Review · Micathermic panel
No fan, three inches deep, wall-mountable, and a published 750 W low setting — the combination that makes micathermic worth knowing about.
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The De'Longhi HMP1500 is a fanless micathermic panel heater with two published settings — 1,500 W and 750 W — an adjustable thermostat, a frost mode that holds a room above 41°F, and a thermal cutoff plus internal tip-over switch. It is about three inches deep and can be wall-mounted.
A micathermic heater wraps its element in sheets of mica, a mineral that radiates heat well and insulates electrically. The result sits between the two types either side of it, and the position is a useful one:
That combination — silence plus speed plus no floor space — is not available from any other type, and it is the whole case for buying one. The full type explainer.
Top pick · A slim profile against a wall
A micathermic panel is a radiator that gave up its bulk: it radiates like oil-filled and warms up like ceramic, and it is about three inches deep so it can live against a wall.
| Published specification | |
|---|---|
| Rated power | 1,500 W high / 750 W low, at 120 V |
| Element | Mica panel — radiant plus convection, no fan |
| Mounting | Freestanding or wall-mountable |
| Controls | Adjustable thermostat, two heat settings |
| Frost mode | Standby setting holding the room above 41°F |
| Safety | Thermal shut-off, internal tip-over switch, standby setting |
| Heat type | Micathermic |
| Maker’s coverage claim | None published — the coverage figure above is ours |
| Safety listing | No listing mark published in the listing text; verify the UL or ETL mark on the rating plate. |
Who it is for
A room where floor space is tight and fan noise is unwelcome — a small bedroom, a study, a hallway landing.
What it is not for
A nursery or a household with toddlers, unless it is wall-mounted well out of reach. A hot panel at knee height is a burn, not a fire.
De'Longhi publishes both wattages, which is less common than it should be and which makes an honest cost comparison possible. Running at 750 W costs exactly half of 1,500 W per hour — power scales linearly with cost, and there is no efficiency penalty at part load.
| Wattage | Per hour | 4 h | 8 h |
|---|---|---|---|
| 750 W | 13.8¢ | $0.55 | $1.10 |
| 1,500 W | 27.5¢ | $1.10 | $2.20 |
Computed at 18.34¢/kWh — the U.S. residential average for June 2026 (EIA, Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.A, released August 26, 2026). Your rate is on your own bill; substitute it and the arithmetic still holds. Figures assume full output for the whole period.
In a room that only needs about 750 W — roughly 75 sq ft at standard assumptions — the low setting is not a compromise, it is the correct setting. Use high to bring the room up, then drop to low to hold it. Which wattage your room actually needs.
| Room size | Watts needed | BTU/h | Plug-in heaters |
|---|---|---|---|
| 75 sq ft | 750 W | 2,559 | 1 |
| 100 sq ft | 1,000 W | 3,412 | 1 |
| 150 sq ft | 1,500 W | 5,118 | 1 |
Computed as square feet x 10 W x insulation factor x (ceiling / 8 ft), for an average heated room — 10 W/sq ft, 8 ft ceiling. Heater count assumes the 1,500 W plug-in ceiling.
The standby setting holds a room above 41°F. That is not a comfort setting — nobody is sitting in a 41°F room — it is a pipe-protection setting for a space you are not using: a garage utility corner, a vacation property, a spare room over a crawlspace during a cold snap.
It is a genuinely useful feature, and it is worth being clear that it does not turn this into an unattended appliance. The guidance to turn heaters off when you leave the room still applies, and a heater running frost mode in an empty house is running unattended by definition. The overnight and unattended discussion.
The panel gets hot. That is the mechanism, not a defect — a radiant panel radiates because its surface is hot. It is not cool-touch and is not sold as one, which is why our nursery roundup lists floor-level panels and radiators as something to skip, and why wall mounting is the right answer in a room with a crawling child.
Heat stops when it stops. With little thermal mass there is no coasting: an oil-filled radiator keeps a bedroom drifting gently for half an hour after the element cuts, and this does not. The oil-filled comparison covers that trade in full.
No published listing mark, so check the rating plate — here is how.
A small bedroom, a study, a landing or a hallway where floor space is the constraint and fan noise is unwelcome — and where the hot panel can be wall-mounted or kept away from small hands. It is also one of the few genuinely wall-mountable options that does not need an electrician.
And what we did not do: we have not tested these units, owned them, measured them or run them in a room. Everything above is compiled from published manufacturer specifications and live retail listings, with the electrical load, room coverage and running cost computed by us from the published wattage. The full method.
1,500 W on high and 750 W on low, both published. The low setting costs exactly half as much per hour, with no efficiency penalty at part load.
Yes — there is no fan at all, so it is effectively silent and moves no dust or pollen around the room. That is the main reason to choose the type.
Yes, it is designed for freestanding or wall-mounted use. Mounting frees the floor entirely and puts the hot panel out of reach of children and pets.
It is a standby setting that keeps the room above 41°F, intended to help prevent frozen pipes in a space you are not occupying rather than to keep a room comfortable.
Silent like a radiator, fast like a ceramic, three inches thick — the least-known type here.
Mounting deletes tipping, floor clearance, cord routing and child reach. Plug-in panels and one hardwired unit.
Silent by design, not by adjective — the fanless types, plus the one unit that publishes a dB figure.
Silent and slow against fast and audible — and what the thermal-mass argument is really worth.
Where the 750 / 1000 / 1500 W tiers come from, and why 1500 W is a hard ceiling on a U.S. outlet.
1,500 W, silent, a 24-hour timer and sealed diathermic oil — the bedroom answer, with real caveats.