Safe heater for kids bedroom

horsepills

Looking for advice on the best way to safely heat my son's bedroom at night.

My 9 year old son has a small box bedroom with no heating (it's the only room in the house without a radiator). At the moment we are heating up the room with an oil filled radiator that we just turn off when we go to bed - but this obviously leads to his room getting pretty cold during the night, especially in this snowy weather.

Does anyone know if there are any heaters that are completely safe to leave on overnight? I'd love to leave the oil filled radiator on a low setting all night, but it clearly states "do not cover" and I'd be worried that my son might forget this, and drape a dressing gown over it, etc...

Other than paying for a radiator installation, are there any safe alternatives??

Browntoa

Hot water bottle , I grew up with them

gwynlas

If bedroom warm enough for him to comfortably go to bed he should be fine without heater the remainder of night. There should be sufficient heat within house to prevent freezing comditions.

TheCyclingProgrammer

Carry on what you’ve been doing and get him a heavier duvet. It’s quite normal not to have heating on in the night. Our heating is set to 17 overnight and it rarely drops that low so in practice our heating is off between 11pm - 6am.

thriftylass

gwynlas wrote: »

If bedroom warm enough for him to comfortably go to bed he should be fine without heater the remainder of night. There should be sufficient heat within house to prevent freezing comditions.

TheCyclingProgrammer wrote: »

Carry on what you’ve been doing and get him a heavier duvet. It’s quite normal not to have heating on in the night. Our heating is set to 17 overnight and it rarely drops that though so in practice our heating is off between 11pm - 6am.

Depends on where in the house, what kind of house and how well insulated. Yes, back in the day kids where fine to go to sleep with ice crystals on the inside of window but now they don't have to if it can be helped......If I turn the heating off overnight the living room (80s bungalow) temperature drops to 12 C, so would the bedrooms under the roof etc.

How cold does his room really get at night without heating?

I'd suggest an electric blanket.

shortcrust

I’ll assume that OP's the best judge of whether their kid's room is too cold overnight...

I think the electric radiator is the safest you’re going to get. Get a cage for it so it can’t be directly covered.

elsien

Can't you leave the radiator on overnight, but turned down so it only kicks in if it gets much colder? If it's a good quality one and not donkeys years old I can't see why it would be unsafe. You can always get it PAT tested if you're unsure.

I'd be happier leaving the radiator on all night than an electric blanket.

Aylesbury_Duck

Try an electric underblanket. We have one on our bed and it is lovely to get into a warm bed on a cold night. Most come with three heat settings, the lowest of which can be left on all night to keep the chill off if you really need it.

shortcrust

thriftylass wrote: »

Depends on where in the house, what kind of house and how well insulated. Yes, back in the day kids where fine to go to sleep with ice crystals on the inside of window but now they don't have to if it can be helped......If I turn the heating off overnight the living room (80s bungalow) temperature drops to 12 C, so would the bedrooms under the roof etc.

How cold does his room really get at night without heating?

I'd suggest an electric blanket.

You wouldn’t think it was a controversial view would you?:)

kerri_gt

We always have the heating off at night but as others have said, house temps can drop depending on age / insulation. Can you set the radiator to come on for a bit before he wakes up - say 30mins to just take the nip off the air and have him tucked up with a hot water bottle when he goes to bed?

glasgowdan

I wouldn't be happy sending my child to bed with a bottle and electric blanket!

You get thermostatic oil filled rads that will kick in when needed. Just get one.

The best solution is obviously get a mains radiator put it
..not as expensive or messy a job as you might think. Get a couole of quotes and expect maybe 1 days work for a plumber plus possibly a bit of redecoration over any boxed pipework