Ottawa is considering a ban on some portable electric heaters, calling the heating devices a potential “safety” issue.
Portable electric heaters have been added to a list of hazardous consumer products due to “ongoing safety concerns,” Health Canada said in a notice on its website. The agency said the devices potentially “pose a danger to human health or safety.”
Health Canada has opened a digital comment and consultation period to give stakeholders and members of the public a chance to comment via email on the proposed ban. The 90-day consultation period will end May 19.
“Health Canada will consider these comments when making a determination on whether there is a danger to human health or safety posed by these products,” the agency said.
If insufficient information is collected to conclude portable electric heaters are dangerous, the ban will not be implemented, according to the notice, although Health Canada will continue “monitoring the hazard.”
This proposal does not constitute a ban on all portable electric heaters. Many portable electric heaters currently on the market are compliant to these safety criteria and would continue to be available for purchase.
The devices under scrutiny include convection, fan-forced heaters, portable baseboard heaters, radiant heaters, and liquid-filled radiator-style heaters. Portable electric heaters that incorporate other functions, such as fan-only modes and air cleaning are also on the list.
Permanently connected electric heaters and fuel-burning heaters are not subject to the review.
Health Canada said it has identified several areas of concern with portable electric heaters that can lead to overheating, creating a burn or fire hazard. Highest on the list of concerns is internal component failure, such as “short circuiting” of heating elements or motor windings.
Other potential hazards identified by Health Canada include a heater being placed too close to a flammable object, a flammable object being placed on the heater, and the emission of flame or molten material.
The concerns stem from 252 reports of “incidents”—including five deaths and 10 injuries—linked to portable electric heater use in Canada between June 20, 2011, and Sept. 30, 2023, Health Canada said.
“Data from the Ontario Fire Marshall showed that from 2017 to 2021, an average of 510 structural fires per year were caused by heating equipment in Ontario,” the agency said. “It is expected that a large portion of these incidents are due to portable electric heaters.The majority of these fires were not reported to Health Canada, indicating that there is a significant amount of underreporting of fires related to heating equipment, including portable electric heaters.”
News of the potential ban on portable electric heaters comes at a time when home heating costs have escalated substantially.
The increased heating costs have left some Canadian households struggling to pay their heating bills. Recently released research from McGill University found nearly one in five households face “energy poverty” due to high energy costs.
Energy poverty, the inability to “maintain healthy indoor temperatures” year-round is especially an issue in Canada’s rural areas where the population tends to live in larger houses, the report found. Large homes often benefit from the use of portable heaters by allowing owners to turn the thermostat down and use portable heating in the most-used rooms.
Statistics Canada released similar findings last fall, saying 14 percent of Canadian households were kept at an “unsafe or uncomfortable temperature” for at least four weeks in the past year.
The StatCan numbers revealed one in seven Canadians had to do without basic necessities, like food and medicine, to pay energy bills with roughly 8 percent doing so for at least three months.
Editor’s note: This article was updated to clarify that Health Canada is considering banning some models of electric heaters.
