DeLonghi TCH8993ER

Stopped oscillating after a month. Warms pretty well otherwise. But the customer service has been the worst I ever experienced anywhere. They simply ignore your emails and calls, and after calling them and emailing daily for two weeks they said I should take it back to the store. But I bought it from them, online, directly, which they knew!!! Show details

Delonghi TCH8993ER 'Silent+'. Not Silent, noisy as – It stinks. It heats. It is not silent. I admit from the outset that I shouldn't have bought this, it's the wrong sort. I had no experience with ceramic tower heaters. Whoops! That aside, I found it pretty useless for quietly, economically and efficiently heating any open-plan living area because it is neither quiet nor economical. As far as… Read more

efficiency goes that depends on what you want it for.

Best feature: Portability with a capital 'P'; and for personal use (with a lower case 'p')

Worst: DēLonghi have some nerve naming this model "Silent+".

No fan is silent because the blades move the air - without friction, air particles would simply go around the blades instead of being flung off. What we hear is impact of air particles on the blade surface, and the resulting airflow then being forced through the protective mesh which adds its own aerodynamic chatter to the mix. On medium and maximum (they are the same high fan speed) it's just as noisy as any other heater imho.

Listen to what other reviewers say! I didn't heed the reviews that canned this model. Generally when I buy something good I like it straight away but I'm in my fifth day of trying this out. That says a lot, but it still may be a good heater depending on what you want it for. I'll try to be fair with my review but it will take some effort to do so because, not being familiar with ceramic tower heaters, I made a mistake buying the wrong sort for what I wanted - something versatile enough to serve as an economical personal heater yet efficiently heat a large area as well. The DēLonghi TCH8993ER 'Silent+' does neither of these super well and is definitely NOT SILENT. It's too high up to heat your feet and not powerful enough for open living areas.

In fairness, its lowest setting ("Silent+" ) is probably its best use - only 1200w for cheap running with the slower fan speed which can't be switched off and is NOT SILENT. It fits well under my desk and runs like it's in its right place.

Heat: Yes, on full, it sure pumps it out... not very Green eh and empties your wallet in the process to boot. Lower settings are sort of gutless but useful to ease any guilt about emissions. Best use is to huddle over it for a quick warm-up. No luck yet efficiently heating a decent-sized room. By efficiently I mean within my pension budget. Can't work out what the middle setting is for other than a medium sized room. Derr.! I'm kidding. It's for extravagant use as an overblown personal heater, slothing and wallowing in knee-burning luxury – damn the cost! And the Environment. And the Planet. And my burnt knees. Thermostat: As a space heater, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I loathe the expression, but "good luck with that". Certainly not "set and forget"! It can get stuck in a glitch.

Remote: You'll need lottery-style luck for this piece of junk. Too often it doesn't work either. To be sure, you need to be directly in front, no more than a metre away, and aim at the top. Even then you'll be kept guessing. Pointing in the general direction doesn't work, or almost never. Still, the remote is indispensable because the interface on the heater itself is mind-bogglingly hard to see what is what - therefore it's easier to control it remotely. From right in front of it up close ha ha.

Noise level: Despite the model name, it is NOT SILENT except when it isn't running. When in what it calls Silent+ mode, it still makes a fair amount of noise. I believe a more appropriate term should be "quiet" - but compared to what? Its noisiest setting? It must be that.

User experience:...did I mention.. it stinks.. of chemicals.. exactly what, I'm not sure, but I think it's the ceramic gizmo. I've smelt this odour before, with a car fridge I think, it's a bit like plastic but kinda like resin or glue and alarmingly toxic-smelling. I can't imagine it is at all harmless. Anyhow, we expect a kero or oil heater to give off fumes but this 'cutting edge technology' is a giant step backwards.

Build: Great looks but that won't keep the room warm. I've read comments about the grille getting dangerously hot but they must be running it full bore for long periods. I found the low setting very safe, you can be very close without much chance of getting burnt unless you're silly enough to not notice. Fair point though - I can see its design could be better. It should protect against accidental burns from hot parts when on High. I definitely wouldn't say this is safe for kids and pets like panel heaters are. Also, some complain about the plastic base being flimsy, and mine has a crooked decorative chrome trim that protrudes at the top (see pic) potentially snaring clothes etc as you walk past. And tips it over. On the cat. Or...

Price: You ARE paying for the name. I don't believe DēLonghi heaters are any better or any worse than any other brand of an equivalent model. This isn't a bad heater but there's nothing special that other heaters don't have. Pretty much everything these days uses the same technology smuggled by mutant alien hackers into China (see pic). But DēLonghi are not cheap like just about everything that exports out of Asia.

Verdict: unlike my long-winded review, the DēLonghi TCH8993ER doesn't blow a lot of hot air cheaply. BUT mine is free. I found its best use was as a personal heater - this ceramic tower heater conveniently fits into corners and gaps in furniture, even under a desk (which is how I use it). Otherwise short bursts on higher settings are the only way to get efficient results without going broke ha ha!

Delonghi Has Redefined "Silent" – This heater has the makings to be a good little unit, but it fails on several levels. For starters, it is sold as being "Silent". It even says that on the unit itself in big, proud font. Delonghi seems to have a different definition for "silent" to most people, which of course means NO NOISE! This heater makes quite a bit of noise, even on the… Read more

"silent" setting. And you cannot turn the fan off - it is on constantly!

Another fail is the remote control. I should have got the hint when the sales assistant mentioned that they seem to go missing and if there is a problem, she would get me a new one. It worked maybe 5% of the time. I checked the battery, which was fine, but replaced it anyway. Still failed. So I reprogrammed another remote, and it worked 100% of the time. So it is the very cheap remote supplied by Delonghi that is the problem.

The cord is a problem too - it is quite short. So, if you wanted to place the unit further away from you to reduce the close-up noise level from the "silent" fan, you'll need an extension cord.

Finally, it smells. It's only new, so it will probably burn off the residue at some point, but I won't have the unit that long.

Now for the positives. The form factor is quite good, and it does seem to heat a room up quite quickly. It's light and easy to carry. The face of the unit looks good, however it would be better if the buttons had a faint glow to them. The panel display itself does dim very slightly after a selection has been made.

Tests

In testing, the unit only uses 1 watt in standby mode.

At the lowest setting (slow fan, #1 "Silent", in ECO) the unit uses about 1140 watts.

At the highest fan setting it uses about 2400 watts.

Interestingly, ECO mode drops this usage down by 1000 watts to about 1400.

In summary, I would not recommend this unit if you want a quiet heating solution. For a bedroom or a small office it would be annoying. I'm not sure how Delonghi gets away with marketing it as "silent" in the first place. Get a convection heater or oil filled heater if you want a silent solution.

This unit is definitely not worth the RRP (around $250), and I'd suggest it's not worth the sale price either.

The images show the unit's power usage at the lowest and highest setting (it fluctuated a little), and the video shows the "silent" running of the unit at 1.2 metres distance.

Brilliant Heating – This ceramic heater is brilliant for small rooms. An office space or bedroom. It has a swivel motion and different modes of heating. It is affordable and reliable. We have had this heater on for 5 hours straight and it did not falter. I like the upright in this ceramic heater as I feel it warms the rooms more efficiently. Great for small children as it isnt hot to touch Show details