Can you recommend an Oil Filled Radiator?

amtrakuk

I have to say I have gone all electric in my house - long story but bye bye gas and now knackered combi boiler...

I have with the help of a sparky got 1.25Kw glen/dimplex ofx type oil filled radiators I bought off ebay hung on my walls. The cold winter we have gone though they came into their own, I kept them on low/med thermostat 24/7 and to heat a 2 bed end terrace costs me about £80 a month (inc hot water and cooking).

Highly recommended

jonesjw

Electric is about 4 times the price of gas, so watch the expense if you replace gas with electri.

amtrakuk

Yeah I know its more expensive but there is no servicing and very little depreciation. My electric bill for whole house (cooking (induction/table top oven), Hot water (12kw redring powerstream on demand water heater) and heating (4 x oil fill rads), TV, lighting, fridge etc) is costing me about £80 a month.

Its when my combi boiler went u/s and with a gas bill of £70 a month + £20 service contract and £10 a month depreciation (based on a boiler lasting 10 years and replacement & fitting costing £1200). I worked out going all electric as cheaper and for me it has worked out cheaper :j

It must be coming on for about 2 years since the boiler broke down and BG said it had come to the end of its life (apparently they don't cover the heat exchanger).

It might be worth readers to check what parts are NOT covered under their boiler service plan. I assumed BG Homecare covered everything in the boiler but when the heat exchanger failed I was told by the engineer they dont cover it. They did offer a power flush if I paid, but advised against it as in a boiler of 8 years it may well cause it to burst. :mad:

The frustrating thing (and left me with a bit of a sour taste in my mouth) was the boiler had a routine BG Homecare service every year and nothing was said about its condition. It seemed to be a case of yes it works (I could have told them that), put the cover on and leave. There was no suggestions about how I could prolong its life so when it did go wrong and it was condemned I had very little choice and was left high and dry boiling hot water to wash in on the hob and plugging in oil filled radiators for heat.

After doing homework on the web and DIY stores I soon learnt combi boilers don't last forever and you get what you pay for. A cheap £400 one will last about 4 - 5 years so Worcester Bosch was recommended to give about 10 years. Next the cost of supply and replacing was anything from £1200 to an eye popping £3500 with BG! Not having that money to hand gave me only one option of all electric which after spending about £600 for the sparky to wore up the heaters, cooker and hot water system, I feel I made the right move.

oscar_the_grouch_2

ormus wrote: »

dimplex is the best known brand. make sure you get one with the thermostat. you can get a timer to fit your plug sockets, for peanuts these days. (itll do for other jobs too).

When I was researching oil filled radiators my father was championing Dimplex. Perhaps because of this I went for a Delonghi TRD0715T. It does the job but I'm now wondering whether one of the portable Dimplex oil filled radiators might have been better.

WestonDave

We've got some of the oil free radiators at work which seem to go very nicely - they have timers in so they can be programmed to come on first thing, and apparently they are quicker to heat up and more efficient than the oil ones. (they are Dimplex brand ones). By the looks of it they are basically a bar element inside the air space created by a radiator shape, but as I say they seem to work well enough.

clockworks_2

Doozergirl wrote: »

www.easy-heat.co.uk

Beautiful, inconspicuous water filled radiators that plug in (or wire in with help from your friendly electrician) and hang on the wall like GCH radiators. Expensive but apparantly cost effective - you can actually set them on a thermostat or timed. You can run them separately with a gadget on the radiator or you can run run seven very cleverly off one remote control thingy

These look great, never heard of them before. Am tempted to get one for the lounge.

For the OP if you want an electric heater i can recommend the Delonghi Bambino, tiny and very efficient.
Easy to hide away and produces great heat.

benedi

It depends on how much it costs to run it per hour in a standard sized room. Does any one have any idea about costs of running?

dellboy102

Does anyone know whether we can have it running in the bathroom while having a shower or bath, no water would get to it but worried about steam and if its dangerous.

HappyMJ

dellboy102 wrote: »

Does anyone know whether we can have it running in the bathroom while having a shower or bath, no water would get to it but worried about steam and if its dangerous.

As long as it's not in the shower or bath with you then you should be right. Keep it the other side of the room.

dellboy102

Thanks, I know its not recommended to have a power point inside so wasn't sure.