One fun aspect of working in a trade is all the different jobsites you get to work at – except when a jobsite is freezing! Unfortunately, many jobsites can be cold due to things like exposed and open walls, no running heat, and cold weather. This is when you need a good Jobsite Heater. SunFire, a Wisconsin-based, USA producer of industrial radiant heaters and accessories, released the SF120 Radiant Portable Diesel Heater. A few claims from SunFire are that this heater is odorless, windless, low noise, can heat up to 2,800 sq. ft., and is the most heavy-duty radiant heater in the world.

We will be taking a deeper look into these claims and more. Alright, let’s jump in.

SF120 Radiant Portable Diesel Heater Features

This SunFire SF120 runs off of diesel or kerosene, and requires a 120V power source.  It’s also compatible with a 120V-800W Pure Sine Power Inverter or generator. All of this together allows the SF120 Radiant Portable Diesel Heater to produce up to 120,000 BTUs and heat up to 2,800 sq. ft.

SunFire SF120 Radiant Portable Diesel Heater power source & output

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This is a fairly large heater, measuring 28.5 in. W x 32 in. L x 33.75 in. H. This size accommodates the 14.2-gallon fuel tank that allows the heater to run for 16 (diesel/No. 2 fuel) to 18 (kerosene) hours. However, the heater is small enough to easily fit inside a door frame.

In addition to its size, this heater is pretty heavy. It weighs about 120 lbs. when empty and around 220 lbs. when the fuel tank is full. Thankfully, SunFire included three design features that make this heater fairly easy to move around.

1. Two rubber, flat-free wheels allow users to lift the heater up at an angle and easily wheel it around. It’s also very stable when the legs are down.
2. Comfort-grip tube frame and handle provide an easy, comfortable place to grab and pull the heater. The handle also folds down when not in use to keep the heater as compact as possible.
3. Multi-lift bracket on top allows you to move the heater with a crane hook, sling, or forklift.

These three design features do a great job of relieving the load when moving the heater.

SunFire SF120 Radiant Portable Diesel Heater Mobile Design Features

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We also want to add that the SunFire SF120 Radiant Portable Diesel Heater is made out of heavy-duty steel throughout. It’s designed to be durable and built to last. Each heater is also individually tested before packaging.

On top of the fuel tank, you will find the fuel filter and fuel gauge.

I know what you’re wondering. How’s the heat? In addition to the power, the SunFire SF120 Radiant Portable Diesel Heater provides breezeless infrared heat. This is due to infrared heating, which disperses the heat more evenly than a forced-air heater. I like this because…

1. You don’t get blasted with heat whenever you step in front of it.
2. Heat is more evenly distributed in your workspace.
3. Dust is not being blown around by the heater.

Other great aspects of infrared heating is that it is odorless, quiet, and there’s no carbon monoxide production. So, not only does this add to a better work environment, it creates a safer one as well.

SunFire SF120 Radiant Portable Diesel Heater's infrared heating element

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The controls are located behind the infrared heating element. The controls are straightforward and simple to operate. This is also where the Rapid Access Easy Maintenance Hatch is located. Essentially, this is the panel covering the controls. It’s very easy to remove for maintenance and repairs.

The SunFire SF120 Radiant Portable Diesel Heater can be connected to a mechanical or battery-powered thermostat. This allows you to have temperature-controlled heat in any workspace vs continuous heat. Bonus: this conserves fuel and allows your heater to run longer.

SF120 Radiant Portable Diesel Heater Value

The SunFire SF120 Radiant Portable Diesel Heater is available at The Home Depot and Amazon for $2,395.00. Both retailers offer free shipping. These heaters do cost significantly more than other diesel/kerosene heaters available. However, none of these competing models offer breeze-free, radiant heat, or the zero carbon monoxide emissions.

We did compare this SunFire model to other large radiant heaters on Amazon. Most of those were cheaper, but lacked power, and also did not have the same zero carbon monoxide emissions.

SunFire does offer 0% financing available for 12-24 month financing plans from participating SunFire Dealers.

