Electric Convector Heater or Oil Central Heating?

Oasis_Gardening

Hi

I've become self employed, which means that during the winter months I'm going to be working a lot from home (generally situated in just one room during the day), as a result of which I am going to be requiring some heating on during the day & wondered what would be cheapest.

The two options I currently have would be to either run the oil fired central heating, which would of course be heating the whole house which seems a waste when I'm only going to be in one room.

Or

Use an electric convector heater in the room I will be working in. The one I have is a Dimplex DX3000S which is a 3kw heater, but has variable heat settings & is thermostatically controlled. This option has the benefit of heating just the room I'm in, but I believe the running costs for such heaters are quite high.

Does anyone have a view on what would be the most economical option?

Thanks

macman

Could you not turn off some of the rads in the rest of the house?

JamesK10

With a convector it would at least tell you the power usage on the box or the underside, but all the convectors I've bought in the last 10 years have used 2.5Kw the minute you hear that "click" when you turn them up (however high you turn them after that). How big is the room and how many windows, because a smaller Halogen heater might be better for literally the one room, spot heating only on when you need it in there - and a desktop computer would also contribute to the heat, but would need to be on a few hours.

Best *price* to get a smaller Halogen heater that I've found is the annual buy-in at Poundstretchers, £12 for a 3-bar, so 400W per bar fixed, might default at using 2 bars but in a small room with only one window that would be all you needed. Be warned, my local branch has sold out twice due to this cold snap so ring them before you go. If you didn't want to go as high as 1200W total at maximum then a smaller fan-assisted heater might be better - again, the size of the room should decide.

Regarding oil, I know nothing about that, someone else will have to comment.

[EDIT] Update to this Maplin have brought in their annual Halogen Heating supply, one bar less than last year for a fiver less - £20. I had a good experience just returning the one that didn't work to Maplin, of all the models I've bought I've only ever had two of the six from the internet (an Amazon seller) - Ebay's running at around £13 for those not worried about mail order on a light item like this. So Poundstretchers might have the best price but I haven't tested them for service, so if I pay a little more at another shop with hassle-free returns, personally that's where I'll go.

amtrakuk

Hi there.


I have done a conversion to electric heating and have tried almost all forms of electric heating over the last few years. I have to say all have been reliable except a Bionaire convection heater that had a remote control - Dont think Argos sell them now due to their unreliability.

Somethings I would be mindful of before buying:

All electric heating is 100% efficient at the point of use. You out 1Kw of electricity in you get 1Kw of heat out.
Always buy a heater with a thermostat to control the heater.
A rough running guide, if you are paying 12p a unit(Kw/h) then if a 1Kw heater is on constantly, that will cost 12p - a thermostat clicking on and off will limit this.
Convection heaters heat up and start giving out almost instantly, the heat generally gathers at the top of the room, working down the room in time.
Fan heaters are also quick but can be noisy.
Halogen heaters are quick but the light can be distracting, also if your not on front of it you can feel the cold.
Oil filled radiators/Panel heaters give a steady heat but take a long time to warm up - Ideally suited for heating a room for a long time.

From experience when using a heater with a thermostat make sure it measures the air temperature - sounds kind of obvious but I tried some Glen wall mountable panel heaters, the integral thermostat measured the panel temperature meaning its thermostat was constantly clicking on and off even when on hight and didn't give out the heat I thought it would.

I settled on some Berry Magicoal panel heaters with built in timers and thermostats off ebay. They work a treat

Pincher

Have you ever considered using INEFFICIENT appliances?

Have you ever considered the absurdity of BUYING a heater which is designed to WASTE electricity. Assuming your office/study needs 1000W to keep warm, why don't you just switch on enough appliances to output 1000W of heat?

In winter, use full-tar, cholestrol rich 100W incandescent and 150W halogen bulbs. You can easily use 500W to light up a room.
Switch the Hi-fi on, switch the TV on. I find my printer's power adaptor gets quite warm. Instead of a laptop, use a tower, which should blow out 100~200W of waste heat.

In fact, if you know anything about PC gaming, you'll know how power hungry graphics cards are. A proper gaming PC IS a fan heater! If you have one under your desk, you will not need a heater! The bonus is, your programs run faster.

Put that 100W equivalent 18W "energy saving" light bulb away.
They cost £2 more to buy, managed to save you 50p in electricity,
and then died after a year, so you never saved any money anyway.