Portable heaters
A portable heater you can carry room to room
The point of a portable heater is that the warm room follows you. RapidHeat weighs little, plugs into any wall outlet and needs no installation, so the same unit can heat the office at 9am and the bedroom at 9pm.
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The short answer
A portable heater lets one unit warm whichever room you are using, instead of heating the whole house. RapidHeat is a compact 1,500 W plug-in ceramic heater you can carry in one hand: warm air in three to five minutes, a 15–32°C thermostat, a 1–12 hour timer, a remote, and tip-over and overheat shut-off. It suits rooms up to about 12 m², costs roughly $7–$18 a month at four hours a day, and starts at $59 CAD with free Canada-wide shipping.
Portable means genuinely portable
Oil-filled radiators are heavy, slow and awkward on stairs. Baseboard heating is fixed in place and needs an electrician. RapidHeat is a compact ceramic unit you pick up with one hand, set down, plug in and switch on.
Because it heats fast, moving it actually works. You are not waiting half an hour for a cold room to catch up — you feel warm air within minutes of plugging it in.
One heater, several rooms, one day
- Morning: beside the desk in the home office
- Afternoon: in the kitchen or the kids' homework corner
- Evening: in the living room where everyone actually sits
- Night: in the bedroom on the timer, set to shut off while you sleep
Ordered on the Monday, warming my basement office by Thursday. Exactly as described, and the remote means I never get up to adjust it.
What you get
- Ceramic PTC element, warm in three to five minutes
- Thermostat 15°C–32°C and a 1–12 hour timer
- Remote control and touch panel
- Tip-over shut-off and overheat protection
- Under 30 dB running noise
- Standard 120 V Canadian plug
RapidHeat at a glance
- Heating type
- Ceramic PTC convection
- Coverage
- Up to 12 m² / 130 sq ft
- Temperature range
- 15°C – 32°C adjustable
- Timer
- 1 – 12 hours
- Noise level
- Under 30 dB
- Controls
- Touch panel + handheld remote
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See prices & orderSafe portable use
- Plug straight into a wall outlet, never an extension cord or power bar
- Keep a metre of clear space in front of the grille
- Never cover the unit or use it to dry clothes
- Use the 1–12 hour timer instead of leaving it running unattended
- Overheat cut-out and tip-over shut-off do the rest automatically
What a portable heater costs to run
A portable heater is only cheap if it is not left running in an empty room. RapidHeat draws up to 1,500 W and cycles on the thermostat, so in a normal insulated room it averages about 0.75 kWh for each hour it is switched on.
Applied to Canadian electricity prices, four hours a day for a month costs roughly $7 in Quebec, about $14 in Ontario and close to $17 in Nova Scotia. Moving one heater around the house is far cheaper than buying and running one for every room.
Portable heater vs the fixed alternatives
Baseboard heaters and wall units are permanent, need an electrician and heat whichever room they were installed in whether you are in it or not. An oil-filled radiator is portable in name only — it is heavy, slow to warm and awkward on stairs.
The trade-off of a compact portable unit is honest: it will not heat an open-plan floor or an uninsulated garage. Inside its range, it is the fastest and most flexible option in the house.
Choosing a portable heater in Canada
- Weight and handle — if you cannot carry it in one hand you will not actually move it
- Warm-up time — ceramic PTC elements give warm air in minutes; oil-filled units take half an hour
- Thermostat and timer — the two features that control what it costs you
- Safety — tip-over shut-off matters far more on a unit that gets moved and knocked
- Noise — under 30 dB is quiet enough for a bedroom or a video call
- Plug type — a standard 120 V Canadian plug, with no adapter and no installation
Who RapidHeat suits — and who should skip it
A good fit for
- A bedroom, nursery or spare room up to roughly 12 m² (130 sq ft)
- A home office or den where you sit for hours and the furnace underperforms
- A finished basement corner, den or rec-room nook
- Anyone who wants to keep the house thermostat lower and heat one room instead
- Renters and students who cannot install anything permanent
Not the right product for
- Open-plan living and dining areas — one plug-in 120 V heater cannot keep up
- Uninsulated garages, workshops and sheds — you need a hard-wired 240 V unit
- Whole-home heating, or replacing a furnace or heat pump
- Outdoor use, bathrooms with splash exposure, or anywhere it would get wet
- Anyone wanting to run it from an extension cord or power bar — that is unsafe
RapidHeat compared with the usual ways of warming one cold room
| RapidHeat | Turning up central heating | Cheap coil heater | Oil-filled radiator | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time to feel warm | 3–5 minutes | 20–40 minutes | 5–10 minutes | 30–60 minutes |
| Heats only the room you use | Yes | No — the whole house | Yes | Yes |
| Thermostat that cycles off | Yes, 15–32°C | Yes | Rarely | Usually |
| Timer | 1–12 hours | Depends on system | Rare | Sometimes |
| Remote control | Yes | No | No | Rare |
| Tip-over and overheat shut-off | Both | n/a | Often tip-over only | Overheat only |
| Noise | Under 30 dB | Silent to loud | Fan noise | Silent |
| Move it between rooms | One hand | No | Yes | Heavy |
| Price | From $59 CAD | No upfront cost | $25–$60 | $80–$200 |
Comparison of typical products in these categories, not of any one named competitor.
Running cost by province
| Province | Typical all-in rate | Cost per hour of use | 4 hrs a day for a month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quebec | 7.8¢/kWh | 5.9¢ | $7.02 |
| Manitoba | 10.4¢/kWh | 7.8¢ | $9.36 |
| British Columbia | 12.6¢/kWh | 9.5¢ | $11.34 |
| New Brunswick | 14.4¢/kWh | 10.8¢ | $12.96 |
| Newfoundland & Labrador | 14.6¢/kWh | 11.0¢ | $13.14 |
| Ontario | 15.4¢/kWh | 11.6¢ | $13.86 |
| Alberta | 16.5¢/kWh | 12.4¢ | $14.85 |
| Saskatchewan | 18.2¢/kWh | 13.7¢ | $16.38 |
| Nova Scotia | 19.1¢/kWh | 14.3¢ | $17.19 |
| Prince Edward Island | 19.4¢/kWh | 14.6¢ | $17.46 |
Figures assume 1,500 W at roughly 50% thermostat duty cycle (about 0.75 kWh per hour) and 4 hours of use a day for 30 days. Your own rate is on your hydro bill — divide the total charge by the kilowatt-hours used for the truest number.
Common questions
Sources
- Canada Energy Regulator — residential electricity prices across Canada (March 2026)
- Hydro-Québec — comparison of electricity prices in major North American cities
Electricity prices checked September 2026. Rates change — check your own hydro bill for the exact figure.
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What Canadian customers say
4.8
1,287 verified Canadian buyers
- 5 star84%
- 4 star12%
- 3 star3%
- 2 star1%
- 1 star0%
Marc D.
Winnipeg, MB
I work from a basement office and it was always freezing by 3pm. RapidHeat warms it in about four minutes and I just leave it on the thermostat setting. My hydro bill barely moved.
Helen R.
Halifax, NS
I bought two, one for the bedroom and one for the spare room. You can barely hear them. The timer means it shuts off on its own overnight.
Claire T.
Calgary, AB
Compact, plugs straight into the wall and takes up no floor space. The remote is handy and the automatic shut-off puts my mind at ease with a cat in the house.
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