to be a common complaint. It normally would be an easy fix, but the fan was assembled with security screws, so it’s made difficult to open up and correct it. They apparently don’t want anyone poking around inside, so they took extra steps to prevent it.

One drawback of this unit compared to the HZ-365 is that the display is not backlit; this makes it necessary to turn on lights to see the display in dim room lighting situations. Not sure why they decided to delete this feature, since everything else with the controls seems virtually identical.

The oscillation feature on this is switchable on or off, and it pans through an angle of about 60 degrees for better heat distribution. With the older model; it had a wave option, which allowed it to pan up and down at the same time it went side to side. I assume this was changed for mechanical simplicity; not a big difference to me.

The temperature setting are no longer retained when you turn the unit off, so you need to reset it to your desired temp setting if you turn it off/on and want something other than the default 75 degrees.

This new model does have a tipover feature now, so it will be safer for families with children or pets. If it gets knocked over, the heater will shut off immediately, where the old one would continue to run.

Operating modes

The power button turns on the unit on high power, at 1500W. A second press of the button brings the power down to 900W, and is displayed on the LCD screen as a single squiggle rather than the two squiggles on high. Press again and it’ll turn off, with the amber LED power indicator turning off as well.

For thermostat mode, press the mode button, and the thermometer icon on the LCD flashes, prompting you to set the desired temperature. It starts off at 75 degrees, and you can go up or down between 55 and 85 degrees F (Celsius can be displayed also with a push of the F/C button on the front panel.)

In this mode, it will remain on, regulating the temperature at the setpoint.

To use the timer mode, press the mode button again, and it shows a flashing 10, representing the hours it will run until it automatically shuts off. This can be decremented in one hour steps to one hour. In this mode, it regulates the temperature to the setting selected in the thermostat mode, for the duration of the timer period. This could be useful to heat up the room before bedtime, and allow it to shut off automatically after you’re snuggled up in bed under the covers.

The next morning, the remote comes into play, where you can just open one eye, poke the buttons on the remote while peeking out from the covers, and turn the heater back on to warm things up while you lazily think about getting out of bed to start the day.

Appearance

The unit is nifty looking, with this new one black and silver, where the older one was white, but still pretty much the same form factor. It’s pod-futuristic looking, which I like. The heater is lightweight, and can be carried with the handhold recess at the back of the unit to wherever it’s needed. The grill now has a temperature sensing sticker, which turns from black to red, showing a caution icon, when temperature rises to a point they deem inadvisable to touch. Kinda nifty to see it change, but most people wouldn’t really need that information, being able to figure it out for themselves.

The front display has an amber power indication LED, an IR sensor for the remote, and a green LED that flashes when it receives a signal from the remote (which apparently is identical to the one from my old HZ-365, since they both work).

The cord is about 7 feet long, and heavy enough to handle the 12.5A current draw when operating at full power.

The Honeywell name is now a trademark used by Kaz, Inc., who handles the 5 year warranty from Memphis, though the $10 shipping return fees probably make simply buying another unit an option.

www.kaz.com

Summary

While they did downgrade the unit by deleting the backlight and not retaining the temperature setting when power is turned off, the main characteristics that make this unit stand out above the rest are still present. An excellent little heater that’s amazingly chock full of features at the prices they’ve become available for-

Honeywell HZ-325 KAZ Ceramic Compact Heater Product HZ-325 KAZ Key FeaturesType CompactHeating Element Ceramic Miscellaneo...

Honeywell HZ350 Ceramic Compact Heater Product HZ350 Key FeaturesType CompactPower Source ElectricHeating Element Ceramic...

Honeywell HZ-510 Ceramic Heater Product HZ-510-EA Key FeaturesHeating Element CeramicHeating Levels 2 Levels M...

Honeywell HZ-385BP Ceramic Compact Heater Product HONHZ385BP Key FeaturesType CompactHeating Element CeramicHeating Levels 2...

Honeywell HZ-338 Ceramic Compact Heater Product ar3407 Key FeaturesType CompactPower Source ElectricHeating Element Cerami...

Honeywell HZ325 Ceramic Compact Heater Product HZ325 Key FeaturesType CompactPower Source ElectricHeating Element Ceramic...

Honeywell HZ-370GP Ceramic Compact Heater

Honeywell HZ-385BP KAZ Ceramic Heater