Electric radiator with thermostat

deansatch

I have just got a 750w electric towel rail radiator for the bathroom. Obviously the bathroom is used randomly throughout the day and night so I suppose it needs to be on from about 8am - about 10pm? Is this sensible or should it be timed to go on for 3-4 hours in the morning then again at about 6pm?

It has a thermostat but the room is terrible with regards to insulation so heat loss will be pretty bad. I can set the temperature. Now...if I set the temperature at 30 degrees all day, would it use .75kwh of leccy for the duration it is on? And if I set it at 15 degrees, would it still use .75kwh? Is the only difference between the temperature settings the time it takes to get up to that temp?

Just wondering about the best way to use this. I currently have it set at 17.5 degrees from 10am - 10pm and my calculations make this cost me about £40 per month to run. And it's a tiny bathroom!

Cardew

Assuming you pay for 10p per kWh(unit) for electricity(an average price on an internet tariff) a 750w towel rail will cost 7.5p an hour to run whilst it is switched on and heating.

However as it has a thermostat it will be switching on and off when the room is at the temperature set on the thermostat.

You are correct that set to 30C a small heater would be on permanantly. Even at 15C in winter in a badly insulated room I suspect it will on all the time.

There is no 'best way' to use these heaters. They are like any other electrical heater of the same power. In winter set to 17.5C for 12 hours a day I would think that it would be on all the time(except perhaps when you have a hot bath) so will use approx 270kWh a month.

macman

It costs the same to run per hour whatever temp you set. The output is the same regardless of the temp setting-when its on , it's costing you about 7.5p per kwh as advised.

Cardew

macman wrote: »

It costs the same to run per hour whatever temp you set. The output is the same regardless of the temp setting-when its on , it's costing you about 7.5p per kwh as advised.

I am not certain I understand the point you are making.

The output is the same in that it is not variable power, but if you have the thermostat turned down to a low setting, there will be times when there is no output.

So it is perfectly feasible that in the 12 hour period the OP quoted it would only use 750w(7.5p) for, say 7 hours.

macman

Cardew wrote: »

I am not certain I understand the point you are making.

The output is the same in that it is not variable power, but if you have the thermostat turned down to a low setting, there will be times when there is no output.

So it is perfectly feasible that in the 12 hour period the OP quoted it would only use 750w(7.5p) for, say 7 hours.

When I said, 'when it's on', I meant 'when it's on as controlled by the thermostat'.
OP seems to be under the impression that turning up the stat increases the output (and so heats the room faster).