Oil filled Radiator or convection heater?

abankerbutnotafatcat

I want to buy an electric heater as a back up to the GCH. Has anyone any thoughts on the relative merits of oil filled radiators and convection heaters (or indeed any other type) particularly with regard to fuel efficiency.

Owain_Moneysaver

They will have exactly the same efficiency.

abankerbutnotafatcat

I did think so but just thought i'd make sure.

Are there any other considerations?

I've had a oil-filled radiator before (as my sole heating source when I lived in Aus!!!) and the only one I could think of is that they are very heavy so would be difficult to move between floors.

Do convector heaters have fans? (I read a review of one that made it sound like they do). This would be a consideration for me as we have allergies and fans tend to make dust fly around the house.

Bettie

When my GCH broke a few years ago I bought two convector heaters and one oil filled radiator. I find the oil one heavy. When I need to heat the spare room my choice is the convector. It is much quicker and seems to warm the whole room. The oil one was ok for warming a towel but is not good at warming the room unless I leave it for hours on end and it is now being banished to the shed for emergency. I will keep the convector in the spare room for winter. I don't have any fans in the convectors that I bought.

27col

As they both have exactly the same efficiency the only choice that you have to make is the convenience of use. Only you can realistically make this choice, based on you proposed usage patterns, they both have different advantages and disadvantages. The convection heaters will be lighter in weight, but some oil filled heaters are supplied with wheels for ease of movement.

anotherbaldrick

Efficiency of both is 100% , the oil one due to the contained mass will take considerably longer to heat up but will continue to disperse heat for a while when switched off. The convector heats up quickly but stops emitting as soon as switched off.

YORKSHIRELASS

We have an oil filled radiator as back up heating in our lounge and love it. It does take quite a bit of time to get warmed up but it adequately heats a decent sized lounge and I havent noticed any difference in our electricity consumption. Yes its heavy and cumbersome and although it does have wheels I dont think they are really designed to be portable.

Its sturdy and safe too, you can leave it on unattended without any problem and ours has a timer, which we personally dont use but could be handy.

If you want a quick blast of heat in a fairly small room fan heaters are also great. We have one for our office but I appreciate you might not want to use one because of your allergies.

moonrakerz

abankerbutnotafatcat wrote: »

Do convector heaters have fans? (I read a review of one that made it sound like they do). This would be a consideration for me as we have allergies and fans tend to make dust fly around the house.

Yes some do.

If you are worried about dust circulating, ANY heater will cause the air to circulate, any dust in it will circulate too !

If you have a major problem get warm air central heating fitted with electro-static filters to remove all the dust.