Portable electric baseboard heater having an integral handle

A portable electric baseboard heater includes a unitary structural back plate having a central vertical portion bounded by an integral lower triangular closed box-like structure having a downwardly sloping forward surface and an integral upper triangular portion having an upwardly sloping forward surface, a horizontal top surface and a rear vertical wall in the same plane as the central portion and terminating spacedly thereabove to provide a horizontal opening aft of the upwardly sloping forward surface. An angularly bent or molded plastic liner covers the interior of a portion of the top and upwardly sloping surfaces of the upper triangular portion to form an internal thermally insulative handle accessible through the horizontal opening to permit lifting of the heater. The lower triangular portion serves as a protective raceway for power supply wires to an electric finned tube heater assembly supported by the back plate between the upper and lower triangular portions. Feet are provided at the ends of the back plate to support the heater spacedly above a plane of support. The shape of the back plate defines a rigid structural beam which resists loads applied to the heater intermediate its ends.