Cheapest to run portable heater?

lilmisskitkat

Hi all

This is going to be our first winter in our new house and as the house is bigger and tariffs are going up i'm concerned about the bills (isn't everyone?!). Hubby works from home at least 3 days a week and his office is small but cold, can anyone recommend which type of portable heater would be the cheapest to run to take the chill off the room without the need to put the central heating on. Downstairs me and DD can shut ourselves in the living room which has a fire and the room is quite warm anyway.

Or would it be cheaper to run the central heating on low? It's an old and not very efficient boiler but we can't afford to replace it for a while yet.

Thanks

K xx

chirpychick

I am no help at all but I just wanted to say I am interested too.
Our boiler is nearly 30 years old and we were discussing portable heaters just yesterday. My husband thinks that even with an old boiler it would be cheaper to run the CH than to get a portable heater. However, I am not convinced.
He keeps talking about these things you can get on your radiators so that you can set the temp on individual radiators therefore controlling the temp in each room apparently this would help (we are currently saving to have this done next year).
Also Never under estimate the heat of a few candles.
Depending on how much money you need to save thermal fingerless gloves, a flask of tea, blanket and hot water bottle are lovely for warming you up when sitting in front of the computer - though not always entirely practical and perhaps a step too far for some.
Hopefully some very helpful people will be along shortly

Farway

Remember all electric heaters, whatever they cost, use the same amount of electricity as stated on the label, so a £10 2kw bar from Argos cost same to run as a 2kw £50 over hyped "energy efficient" eco one from a posh store

If using electric it comes down to what style you like, bar, fan, panel etc. The running cost per Kw are the same

Butterfly_Brain

We had a new boiler put in three years ago and to be quite honest there was no saving, because of the huge price rises :mad:
So I must admit to having candles burning in the winter, they really do make a room warmer, luckily my two are adults now so I don't worry as much as I did when they were small.
We am looking at having a wood burning stove put in after we have recovered from the cost of replacing the French doors and windows :eek:

zippychick

as this has dropped down the board, ive moved this to the utilities board to see if you get some useful input over here

Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere (please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com"]forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].

Zip

Is your heating on or off may interest you

Cardew

As said above, all heaters give out the same heat, for the same running cost; albeit there are a lot of firms trying to sell hugely overpriced heaters by carefully worded rubbish.

However in your husband's situation a halogen heater like these would be a solution.

http://www.cnmonline.co.uk/Halogen-Heaters-c-1469.html

They don't produce any more heat for your money, but have the advantage that they can 'beam' heat toward a person - much like a desk reading lamp will illuminate a small area.

However the cheapest solution would be to turn off all radiators in the house except the office.

just_trying

The halogen heater is a good idea, i've used them before used to live in a very cold cottage. I would also suggest one of the calor gas heaters maybe you could pick one up second hand as they heat the whole room, yes the refills are not cheap anymore but running it in one room would not be to expensive and it would last a while. I used one of these at my last house and it was great it quickly heated up the whole room.

suki1964

just_trying wrote: »

The halogen heater is a good idea, i've used them before used to live in a very cold cottage. I would also suggest one of the calor gas heaters maybe you could pick one up second hand as they heat the whole room, yes the refills are not cheap anymore but running it in one room would not be to expensive and it would last a while. I used one of these at my last house and it was great it quickly heated up the whole room.

If using calor gas - remember to ventilate the room - awful lot of vapour from those gas heaters and if the room not vented properly - it can cause mould and damp

[Deleted User]

I was thinking about getting a calor gas heater but read on a thread on here the gas costs £36 and only lasts them a month heating one room .... Seems pricey to me still!:(:(

nesssie1702

suki1964 wrote: »

If using calor gas - remember to ventilate the room - awful lot of vapour from those gas heaters and if the room not vented properly - it can cause mould and damp

Need to ventilate for two reasons - there's a risk of carbon monoxide being produced and gas heaters produce a lot of water vapour which can lead to problems with condensation, mould and damp.

Vibrant

Calor gas heaters aren't cheap to run, by my estimates they cost about 24p an hour to run on one bar (lasting at best 150 hours on one bar) and there is no thermostat.
I haven't had any damp problems, but I'm in and out a lot, so it isn't on very long. The big plus point, is the speed with which they heat up a room, it is very impressive. But that is about the only advantage.

For long periods in a room, a thermostatically controlled electric oil filled radiator is best IMOP, as it gives a nice steady heat and is probably the most economical, because of the way it delivers the heat.
I find the halogen heaters uncomfortable, as they heat you directly, but that is just MIOP, others may like them.
The big advantage of electric heaters, is that they are cheap, so you can try all the types to see which you like. Or better still borrow them and try them.