The Best Tiny House Bathroom Heaters

As the warm summer season begins to wane away, frosts and chill begin to set in. This can make your tiny house feel more like an icebox than a welcoming home–and the bathroom is the worst culprit for this!

Bathrooms with their cold surfaces and lack of padding can get freezing on the toes and body in the winter season. Luckily, tiny house owners have a few more options when it comes to home heating than traditional house owners do.

Tiny house owners have the chance to really customize and choose the exact type of heating they want for their bathrooms. A space heater for bathroom spaces is often the ideal choice for tiny home owners in a pinch.

However, wall mounted electric fan heaters for bathroom spaces are a lifesaver when it comes to comfortable tiny home living. So, as you can see, choosing the best small heater for bathroom spaces can be a bit tricky.

Let’s take a look at a few of the best small heaters for bathroom space options down below, and what sets them apart.

What Is The Best Heater For A Bathroom?

Heating a tiny house bathroom typically involves a small space heater. This is because tiny houses are often not wired or set up for traditional gas or oil heating options, like larger traditional homes.

However, this isn’t really a disadvantage as heaters for bathroom spaces can be extremely efficient–both on energy, and upfront cost.

Before we dive too deeply into the numbers and analysis of the ‘why’s’, the ‘how’s’, let’s talk about the ‘what’s’. That is, what space heaters are actually a good investment for heating tiny house bathrooms. Below you will find a few great options to give you a general idea.

Stiebel Eltron CKT 20E Wall-Mounted Electric Fan Heater

The Steibel Eltron is a sleek and low profile wall mounted space heater that is perfect for tiny home heating. It is designed to heat small rooms rapidly and with even and smooth radiant heat. This ensures that the heat emitted is never overwhelming, and is spread out rather than focused in a singular direction.

The booster timer outputs heat at maximum for up to 60 minutes. When the timer goes off, the heater reverts to its thermostat setting, maintaining comfort at the original setting.

A wall-mounted space heater is probably the best long term solution to bathroom heating in a tiny house. If you are living in a tiny house designed to remain stationary, this wall-mounted space heater is an excellent option for bathroom heating.

Pro Breeze 1500W Mini Ceramic Fan Heater 

The Pro Breeze 1500 is an oscillating ceramic fan heater. This means that it operates much like a cooling fan, but with heat. The ceramic heating elements are able to give off an even and mild heat, without becoming completely overwhelming.

Smaller space heaters like the Pro Breeze 1500 are a great on-the-fly heating solution for more mobile tiny homes. They can often heat up smaller rooms–like bathrooms–rapidly and effectively.

The Pro Breeze 1500 is no exception to this and works great as a tiny house bathroom heater for those who value portability.

OPOLAR 1500W Space Ceramic Bathroom Heater

The OPOLAR ceramic space heater is another great oscillating ceramic space heater–albeit a bit larger than the Pro Breeze 2000. This multi-functional space heater allows you to choose through multiple heat settings, as well as oscillation capabilities of up to 80 degrees.

This space heater is able to handle heating rooms in the small – mid-sides range and makes it perfect for tiny house owners who want something a bit more powerful while still remaining portable.

The heater has Tip-over protection means it will automatically switch off in case of accidental knock off as an internal rolling ball associates with the tip-over safety mechanism.

It can keep your bathroom nice and warm all throughout the winter, and can be moved around throughout the tiny house as needed as well!

TaoTronics 1500W Ceramic Tower Heater For Bathroom

The ceramic space heater by TaoTronics is slightly on the smaller side but excels in a lot of ways above the competition. This little space heater packs a surprising punch when it comes to heat distribution and capability.

At only 1,500 watts, you would be surprised at how fast this heater gets warm (3 seconds only!). This is a great space heater for those who only need heat occasionally, and want something that can create it fast and for very little cost.

Lasko CD08200 Small Portable Ceramic Space Heater for Bathroom

Lasko is a well-known brand in the space heater market, and for good reason. Their space heaters are known for providing excellent value in price and power. At only 1,500 watts, this mini space heater is ideal for tiny homes built inside of mobile units, vans, busses, etc.

This is because the tiny heater can be easily lifted and moved around, but won’t become too intrusive.

It will have very little impact on your energy costs and can provide a steady and safe output of heat throughout the colder season.

What To Consider When Buying A Bathroom Heater

Now that we have a general idea of what some of the bathroom heating solutions can look like, we should go over how you can make the choice. There are a few things that should always be considered when making the choice for a tiny house heater.

Heating a tiny bathroom is a bit tricky for multiple reasons. The primary reason is exposure to moisture. Bathrooms get wet, and you need a heating option that is safe and does not pose a risk to your bathroom itself. The second factor is the fact that bathrooms have almost no carpeted surfaces, and therefore do not retain heat as well as carpeted rooms.

With these in mind, you should always consider heaters that give off steady radiant heat; and can be mounted or placed off the ground and away from moisture exposure risks.

Small electric space heaters are great for maneuverability, but wall mounted radiators are going to be the safest option. The balance between the two for your personal needs is going to come down to personal preference.

The main concerns are that you can keep the heater away from moisture; and that it provides smooth and steady radiant heat that can maintain the temperature at a steady pace without overheating or racking up energy costs.

Other Factors to Consider

The average tiny house bathroom is around 45 sq. ft. (4.2 sq. m.). However, they can go as small as 36. sq. ft. (3.3 sq. m.). This means that basically any size space heater will be able to handle the job. You don’t need to concern yourself with power output at a minimum, as most small space heaters are good for up to 300. sq. ft. (27.8 sq. m.).

The primary factor here is actually power consumption, not output. This is because electric space heaters can actually get a bit costly on energy consumption if you are running on limited power in your tiny house. The average electric space heater needs about 1,500 – 2,000 watts/hour to run.

Most space heaters will only need to be running off and on every 2 – 3 hours. This means that you will likely only leave them on for about 6 hours or less per day. However, that does come out to about 9 – 12 kWh/day. This must be considered when purchasing a space heater for your home as well. Your energy costs will go up the more you use them–that can’t be avoided.

When it comes to wall mounted radiator heaters like the Steibel mentioned above, this cost drastically goes down. On average, radiator units will cost about 3 – 7 kWh/day to operate.

However, they do need to be hooked up to running water to keep the internal tank flowing and putting out radiant heat. This of course can pose a problem when it comes to mobile tiny homes.

Ultimately it can be broken down like this.

Electric space heaters:

• More portable and easier to use
• No installation hassle
• Fast heat
• Expensive to operate
• Not as safe around moisture

Radiator Heaters:

• Cheaper to operate long term
• Smooth and consistent heat, much like a traditional home heating unit
• Permanently installed
• Safer to use around water and moisture
• Lack of portability

The actual choice of which works best for you and your tiny house will come down to personal needs and preferences. Both options come with their own set of pros and cons.

However, as a tiny house owner, you are likely already used to making sacrifices and weighing the pros and cons of everything. Bathroom heating in a tiny home is one obstacle every tiny house owner faces, it’s nothing new, so don’t worry!

Final Thoughts

Heating your tiny house bathroom can often feel like a daunting task. You want to make sure the bathroom space is warm for your showers and routines, but it also has to remain safe and cost-effective. Luckily, with a bit of preparation and research, you can heat your tiny house bathroom safely and effectively for years to come. Tiny house living is about downsizing and maneuverability–heating your bathroom doesn’t have to be any different!