Cheapest portable heater?

lohr500

I find the noise from fan heaters annoying, so out of choice i would go with an oil filled radiator in your situation.
I would probably buy a larger one with variable heat settings as well as a thermostat so it could be used in larger rooms if needed.

If cheapest purchase cost is paramount, then I would look at a non fan convector. Something like this .
https://www.screwfix.com/p/ch-2010c-ther-freestanding-convector-heater-2000w/941fy

wild666

Max68 said:

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

Most, if not all, of the small ceramic heaters are a waste of money they only push out heat up to about 18" from the heater 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ot1JsRyjLcg

Unless the person is sat very close to the heater then they won't heat the body very much.

wittynamegoeshere

As you have dogs, a fan heater or "panel" heater are not good options.  Both use exposed (very hot) elements within an air cavity.  The panel heater uses passive convection to move air past the element, the fan heater uses a fan to force air past it.  But in both cases, there are narrow airways that absolutely definitely will suck in dog hair and clog up, and a hot element that will burn it.  It probably won't be a safety issue but will definitely smell.  You get the same issue with or without dogs, we have no dogs and one of each type and they smell of burning dust when first switched on, especially if not used for a while.  It can be unpleasant.  But with dogs it could be very pongy.

A "space" heater is an Americanism that seems to have spread here.  I think it just means any electrical heater for a room.  So it's all the above.  Sounds exciting, but meaningless in reality!

Oil filled radiators only expose warm (not burning hot) surfaces to the air, so never burn anything and don't normally smell.  All we do is carefully wipe off any dust each autumn before first use, beyond that they're fine.  But they're never as powerful as claimed - you'll find that the overheat cut-out means that the heating element is probably on less than 50% of the time, regardless of the thermostat setting.  They're all overpowered for their size, as manufacturers chase the headline kW numbers as they know that people buy on this basis.  But physical dimensions are much more important, as this governs the surface area that is used to conduct all that heat into the room.  We have 2kW small ones, and they're useful but more often Off than On so in reality are less than 1kW.

The BBC info referred to above sounds like the typical beeb nonsense they spew out these days sadly, by the sounds of it pushed by the PR department of a heater manufacturer and not fact-checked by anyone who understands physics.

ariarnia

others have already said a 1kw electric heater costs 1kw to run no matter what 'kind' of electric heater it is. so the two things you probably want to think about are the dogs and what you want from the heater. 

if you are only heating one room for the time you are in it then if you are mostly sitting still in that room then a heated throw or something like that might be the cheapest option. they are lower wattage (150 watt maybe) and they dont try and heat the hole room. downside is if you dont sit still in the room or if the dogs like to be in your lap or are going to damage the throw when your not there. we have a scatty dog and cats. the cats dont damage the throw and the dog isnt a lap dog and has her own blanket so ours have done okay so far for 2 winters of on and off use. 

we also have a couple of oil filled radiators (one lives under my desk in the home office). we like them. they maintain the temp there set at and can be set/turned on and ignored. the problem you might have is they take a while to heat the room and the heat stays in the room when there turned off. so if your problem with gas central heating is that the leftover heat is a waste when your gone then you might not want that? 

the other options are directional heat. if you have a halogen style heater (with or without a fan) thats pointed at you or the area of the room you are in then it will heat the space in front of it faster. so you can walk into the cold room to get instant heat and the rest of the room will only get the 'lost heat' slowly. when your done and turn it off you will feel colder immediately and depending on how long you had it on for the average temp of the room will be lower than with something like an oil radiator for YOU to have felt the same amount of heat. so maybe less heat 'wasted' when the room is empty. downsides are they dont have thermostats so you have to turn it on and off is with the dogs. if you are in the room with them then it might not be a big risk but again you know your dogs. 

tl:dr

if you are sitting still in the room (watching tv before bed) then an electric throw would be cheapest to run as long as you didn't let the dogs damage it.

if it was us (and if you dont want an electric throw) i would say the best option for an electric room heater was probably oil. but rather than an oil radiator i would use the gas central heating and turn the radiators down low or even off in the other rooms.

you get the same end result of the one room being heated while you are in it and the same amount of heat 'lost' when you leave but the gas would cost three times less than the electric. you dont have to pay for the heater. and if the other rads are on just low then the other rooms get some background heat so they dont get damp and you dont have to worry about mold or burst pipes. 

Max68

wild666 said:

Max68 said:

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

Most, if not all, of the small ceramic heaters are a waste of money they only push out heat up to about 18" from the heater 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ot1JsRyjLcg

Unless the person is sat very close to the heater then they won't heat the body very much.

