What heater is best to keep a room warm?

Elan

Sadly I don't have central heating, so I want a straight-forward portable heater. So far I've had the fan heater, the halogen heater, at my friends I'm pretty sure I experienced the convector one, my problem with all of them is that they blow out heat, and that's about it, they don't actually heat/warm a room up the way a radiator would, the moment you switch them off it's cold again. Does anyone know of any portable heater that actually heats up a room? Are there any particular features I need to look for?

nut

We got a couple of Hyundai heaters and they are perfect for our needs. They are mini portable radiators which give out good heat. You can regulate the heat to suit your needs. We put one in a room that doesn't have heating and one in a small conservatory. We got them in Poundstretcher a year or so ago and they cost around £20 and £30 (we got two different sized ones).

Jonesya

An oil filled radiator is the closest match to wet central heating, it's silent, it doesn't go cold instantly, most have different power levels for background warmth.

To be clear though, it's no better heater than any of the one's you've already got just a different design, the efficiency is the same and whilst it doesn't go cold instantly, the flip-side is that it takes longer to warm up so not instant heat.

Long term (do you own the house?) you want to look at other options, resistive electric heating is a very expensive way of heating a house. Could you get gas, or even oil, if you're limited to electric you want to be looking at air-source heat pumps (~1/3 of the running costs) or if you're at home most of the day, perhaps things like storage heaters on Economy 7.

Gloomendoom

We use a cheapo electric convector heater to warm up our bedroom in the morning. It works extremely well and, compared to running the central heating to unnecessarily heat the whole house, it is very cheap to run.

teddysmum

We have a Delonghi Dragon 3 oil filled radiator, which is a really good backup to the gas fire. Unlike some, it has sturdy wheels and a long warranty. Features include a choice of settings, thermostat and timer.

macman

They're all exactly the same efficiency and running costs, so buy the cheapest. Obviously if factors like noise are important, don't get a fan heater.
As above, an oil-filled rad does give out some residual heat, but the running costs are still the same, as it 's heat that a convector would have released earlier anyway. And it's slower to warm up.
Convectors don't 'blow' heat, only fan heaters do that.

SuzieSue

If you get a fan heater with a thermostat then you can adjust the thermostat to the setting that you want and leave it on all the time and it will warm the room just like a central heating radiator (I personally wouldn't leave it on at night, although I know people do).