Lasko Infrared Quartz Console Heater 6101

I bought this November 1, 2012. In late December 2012, I happened to be home (thank goodness!) taking a nap when the smell of something burning awoke me. Turns out the power cord plug was melting and had caught on fire about 1 or 2 seconds before I arrived to unplug it. A big pop and spark came out of the outlet and blew the breaker. The plug was melted so bad it left one of the metal prongs in the outlet. I had an Electrician come to the house to replace the outlet and while he was here I had him replace the plug on the heater with a heavy duty rated replacement plug. (more on why I had to replace the plug at my cost later in the review) He said he could not tell from the melted mess if it was a faulty plug or if the outlet was bad. Both of them were replaced with new ones. The only thing on the outlet was the heater. There is only 2 outlets on that circuit but the other outlet is not used as I have a plastic block inserted in the other outlet as I was plugging the vacuum cleaner into the other outlet and blowing the circuit breaker on occasion so I had to block the other outlet to keep this from happening. So I know the outlet/circuit was NOT overloaded. Besides, I have 2 other 1500 watt heaters of this type that have been used on this outlet for about 4 years prior to this and not had any problem of any kind with the outlet using either one of the heaters.
I called the number in the manual for the warranty service and explained what had happened. I was put on hold so the lady taking the call could talk to some one else. After a 2 minute wait, I was told that they would not cover that under the warranty because “The power cord is not meant to be replaced”. Yup, I’m not making that up! So do they “Weld” these things in there? (I’m joking but you get my point, right?) So after asking if I could send it in to be replaced at my cost, I get the same answer. No, the power cord is not meant to be replaced. It’s not designed that way. Whatever, at the very least they could have replaced it along with a new power supply. But they would not have any of it and would not discuss it at all. It was basically, no and no and good bye! They did not want to discuss it with me at all. I was very upset and proclaimed to NEVER buy a Lasko product again! Especially after thinking about how I knocked over a coat rack as I was running to the heater to turn it off and a Very Nice winter coat with a waterproof polyester type outer shell fell on the hot power cord and melted the shell ruining a really nice and warm winter coat. So now I’m out a winter coat, a heater (until the plug was replaced), and the cost of having the plug replaced along with the outlet. Shame on Lasko for being so customer unfriendly!
Anyway, almost a year later, I have to say the Lasko Heat Exchanger is the best one of the 3 brands of this type of heater that I currently own. It is the quietest of the 3 BY FAR! It is very quiet. It puts out a good amount of heat. The digital thermometer works good and is a nice feature. It cycles on/off as needed like it should.
If I was to decide to buy another one, I would FOR CERTAIN buy the extended warranty on it to make sure things get taken care of if something goes wrong. It would be worth the 9 dollars for it. If your reading this and buy one of these, I hope you consider buying the extended warranty also as the Lasko customer service is a joke in my opinion!

Puts out lots of heat. Strong blower. Not as hard as a furnace but stronger than a tower heater blower. Quiet , soft low sound blower that s not noticeable. I use it in the living room (18X24 with 11 ft. Ceiling) where I watch TV.. Takes the chill off the rooming in moderate weather (40-60 degrees). I have it set at 65 degrees because I do not like a hot room. The timer works well. I set it for how many hours I want it to run and it has shut off at the end of that time. When the weather got down to 30’s at night and the days barely hit into the 40’s the room was comfortable running this heater.
I haven’t had this heater long enough to accurately tell how it will heat the room when the weather stays in the 30’s during the day. I should tell that I have an old brick house built in 1820. The walls downstairs are over 12 in. Thick. Crawl space under the house. New thermal windows that are 81 in tall – 4 in this room. So, my house is rather unique in how it is insulated which is bricks , mortar and direct plaster. Not a high R rating. I live in a southern state. It gets cold here in Dec. – March with some mild weather throughout that time. Today was in the high 60’s , 40 ‘s at night. No wind.
I am satisfied with the performance of the heater, For what I want it to do. I am waiting for the electric bill to see how much this heater and the 3 oil filled radiator heaters are costing me to heat areas of my house. I have not had to run the propane furnace – so far the heaters are keeping the house comfortable except 2 days when it was I the 40’s daytime. I am experimenting with space heaters for rooms that I use. Other rooms are not in use much so I do not want to heat those. I will update this review in a few months with info on the increase in my electric bill. I do not run this heater continuously. I like this heater and the blower pushes out lots of heat. I use Lasko tower heaters in smaller rooms and they do a good job with adequate blowers, plenty of heat. The Lasko heater exchanger has a stronger blower and feels like warmer heat being pushed out. The tower heaters are not as quiet as the heat exchanger model that I am reviewing.