Halogen Heaters

cattie

Probably the most economical & cost efficient way to heat your home would be by using one of the calor gas portable heaters. You can often pick these up 2nd hand at quite a reasonable price.

If it has to be electric, then convector heaters with a timer/variable thermostat are a good way to keep your electricity bills from going sky high.

I feel the cold intensely & find wearing lots of layers of clothing is an ideal way to keep warm, as is wearing a top with a hood to cover your head, as we lose an awful lot of our body heat through our heads. I have a spare single feather duvet that I bring downstairs & keep on the sofa in the winter. It's great to wrap around me or snuggle under when I'm feeling chilled to the bone.

Lighting candles can make a room feel cosy & warm.

jockettuk

elderly neighbour who is so money concience its unbelievable has one of the halogen heaters she swears by it and says she doesnt need it on long as it gets to warm..

The oil filled radiators take to long to heat up and are dear to run according to the enery efficent bloke thats why ive now got a convector heater instead.

meadowcat

Can't help you with which type would be the cheapest to run. I think all heating by electric can work out expensive.

What I would suggest is that you check your meter and work out how much it costs to run the heater. You can then decide how long you can afford to run it each day and you won't have any nasty shocks in your electricity bill.

Swan_2

I'll have a look into Lidl while I'm out today & see if they've any of those convectors left & will investigate best prices for a Halogen heater too

whatever I end up getting, I'll run it through my little gadget that shows you exactly how much electricity an appliance is using over a given period of time. I imagine that'll be more accurate then relying on the info on the ratings plate when using a thermostat

thanks for the good advice everyone, I've lots of food for thought now

black-saturn

What gadget is that? Where did you get it from?

paul_h

The power meters are no longer available from Lidl, try eBay or Maplin.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?ModuleNo=38343

All electric heaters are virtually 100% efficient, i.e. they emit the same amount of heat into a room in kW as they consume in electricity. The difference with different heaters is the proportion of radiated heat to convected heat.

Convected heat warms the room like central heating, and you need this type of heater on for a while before you feel the benefit. However, the heat is retained in the room longer. Convector, Fan and Oil-filled rad are types which emit more convected heat.

Radiated heat is like the heat from a bonfire, walk away or turn the heater off and you go cold quickly. As you are heating a smaller area, you feel more of a benefit if you are sat in front of it. Types which emit more radiated heater are Halogen, Electric bar fire, etc.

So, if you want the whole room to feel pleasant, you need a convector/fan heater. Oil filled rads take longer to warm up, but room temperature will be more stable over a longer period than with any other heater. If you are happy to sit in front of a fire to keep warm, a Halogen or Electric bar heater may well be a bit cheaper to run as you are not heating the whole room to the same temperature. Heating is also initially quicker.

The Calor heater suggested earlier would be a cheaper option without doubt...

HTH

allison445

hi

i use halogen heaters and convector heaters neither are cheap to run unfortunately i dont have a choice live in a large old house with no double glazing and central heating packed in cant at present afford to get it replaced.

halogen heaters are good for small areas and cost about 3 per hour on first heat setting 400 watt i put it on at the third heat setting for 10 - 20 minutes then i turn it down to 1. I really like the glow these heaters give off and it does feel warm and cosy.

allison

paul_h

allison445 wrote:

i use halogen heaters and convector heaters neither are cheap to run unfortunately i dont have a choice live in a large old house with no double glazing and central heating packed in cant at present afford to get it replaced.

Sorry to read about your CH situation, electric heaters are certainly not a cheap option in your situation, unless only for a very short term.

If your CH will be out of action for a while, perhaps you might be better looking for a secondhand Calor heater, as one of the earlier posters suggested? They can often be picked up quite cheaply in local small-ads, and you can sell them on when you get your CH back.

llol_slim

apologies about fragging up an old post, but I was just wondering someone can give a clear answer...
We live in a rented house, and all our radiators are far too small to heat our rooms efficiently, so we bought a halogen heater, that uses 400, 800 or 1200 watts, which you can choose.
Weve startedusing it more than heating now as it actually gets us warm...
But is it possilbe for someone to give a roughly hourly costing? Ive read 3p per hour for 400w and also 7p per hour.
Thanks in advance
LLol_slim

erb

llol_slim wrote:

apologies about fragging up an old post, but I was just wondering someone can give a clear answer...
We live in a rented house, and all our radiators are far too small to heat our rooms efficiently, so we bought a halogen heater, that uses 400, 800 or 1200 watts, which you can choose.
Weve startedusing it more than heating now as it actually gets us warm...
But is it possilbe for someone to give a roughly hourly costing? Ive read 3p per hour for 400w and also 7p per hour.
Thanks in advance
LLol_slim

Look on your electricity bill and see how much you pay for one unit including VAT. One unit is a kilowatt hour or using 1000 watts for one hour. So if your unit cost including VAT is say 9p then having your heater on full for one hour will use 1200 watts or 1.2 units. Therefore, 1.2 x 9p = 10.8p per hour on full or if only using the 400w setting 0.4 x 9p = 3.6p per hour. Now do the calculations using your actual unit cost on your electricity bill.

:xmassign: