oil filled heaters

hcp112

Hi new to site. We have prepayment Eon meter gas and electric. We are currently paying about £70.00 a week no kidding on the gas and £30.00 on electric. Just been looking in Argos as thinking of getting an oil filled radiator they are all out of stock!! Everyone must be going out to buy one. Just borrowed a halogen heater for the front room at the moment as sick of topping up the gas meter. Are oil filled heaters expensive to run??
As cant afford to pay these gas prices??

Magentasue

They're more expensive than gas central heating. You're paying so much because a) you have prepay meters and b) it's very cold!

You'd be better off using your CH but heating fewer rooms. Plug in heaters will only heat a small space and as soon as you open the door, you've got cold air rushing in. Can you improve insulation even if it's bubble wrap and heavy curtains over the windows and doors? The more loft insulation etc and draughtproofing you do, the more heat will stay in.

dave461_2

I managed to get a mini oil filled heater from my local Tesco Extra for just over £24.
Just seen one on Dunelm Mills Website for £15 though
http://www.dunelm-mill.com/product/7443a.htm
http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.200-1549.aspx

welshlil

you don't say if you are on any benefits..........might be worth checking with your supplier of gas and electric if your qualify for the discount scheme. I'm with SWALEC and as over 10% of my income goes on fuel i qualify for 20% off both. Anythings better than nothing.

hcp112

well i went down to maplins and got a 1600 watt halogen heater £24.99 for heater £10.00 cheaper than argos running costs are 11p an hour and i havent needed the gas only if want a bath
therefore reckon only will put £20.00 in gas this week, only for heating water:T

Belnahua

We've had an interesting experience.

We've stopped using our coal fire and turned off the immersion heater - use a kettle for washing up and a shower instead of baths.

We've swapped over to 2 x 2.5kW oil radiators for downstairs and 1 x 1.5 for the bedroom.

We are only using 3kWH more per day leccy year on year comparison!

Considering coal was costing about £5 a night, this is quite a saving!

lynzpower

dave461 wrote: »

I managed to get a mini oil filled heater from my local Tesco Extra for just over £24.
Just seen one on Dunelm Mills Website for £15 though
http://www.dunelm-mill.com/product/7443a.htm
http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.200-1549.aspx

Please dont waste your money buying the "mini" ones they really are hopeless.

Believe me I have extensive experience of oil filled heaters (!!) and see all sorts - around 30 a day plgged in in use in buildings without central heating.

I have no central heating and a big property, and we have 3. One of them is a flat one like this http://www.amazon.co.uk/Encodex-2155-Glen-Electric-Heater/dp/B0000C7350/ref=sr_1_20?ie=UTF8&s=kitchen&qid=1232132539&sr=1-20

http://www.amazon.co.uk/DeLonghi-KR730715-Filled-Radiator-Wheels/dp/B000UVHZ2A/ref=sr_1_37?ie=UTF8&s=kitchen&qid=1232132597&sr=1-37 and 2 like this.

Seriouisly they are really not very good at all.

the best ones in my experience is the delonghi dragon 3 http://www.amazon.co.uk/DeLonghi-Dragon-TRD1025-Radiator-2-5kW/dp/B0007LFSZO/ref=sr_1_18?ie=UTF8&s=kitchen&qid=1232132539&sr=1-18
but its also one of the most expensive.

they are very expensive to run.

If you can get halogen heaters, I would really rather choose one of them, please be careful though as there is a small risk of dustfires with them.

amtrakuk

As above check your getting the best price for you're gas (if you can). Make sure all drafts are dealt with, I had a Flame Affect gas fire and soon worked out with the help of a cigarette all the heat was getting sucked up the flue. Make sure you're boiler is serviced properly by a CORGI engineer, it might be running inefficiently.

As mentioned on watchdog tonight. Make sure your gas meter is metric and you are being charged for metric measurement and not imperial! ALOT of people have been stung by this. You should be able to check on you're meter to see if it is metric or imperial, also phone up your gas company and make sure they are charging you in the right measurement also.

See: http://www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog/consumer_advice/latest_meters_pic.shtml

If they are getting it wrong, you could be paying up to 3x the amount you should be. If so demand a refund!

As someone who had the same (although not as bad) gas bills (100 a month gas / 40 electric), the final straw was the boiler breaking down and british gas saying it was BER. Long story but decided to get rid of gas all together when working out depreciation, servicing, anyhow enough rambling.

Things to remember, no electric heater is more efficient than the other!