SF120 Radiant Portable Diesel Heater Wrap-Up

As we mentioned, the SF120 costs more, but that’s because it offers more. This radiant heater provides great heat, but it’s also quiet, windless, and produces zero carbon monoxide emissions. It was also designed with maneuverability and durability in mind.

Ultimately, SunFire thought about how they could improve the jobsite, and they succeeded. They made it more enjoyable, productive, and safer.

Obviously, this heater was not made for your typical home use. It’s still a great option for anyone with a serious workshop, but this is great for use at commercial and industrial construction jobsites.

More About Radiant Portable Diesel Heaters

Still not sure if a radiant portable diesel heater is for you? Check out these articles by SunFire to learn more:

• Top 4 Advantages of Portable Radiant Heaters
• The Benefits of Portable Radiant Heaters

The post SunFire SF120 Radiant Portable Diesel Heater appeared first on Tools In Action - Power Tool Reviews.

Here’s the deal.  If you have been walking around with your eyes closed to Ridgid power tools, well you better open them up and wake up.  I am not sure what is going on at Ridgid, but they have been coming out with some very cool new tools.  New tools that break the mold.  Even some of the guys over on the power tool forum have been amazed at some of these releases.  They have a new cordless compressor, a cordless router and that’s just a couple of the cool new tool releases.  Now they have a cordless propane heater.  Ridgid seems to be a company that drank a couple of Redbulls and have been hitting the market like crazy and not looking back to see if anyone is even catching up.

When Ridgid designed this cordless heather, they did it right by making it a hybrid.  This means the heater can be powered by either their 18V battery or you can still plug it in, it’s up to the user.  You may be asking why a propane heater needs a power supply.  With these heaters, you have a fan inside that pushes the heat out instead of radiant the heat.

Now Ridgid isn’t the first to have a cordless fan, but it is the first out of any big tool manufacturers to have a cordless fan.  A while back we tested a cordless fan.  While we liked the fan, the battery was internal which meant once the battery died, the unit was dead.  Also, you still had to run an extension cord to charge the battery.  With the Ridgid, the battery is external which means you don’t have to run an extension cord if you don’t want.  When you need to charge the battery, just pull the battery out and place it in the charger.  Pretty cool.

Obviously, you know the key benefits of having a cordless heater so I won’t get into that.  This fan produces 60,000 BTU which is awesome.  Don’t worry, if that is too hot it does have an adjustable know so you can adjust it from 30,000 all the way up to 60,000 depending upon your needs.  OK, so it’s cordless and produces a ton of heat.  What about run-time?  Get this, the heater will last about 7 hours of continuous run time with a 5Ah battery.  Pretty impressive.  A lot longer run time than it takes to charge a battery.  With a 20lb tank you will get about 12 hours of continuous tank time.

Starting the heater is a snap.  There is an electronic ignition which makes it very easy to start.  I have to say the fan is fairly quiet so even in smaller spaces you aren’t going to go crazy by the sound of a noisy fan.

All in all, Ridgid is jamming with new and innovative tools.  This hybrid heater is just another prime example of what Ridgid is doing.  With their tough tool line and extensive tools, plus these new innovations, Ridgid is moving full steam forward.

Available on Amazon with free shipping.

The post Ridgid Hybrid Forced Air Heater – 18V R860424B appeared first on Tools In Action - Power Tool Reviews.

I am not sure what is happening by you, but Mother Nature keeps fooling us.  In Chicago, we experienced the third-highest snowfall and a record number of days below zero.  Last week it looked like it was all turning around went temps got into the 50’s.  Only the next day it dropped to 20 degrees and snowed about 2″.  Yes, my whiny little intro does have a point.  My point is check out the DeWALT Propane Heater DX125FAV.  It is a perfect heater for a shop or most work areas. I have to say this unit blows, heat that is.  I would go a little more into this heater, but it’s time to have my donuts and cup of coffee next to this jamming heater.

What We Like

• Runs like a Champ
• Produces a nice heat
• Blows heat around the shop very nicely

What We Don’t Like

• A 20lb tank would be nice, but you won’t get the run time or heat.

