Is it safe to leave my space heater on?

Is it safe to leave it on while I am sleeping? My radiators are not working as well as they should be in this -7 degree weather so I went out and bought a small one this afternoon. It says that if it gets too hot, it will shut off, but I am wondering if I can leave it on so I can sleep all toasty and warm tonight?

It should be OK, but put it at least 3' away from ANYTHING that could burn (except the floor, of course).

:)

there is nothing touching the heater, like paper or fabric. Should be fine.

I always wonder how close we are to burning to the ground.

be sure that it's plugged straight into the wall socket and not an extension cord. -7? Geez, and I thought it was cold here! Stay warm!

The oil filled kind are safer. The kind that glow red can overload wiring.

plenty of comforters..and I have electric heat. And it's been 25 below 0 here in New York.

My apartment building burned badly in 1994 because of a "space heater". I'm not saying yours would catch on fire..I'm just sayin'.

NYC. It was 25 below the last two winters in a row. We've been lucky this winter..no snow for Christmas..sorry I need to travel on Christmas day and I'm glad there's no snow.

Edit to say..I should have been more clear in my first post when I said "It's been 25 below"..the last two winters..not this year, yet!

material but a kerosene heater could cause carbon monoxide poisoning if the room is not well ventilated.

ten, 150 watt bulbs burning constantly. They use an EXTRAORDINARY amount of electricity for the amount of heat they put out. Just keep it away from anything flammable, just as others have said. If it has feet that aim it upward, it will be fine on the floor, even on carpet.

or your pipes will freeze up. Believe me, I have gone through that and I was lucky they did not burst. I was trying to save on gas and decided to just use a space heater, but my pipes froze up. Try to keep the heat near your water pipes.

I left it on while I was sleeping, then heard a WOOOSH and saw bright orange through my eyelids-that woke me up! The spaceheater was on fire, so was the floor and the corner of my bed (It looked like a huge man that was made out off fire by the foot of my bed). I jumped out of bed and ran to the hallway (naked), broke the glass for the fire extinguisher-but since I didn't have my glasses on, I couldn't read the instructions! I ran back inside (this was in a multi-story older apartment complex during college, and I was afraid that if I didn't put out the fire, my fellow students would die), grabbed the flaming comforter off my bed and beat the fire into submission. It had covered much of the floor, a good part of the bed, one curtain, and an upholstered chair-but after much beating , it died out. Firemen showed up too; they made sure it was dead (at least I had a robe nearby, so they didn't get too much of an eyeful). I had a lot of problems with smoke inhalation for a while. Moral of the story; better to be safe and cold!

It can set the carpet/rug right in front of it on fire.

Not worth the risk.