Thanks Wild.  To be honest it wouldn't be for the house.  If I am watching TV in the evening I just wear a dressing gown and sit under a throw.  Bedroom has never had any heating on which is fortunate as the radiator has broken!  So it just leaves my box office/study, which is where I do all the PC stuff, work from home etc so it would just be a case of heating myself from time to time, not the room.  Thoughts on best option?

pseudodox

I used to use a fan heater on the floor in my 7ft x 9ft study, whilst on my PC, but was forever kicking it or rolling my chair into it.  I was very sceptical about the plug in ceramic heaters but decided to try one as there is a socket on the wall alongside my desk.  I exist at much lower temperatures than the majority prefer these days as I am quite comfortable if the room is at 15C, wearing an extra layer if it feels a bit too chilly on those miserable damp days.

After 3 days trial I am quite happy with the plug-in.  It certainly keeps the area round my desk at 15C on the low setting and whilst it is noisier than I had been led to believe by the advertising hype it is not oppressive.  It does cut in and out without letting the area go too cold and it can be turned up to 30C which is currently too warm for my comfort. It does not seem to be sending the electric meter into overdrive as the floor heater did.

But definitely pretty useless if you need to warm a big area.  I tried it in my largest room and whilst it did take the chill off slightly in the area around it (maybe up to 6ft radius) it did not warm the room as such.  I did buy a reputable make rather than the cheapest but they are all probably made in the same Chinese factory.  This one does not have a remote control.

wittynamegoeshere

Whatever type of electric heater, you'll get the same efficiency.  Any supplier claiming otherwise should be avoided, as they're telling lies.

One very big variable is safety.  Definitely only buy a known genuine brand from a major retailer, avoid made-up brand names from Amazon, they do not enforce any safety standards at all and sell lots of dangerous appliances.  Look for approval codes such as CE and UKCA labels, but these can be fake.  Some Chinese companies claim that CE stands for "Chinese Export", its similarity to the EU's safety label is a coincidence and isn't related to safety.  Be cynical, trust nobody, it's not clever to save a fiver by buying cheap rubbish and burning your house down.

https://starfishmedical.com/blog/conformite-europeenne-mark-vs-a-china-export-mark/

ariarnia

Max68 said:

wild666 said:

Max68 said:

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

Most, if not all, of the small ceramic heaters are a waste of money they only push out heat up to about 18" from the heater 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ot1JsRyjLcg

Unless the person is sat very close to the heater then they won't heat the body very much.

Thanks Wild.  To be honest it wouldn't be for the house.  If I am watching TV in the evening I just wear a dressing gown and sit under a throw.  Bedroom has never had any heating on which is fortunate as the radiator has broken!  So it just leaves my box office/study, which is where I do all the PC stuff, work from home etc so it would just be a case of heating myself from time to time, not the room.  Thoughts on best option?

in my home office i have a small (750w) oil filled radiator under my desk. its an idea i got from something they do in japan called 'hot tables' (kotatsu). where they have heat under a table and a blanket over it to keep the heat contained. i dont do the blanket but the desk keeps the heat concentrated around my lower half so it doesn't need to fill the hole room. and the cable can run along the back wall so its not something i kick or trip over (i'm paranoid about tangling my feet) i also try to take meetings (inc video calls) on my phone so i can walk around and keep blood flowing (id recommend it if thats an option. sitting at a desk for hours doesn't just make you cold). 

another option posted on old style when people were first working from home someone had a great experience with a heated seat cover (like the type in cars) if you like your throw i think its the same kind of thing? but for me its my feet that get cold so the little radiator works well for me. 

QrizB

Max68 said:

So it just leaves my box office/study, which is where I do all the PC stuff, work from home etc so it would just be a case of heating myself from time to time, not the room.  Thoughts on best option?

Personally, I use a heated seat pad on my work-from-home chair.

See my post in this thread:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/78770592/#Comment_78770592

Yes it's eccentric, but it works!

Mstty

QrizB said:

Max68 said:

So it just leaves my box office/study, which is where I do all the PC stuff, work from home etc so it would just be a case of heating myself from time to time, not the room.  Thoughts on best option?

Personally, I use a heated seat pad on my work-from-home chair.

See my post in this thread:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/78770592/#Comment_78770592

Yes it's eccentric, but it works!

This is what we "plumped" for as a cushion heater. £14.99 when we purchased it and it's proved a good purchase that now the dog has taken to using it.

Heat Pad, Heating Pad for Pain Relief with Fast Heating 4 Heat Level, Auto-Off Washable Soft Fabric Dry & Moist Heat Pads for Back Neck 13" x 25.6" Blue https://amzn.eu/ho2r2DN