DeWALT Propane Heater DXH125FAV

Available at Amazon with free shipping.

The post Kick Some Heat on with the DeWALT DXH125FAV 125,000 BTU/HR Forced Air Propane Heater appeared first on Tools In Action - Power Tool Reviews.

It is the dead of winter in Chicago, so we thought this would be a great time to talk about a heater.  Now if you’re looking for a heater to warm up your garage, keep moving.  This isn’t the article or heater for you.  If you are looking for a heater to warm a small space or keep by your feet, well now you can keep reading.

The Dewalt DXH165 is a small 13 amp heater that obviously is electric.  What this is really designed for is to not only produce some heat, but to be used without constant supervision on the job site.  Since there are no flames, you don’t get those nasty fumes.  Which we all know how much that sucks.  Since there are no flames, you’re probably asking how does this thing work?  Well picture an electric stove with those coils that are black, but when you heat them up, they get red.  This is kind of the same thing.  You plug it in, turn it on and let the fun begin.  Well it’s not all that exciting unless you are super cold and need a little bit of heat.

The heater has an adjustable thermostat.  The heater itself does have heavy duty construction and also extra coil support.  Now I am not going to run into some long spiel about this heater because in reality there isn’t much to talk about.  You plug it in and get heat.  You want to adjust the temperature, well you can do that too.  Now before you run out to buy one you have to understand, this isn’t designed to put out a lot of heat.  It is designed for the construction industry to put out a small amount of heat to say keep a pipe from freezing.  The big key is to be able to run it without having to pay a guy to stand around and watch it all day.  Now it does suck if you’re that guy and you like sitting around watching heaters.  But I am sure you can ask the foreman for something else like keeping his seat warm.

DEWALT DXH165

In the end, to wrap up this extremely long review, this is a great heater.  As long as you know its place and what to expect, you won’t be disappointed.  This is a white label product and have to say they designed it well.  Very sturdy, easy to use and does exactly what they say it does.  Now we have only been using it for a couple of months, but so far it has held up great.

The post Dewalt Electric Heater Model DXH165 Review appeared first on Tools In Action - Power Tool Reviews.

In typical TIA fashion we are posting a heater review at the end of winter.  NewAir sent us out their G56 5600 Watt heater to try out.  I must be honest and say when I first plugged the heater in I was a little underwhelmed.  I am used to propane and kerosene heaters that put out massive BTU’s.  I left the G56 heater running in an old drafty garage that we were working on for about 30 minutes and to my surprise when I came back the garage was about 5 degrees warmer making it a bearable environment to work in.  The G56 works off of a 240V plug and draws 30 amps which produce 19,110 BTU’s.  It has a low and high dial on the front that really didn’t seem to do much when we turned it, but we were below the 45 degree thermostat shutoff.

The unit moves a lot of air and over time will warm up to a 560 Sq. Ft. area.  This is a good unit to put on a bench to keep you warm when you are working, although the fan can be a bit rattly and loud at times.  The 6′ cord will allow you to place the unit almost anywhere The heater puts out roughly as much air and heat as a single heat vent in your home.  If you have 240 in your garage and don’t want to use fuel, the G56 is a viable option. Check it out over at NewAir.

The post NewAir G56-BL 5600 Watt Garage Heater – Review appeared first on Tools In Action - Power Tool Reviews.

Ahh January, the time when a good heater is a necessity, especially if you work out in an unheated shop like me.  Recently we checked out a few heaters that were propane powered, this time around we are looking at a kerosene heater.  What’s the difference?  Well, propane runs cleaner, you don’t have that strong fuel odor like kerosene.  I however like kerosene, I think it’s cheaper to run than propane if you get it from a pump usually.  This unit is also branded as Pro-Temp 70000 BTU Kerosene Radiant Sun Stream Heater.

