Safety Issues
The two primary health risks from heaters are the risk of fire, and the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning. The latter risk accompanies gas and kerosene heaters but not electric ones. The risk of fire from electric heaters may be mitigated by low surface temperatures (as found on oil-filled convective heaters), or by switches that cut power in the event of the device being knocked over (often found in the bases of halogen heaters), or by thermal cut-out switches.
Within the United States, Underwriters Laboratories maintains standards UL 1278 for portable electric space heaters, and UL 1042 for portable and fixed baseboard electric heaters. The General Services Administration used to maintain Specification W-H-193 for electric space heaters, but this was cancelled in 1995 in favor of the UL standards. Additional information on portable heater safety may be found at the Department of Energy Energy Efficiency website. Also, the "EPA does not currently label space heaters as an ENERGY STAR qualified product...".
Read more about this topic: Space Heater
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