A 1Kw heater will generate the same amount of heat as any other 1Kw heater, its just what method it transfers heat, this includes £250 professional radiators or cheap £30 convection heaters. You cannot make or destroy electricity.

It might be worth trying, if you can afford it "trying" a halogen heater from Argos, If the heater isnt exempt from the 16 day money back guarantee and if its not what you want you can return it for a full refund if its not exactly what you want. I tried an halogen heater, they are as quick as convector heaters but they don't heat the air in the room, they heat objects, ie you, your chair etc, I also found the light given off annoying. When you walk to the other side of the room out of its way you will find the air still very cold.

Have a look at http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=BsZiPEEdhdI&feature=related

Take note the thermometer is only about 2 ft from the heater

There are websites on the web that help you calculate how many Kw is recommended for a room. An essential I would say would be go for a heater with a thermostat to avoid the room being overheated.

Don't do what I did and overload the ring main. A typical ring main is 25 Amps or just over 6Kw, if there is ever the potential to over load the ring main its well worth getting a sparky in and doing the job properly. It was the fridge that clicked in overdid it for mine!

Hope this helps

amtrakuk

Forgot to mention running costs...

Take a meter reading say at 6pm. Use the heater so your comfortable and then take a meter reading exactly the same time (6pm) the following day.

Calculate the difference eg Todays meter reading (minus) yesterdays meter reading. That will give you how many units of electricity you have used in the house (not just that heater) over the 24hr period.

Phone up your electricity supplier and ask how many pence you are being charged per Unit of electricity. If your on a standard domestic (non meter) supply you will have 2 rates, Tier 1 and Tier 2.

I think for me, Tier 1 is typically 23p a Unit a year, once you have reached that limit you go to the Tier 2 price bracket for the remainder.

eg.

I get charged 25p per Kw hour on Tier 1 for the first 500 Kw then I get charges 18p per Kw there after.

1 Kw = 1 unit = I whole digit on your meter.

So I get charged 25p for the first 500 Kw (Units) I use then get charges 18p per Kw (Units) for whatever else I use. Sounds simple? read on.

Lets say, in theory I can boil my 1Kw kettle non stop for 500 hours and that would use my 500 units in Tier 1. After that I go onto the tier 2 rate and I continue to boil my 1Kw kettle for another 200 hours non stop.

So my 500 Units I'd have used is 500 x 25p = £125.00 then my 200 Units as Tier 2 which is 200 x 18p = £36.00. I have therefore used £161.00.

Wouldn't life be simple if it was that easy. Generally electric companies spread your years quota of Tier 1 and Tier 2 over 12 months. So your 500 units on Tier 1 is actually spread over 12 months. 500 Tier 1 units divide by 12 months = 41.7 Units at Tier 1 every month then you go to the Cheaper tier 2 rate for the remainder of that monthly billing cycle.

It may sound confusing but unless you're using alot of electricity, ie all electric if a 1 Kw heater was on full for an hour it would cost you about 20-25p an hour to run. However the wonders of a thermostat mean when the room is up to temperature the heater turns off therefor not consuming electricity until the room falls below what the thermostat is set to then it clicks the heater on again and electricity is used once more.

Personally I went for a 3Kw heater in my front room and 2Kw heaters round the rest of the house that I used as and when I needed them - All of them with thermostats

As I live in an older house insulation isn't wonderful and with the heaters on heating the front room and the kitchen how I wanted it and had the bedroom on overnight I used about 10 units (Kw) a day = At the most £2.50. I did a trial first of reading the meter at the same time every day and worked out yes, £18 a week was pricey but when the warmer weather came I wouldn't have the heaters on so during the warmer days I spent about £8 a week without them on, cheaper than £70 a month + depreciation of the boiler of £10 + servicing of £15 a month

Duncan101

I recently bought this oil filled radiator. I looked at the more expensive delonghi ones but was told that oil filled rads are very tough heaters and most last for years - branded or otherwise. I used to use storage but as I am out most of the day the 24 hour timer on this rad allows me to only heat my flat when I'm in or just before I wake up to when I go to work. Costs me about a £1 per day to heat a room.

amtrakuk

Im doing a trial. I'm trying older Glen oil filled panel heaters, being only 1.2Kw and a thermostat . Leaving them on 24/7 on half thermostat keeps the room comfortable and even after a couple of days even my usually freezing 18x12x9ft kitchen is comfortable.

Im not sure on the costs involved but I've been running the heaters like this for a couple of day. From observations the heaters typically switch on for 5 minutes every 20 minutes