The Master MH-70-SS is a radiant kerosene heater that performs similar to a regular Torpedo heater except it radiates the heat more.  The unit has a 4 gallon fuel tank and consumes a 1/2 gallon per hour making it efficient . It burns with relatively no smell or smoke, on start up there is a little puff and when it runs our of fuel there is some smoke. The unit weighs 30 lbs. without fuel and heats up to 1,750 sq. feet. The box of the unit said that it uses multi-fuels like diesel and Jet -A, but in the manual it says use only 1-k Kerosene.  I would use only 1-K Kerosene because it burns the cleanest anyway.   As with any heater,  you want to ventilate the area you’re heating to avoid death from Carbon Monoxide fumes, so crack a window or door.  Safety features have been built in in case of flame out or the unit fails to ignite.

The unit is a breeze to operate, basically fuel it up , plug it in and turn it on.  The tank has a fuel gauge so you can monitor your fuel supply at a glance.  On the side of the heater is a 120V AC outlet, plug in an extension cord and you’re in business.  On the back is the power switch that has a red status LED.  The unit is quieter than most torpedo kerosene heaters.  As it runs low on fuel the fan did tend to get a bit louder due to the lack of weight at the base/tank.  Another cool feature is that when you shut the unit off the fan keeps running until the unit is cooled down.  The included manual is one of the best I have seen, it is easy to read and gives you many exploded views and parts lists, it even has a QR code you can scan with your smart phone to get support.

I give the Master MH-70-SS a thumbs up,  it works well and heats up as advertised. Our 2 car garage was toasty warm.  It is a lot more portable and quiet than most other kerosene heaters out there.  The unit includes a standard one year warranty.

The post Master MH-70-SS Portable 70,000 BTU Radiant Kerosene Heater – Review appeared first on Tools In Action - Power Tool Reviews.

Winter time is here and now might be a great time to think about your heating source and your needs.  Mr. Heater is a company we have begun to take a liking to.  We don’t see many complaints about them and their products just seem to work.  Also we have done some reviews of their products in the past (Hero, Buddy) and have always liked them.  If you are heating your garage, workshop, work site, ice fishing hut or any other areas, Mr. Heater seems to have you covered.

This time we are reviewing the Mr. Heater Contractor series model MH125FAV which is their 75,000 – 125,000 BTU unit.  My goal was to try and heat my garage/workshop/wife’s storage/kids storage/ well just about everyone wants to put something in my shop.  Okay I will get over it and stop complaining.  Before we used the Mr. Heater, I was heating my workshop using a Reddy heater.  You can check it out on the video below.  The Reddy heater was nice as it was also 125,000 BTU.  One cool thing about the Reddy heater is I could use Jet A, diesel, or kerosene as a fuel and keep my garage heated.  However for me there was a lot not to like about this heater.  The two main things were the size and the smell.  The Reddy heater was big.  With everything else being stored in my shop and space being limited, the big heater was a pain.  The other issue was that I used Kerosene as fuel and the smell was always bad.  I always smelled like it when I went back into the house.  I am not knocking that heater, but it just wasn’t for me.  So when Dan asked me to Check out the Mr. Heater Contractor series, I was more than happy.

The first thing about the Mr. Heater is the size.  It is about a 1/4 of the size  and a 1/10 of the weight which is awesome, especially since it is the same BTU.  This way in summertime, I can store it in my attic.  In winter time when I don’t need it, it goes under my bench.  When I am using it, it never gets in the way.  This heater uses propane as a fuel source which is much cleaner than the kerosene, so I don’t get that smell.  However don’t be fooled, you still have to use this in a well ventilated area.  Once I am done for the night, I can walk inside the house without hearing those famous words, “You Stink.”  Well I still hear those words, but now it’s for other reasons like B.O.

The heater comes with a 10′ cord which is awesome.  I can leave my tank in one spot and move the heater around.  Also there are two settings on the heater, low and high.  On the low setting the unit is pumping out 75,000 BTU and will run for 11 hours on a 40 lb tank.  The high puts out 125,000 BTU.

The unit uses forced air and it pushes out a good deal of heat.  In order to start the unit, you need to plug it into a 110V outlet and push the start button.  To turn it off, just unplug it.  A couple features the heater includes is a high temperature limit switch and a continuous ignition.

