oil v electric panel heaters

happylady_2

Please can I have some advice for an elderly friend. She wants to know which would be the cheapest to run. An oil filled or an electric panel heater. It would be in her bathroom and would be on a low heat all day. (it's brass monkeys in there in most weathers). The rest of her bungalow has storage heaters but the bathroom has a fan heater,(not her choice it was there when she moved in) which seems to use lots of electric. Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks Happylady:)

Mrs_pbradley936

Well I have an oil filled radiator 1.5 kilowatt cost £34.95 from Argos (todays price had mine for a while) which I use to warm the kitchen if I dont want to have the heating on all over the house. It has a thermostate which cuts out when it gets to the required temp, then comes back on if it gets colder. I am very pleased with it you will not just be able to plug it in though, in a bathroom you would have to have an electrician install it safely.

John_3:16

Not sure if it is wise to put s heater in a bathroom like this. I asume she will plug it in outside the bathroom and trail it in. This would not be a wise thing to do. If she already has a heater is it on the wall and hard wired in?

The fan heater she has should be only used while she is in the bathroom that way you cut down on power used. All heaters will only give you the same amount of heat power ratio.

seven-day-weekend

She would be better off having a special bathroom-safe storage heater installed. I bought a reconditioned one from a specialist company some years ago and they also installed it for me.(sorry, I have lost the details).

Try googling.

al_yrpal

There would be no difference in running costs, but the oil filled radiator will take longer to heat up and cool down so there won't be instant heat when its switched on. Some of them have time switches.
A low wattage tubular heater is also a safe solution to take the chill off a bathroom. They are commonly used in drying rooms. Either the oil filled radiator or a tubular heater should be wired into a permanent switchable fused connection rather than using a plug and socket. If there is an existing socket, that can be taken out and the permanent connection can be wired in its place. Convector heaters, or fan heaters are dangerous in bathrooms.

happylady_2

Thanks for all the replies. I will pass on your words of wisdom to my friend. What ever she gets will be hard wired in the bathroom by a qualified electrician

navig8r

happylady wrote:

Please can I have some advice for an elderly friend. She wants to know which would be the cheapest to run. An oil filled or an electric panel heater. It would be in her bathroom and would be on a low heat all day. (it's brass monkeys in there in most weathers). The rest of her bungalow has storage heaters but the bathroom has a fan heater,(not her choice it was there when she moved in) which seems to use lots of electric. Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks Happylady:)

The fan heater probably has a thermostat on it so I would be looking to slow down the heat going out of the room by increasing the loft insulation..I have just bumped mine up from 3 to 12 inches and the difference is amazing.

Dave