Best portable heater option / most economical

macman

Any thermostatically regulated electric heater will regulate the temp more effectively, but 'stats are not exclusive to oil -filled rads-most convectors have them too.

Cardew

rich_jtg wrote: »

But surely, in an average real-life situation, an oil filled radiator with a thermostat (which most seem to have) would be generally more cost effective to heat a room.

A halogen one would be left on constantly, or until someone realised it was getting a bit hot in the room... normally, at a higher temperature.

I would say however that a halogen one would probably be better if someone was looking for localised heat.

As said above, my fan(convector) heaters have thermostats.

The way heaters deliver their heat obviously make them more suitable for different conditions - e.g. as you suggest a halogen heater would be more effective for someone sitting alone in a room.

However the bottom line is that no electrical heater produces more heat for your money than any other heater.

NewCustomerOnly

My head's spinning after looking for a cheap way to heat a room and comparing all these posts! Thanks everyone, this is the one I finally went for (no-one mentioned the extra cost of running a fan for a heater,so I did.)
http://hubpages.com/hub/My-Cheap-Way-To-Heat-A-Room-Electric-Panel-Heaters-Running-Costs-Review

Pincher

What we need is some real numbers.

If you heat the old way for a week,
and the new way for a week, and record the meter readings,
it will help us to settle a few things (well grduges, preconception, religious dogma and superstition:))

andyrpsmith

NewCustomerOnly wrote: »

My head's spinning after looking for a cheap way to heat a room and comparing all these posts! Thanks everyone, this is the one I finally went for (no-one mentioned the extra cost of running a fan for a heater,so I did.)
http://hubpages.com/hub/My-Cheap-Way-To-Heat-A-Room-Electric-Panel-Heaters-Running-Costs-Review

A 400W heater unfortunately will not heat a room, it will as the article says just take off the chill. 400w will cost about 4p per hour to run but you will need another source of heat if the room is anything larger than a room under the stairs. The heater (oil filled) I use has the following options:
1. 500w instant heat, serves as the quick warm up while the oil heats (if you use the other elements).
2. 1KW element in oil.
3. 2.5KW element in oil.
4. Power modulation. - Turn on all elements (or just some) and the heater chooses the best combination of elements to maintain the chosen thermostat setting. At setting 3 for example the heater runs at 11p per hour and keeps my room at 18C which we are happy with. (At full pelt - thermostat on max and all on the cost would be 25.83p per hour at my current tariff of 8.61p per unit).

Warm up when using oil elements 5mins, and this heater provides many options combined with the timer and thermostat. At £100 - £139 it is not the cheapest but it is robust (fairly heavy), reliable and effective at giving the type of heating I like, very close to a typical water based radiator in a gas central heating system. Electric heating will never be as economical as gas but if you have no choice then choose what works best for you, get a consumption meter to measure the running costs (£10). This works well in setting up a heater for your own room.

I would find that having a 400w heater with no control a bit of a disadvantage, if it will not keep you comfortable you may find you need additional heating.

McGoo72

Cardew wrote: »

As said above, ALL electrical heaters have exactly the same efficiency.

Whilst oil filled radiators retain heat after power is disconnected, they take longer to warm up and produce heat.

The result is that the total heat output is exactly the same as any other heater.

Hi Cardew, i'm completely new to mse forums but u seem to know ur stuff! I wondered if u wouldn't mind having a look at a website i am thinking of buying some electric radiators from - the economy radiator company. They seem to talk a lot of sense and with living in a cold flat with horrible storage heaters it's time for a change and they seem to be perfect for my needs. i would really appreciate your feedback.

McGoo72

McGoo72 wrote: »

Hi Cardew, i'm completely new to mse forums but u seem to know ur stuff! I wondered if u wouldn't mind having a look at a website i am thinking of buying some electric radiators from - the economy radiator company. They seem to talk a lot of sense and with living in a cold flat with horrible storage heaters it's time for a change and they seem to be perfect for my needs. i would really appreciate your feedback.

Also, if anybody else wants to take a look and tell me what u think it would also be greatly appreciated.

macman

As already pointed out, all electric heaters have the same efficiency, so you might as well buy the cheapest.
Running electric rads will require you to change your tariff, and possibly your meter, away from E7-this will cost you more than running storage heaters.

Cardew

McGoo72 wrote: »

Hi Cardew, i'm completely new to mse forums but u seem to know ur stuff! I wondered if u wouldn't mind having a look at a website i am thinking of buying some electric radiators from - the economy radiator company. They seem to talk a lot of sense and with living in a cold flat with horrible storage heaters it's time for a change and they seem to be perfect for my needs. i would really appreciate your feedback.

As said repeatedly, the output of all electrical heaters in terms of heat for the money is the same.

So you should simply look at the type of heater that suits your needs and don't be fooled by firms with adverts that imply their electrical radiators somehow produce more heat for the money - they don't.

Andysmith above gives details of a heater costing '£100-£139' that has a high specification and there are plenty of others in that price range or cheaper.

It is very easy to have these heaters connected via timed and even remote controlled sockets, so you can have a very flexible system for a few hundred pounds.

The Economy Radiator company advertises:

2 bed house - (4 to 5 radiators supply only) £1200 to £1800
3 bed house - (5 to 7 radiators supply only) £1500 to £2500
4 bed house - (7 to 9 radiators supply only) £2150 to £3200

So £300 to £400 per radiator(what's the betting the higher figure in practice?)

The implications on their website e.g. 'running costs on a par with gas' are just plain wrong; but typical of the way these companies advertise.

So if you want electrical heating it is perfectly possible to get a flexible, modern 'DIY' system for a few hundred pounds. However you really do need to appreciate that electrical heating running costs - of any type - are not cheap.

ixwood

I agree, any fancy/expensive electric are a rip off and will be no cheaper to run than any other electric heater and in no way comparable to gas.

Is electricity is your only option, then Air Source Heat Pumps could be worth looking in to. They're basically air conditioning unit running in reverse and extracting heat from the air outside. As they're using heat that already exists, they can be a lot more efficient and give returns of 3+ units of heat to each unit of electricity. They get less and less efficient as the temperature drops, but over a year, they'll be a lot cheaper to run than electric heaters.