I can usually find something on a product I don’t like, but I have to say this unit is very nice.  It does what it is supposed to do and it is not as loud as the Reddy heater.  It works great.

The post Mr Heater Contractor Series – MH125FAV appeared first on Tools In Action - Power Tool Reviews.

Forced air heaters have been around for ages and the deign has remained relatively the same.  You need fuel and electricity to make them work, meaning they always had to be near a power source or generator.  Well now Mr Heater is changing the game and ditching the electricity part,  well sorta.  By integrating a rechargeable power pack you can run cord free for up  to 8 hours on one charge.  This is the Mr Heater HERO MH35CLP Cordless 35,000 BTU Forced Air Propane Heater.

The previous heater I used in my 550 sq ft garage was a 55,000 BTU Kerosene heater, it did the the job but smelled and sucked kerosene like it was going out of style.  The Hero is recommended for up to 800 Sq feet area which made it perfect for my garage.  I hooked up my 20 lb propane tank, read the instructions and fired it up.  Starting the unit is simple, turn on the fan, turn on the gas, slowly depress the igniter/gas button and hold for 30 to 60 seconds and you’re in business.  Always use proper ventilation when operation a fuel burning heater.  The HERO has a one year warranty.

The heater was quiet and the smell was minimal.  The outside temperature was 38 degrees and it warmed up the garage in about 10-15 minutes.  The heater can charge the battery while running as long as it is plugged in. You get up to 8 hours of run time on a 5 hour charge and about 12 hours on a tank of propane that is connected with the included 10 ft hose.   It is relatively small and weighs in at 12lbs which is very light for the 35,000 BTU’s it pumps out.  If you are in the market for a clean, quiet, innovative heater that you can tote virtually anywhere, then the Mr Heater Hero is for you.  Eric and I both think this is a great product and it might even win the Tools In Action heater of the year award!

Check out http://mrheaterhero.com 

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The nights are getting shorter and the temps are falling,  winter is just around the corner.  We need heaters to keep us warm.  Heaters come in all shapes, sizes and are fueled by a multitude of fuel sources.  This Particular heater is one of Eric’s favorites for 2 reasons.  One he just loves the name Mr Heater and 2 it’s the Portable Buddy and Eric has no buddies, so he is excited to call this his buddy.

Lets get into the Portable Buddy Heater .  It is powered by liquid propane, the small canister easily screws in on the side, you don’t even have to lift the unit, the connection swivels out , just twist on and your done!  You get around 3-6 hours of heat on one canister depending on your settings.  For more heating time you can buy an extra hose that allows you to connect bigger propane tanks.  Once the canister is installed, you simply depress the igniter, hold for 30 seconds then turn to the desired heat setting.  One thing that I was surprised by was that the unit is virtually silent, you can hardly hear the unit running.  I know most radiant heaters are quiet due to no fans,  but you usually hear a loud hiss from the gas and the Portable Buddy Heater is virtually silent.  Another nice touch is that the top handle folds down to save space when stowed.  Most of the heat comes from the top of this unit and yes you guessed it where it says hot, IT’S HOT!  So you will want to keep away from that area.  The heater works well to heat a 200 square foot area.  I found this unit works great on the floor or on a bench to keep me toasty as I worked on my projects.

The heater was very stable, but in the event that it does get knocked over it will automatically shut off.  A low oxygen shut off feature makes this one safe portable heater for inside or outdoor use.  The Portable Buddy Heater  is well built and designed, I like it a lot.  It’s perfect for heating small areas like duck blinds, tents, shop areas etc.  Even as an emergency backup heater, all you need is propane.  On the back is an area that allows it to be hung on a wall.  The unit is light and can be easily toted around or stored in small spaces.  Check out Mr Heater’s website for more info.  We highly recommend the Portable Buddy Heater  MH9BX.

The post MR Heater Portable Buddy Heater MH9BX – Review appeared first on Tools In Action - Power Tool Reviews.