Cheapest portable heater?

freccles

I want to get a small portable heater rather than keeping the central heating on all the time and to heat one room quickly for short periods. (I know it's supposed to be cheaper but by the time the room has warmed up I'm on my way out. We have dogs so don't want anything with an exposed heat source like a halogen heater. Which leaves oil filled radiators, fan heaters or a space heater whatever that is. Anyone know please which is the cheapest to run?

daveyjp

All heaters of the same output cost the same to run.

Astria

In the portable electric realm they are pretty much identical unless you go down the road of "heat the human not the room".

Personally I just don't bother as I normally jump out of bed and 30 mins later I'm in the car so not much point wasting the energy, I put put a coat on when it's cold

thriftytracey

The "Sliced Bread" programme on Radio 4 today looked at portable heaters.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001dxtx

I think the findings were that oil heaters were cheapest to run.  Costs of items were not provided though.

ChaunceyGardiner

thriftytracey said:

I think the findings were that oil heaters were cheapest to run.

How is that possible?

Astria

ChaunceyGardiner said:

thriftytracey said:

I think the findings were that oil heaters were cheapest to run.

How is that possible?

Thermostat ?

"Broadly, oil-filled radiators are more economical to run because the oil retains the heat longer. This makes it more efficient than an electric convection heater, according to Qbic Heating. "

But... they retain the heat longer because they take longer to heat up...  does not compute.

Spoonie_Turtle

We've tried a few in our time, before we got central heating.
Halogen heaters are rubbish, and you're right to discount them with animals.
The oil heater was better for evenings.
For taking the chill off in the morning, a fan heater would have been best (but I don't know if they're any more expensive to run than heaters without a fan).
Heaters without a fan are fine too for taking the chill off, but not grand at heating a larger space.  Air circulation is best, otherwise they heat up the surrounding air then the thermostat switches off, leaving air further away still cold.

macman

If you want speed, a fan heater is the best option. but it'll be exactly the same cost to run as any other electric heater: about 350% more than mains gas CH for that room.

Reed_Richards

ChaunceyGardiner said:

thriftytracey said:

I think the findings were that oil heaters were cheapest to run.

How is that possible?

They concluded that other heaters were "addictive"; you get to enjoy being blasted with heat so when the thermostat kicks in to turn off the heater you tend to tweak if up to turn the heater back on.  That doesn't happen with the gentle heat from an oil heater.  So it's psychology rather than physics that makes the difference. 

ChaunceyGardiner

Reed_Richards said:

They concluded that other heaters were "addictive"; you get to enjoy being blasted with heat so when the thermostat kicks in to turn off the heater you tend to tweak if up to turn the heater back on.  That doesn't happen with the gentle heat from an oil heater.  So it's psychology rather than physics that makes the difference. 

I see, thanks.

Max68

Anyone got experience of Halogen or Ceramic heaters compared with others?  Friend of mine swears on the Ceramic ones but I'm not sure.