said by rfnut: On the other subject of a heater on a timer, I can see where that could be its own problem if something were to come into contact with the heater unexpectedly. In my opinion any type heater that when covered by a blanket could cause combustion (even with overheat or other safety) should be manually turned on. Imagine getting up early in a rush for a plane or something and you throw a man made fiber shirt on the bed, which falls on an electric space heater. It turns on just after you leave and the shirt melts onto the element and catches fire before the safety kills it.
It seems like those problems are easily solved. Get a programmable plug-in timer made for use with heaters and a wall or ceiling mountable heater.