Which type of electric portable heating is most efficient?

purplegrape

Hi all - hope this is the right place to post...if not, please move me!

I live in a pretty large rented studio flat (ie one big room as kitchen, bedroom and lounge and a separate bathroom) and the only heater in it is a wall mounted electric convector heater (no gas). It's fine, as long as I have it turned up pretty high!

What I was hoping for was some kind of opinion on what would be the cheapest and most efficient way to heat a big room? I've thought about oil radiators, but I don't know much about them: every other place I've lived has been gas central heating! My current heater also doesn't have a timer so it's a pain with getting up in the AM and sprinting in the freezing air to turn it on! :eek:

I can't install new heating, so it has to be portable - any advice or guidance would be gratefully received!
:santa2:

mynameisthehulk

Short answer is, none. NO kind of free standing electrical heater is going to be efficient, storage heaters are not efficient, and they are your best bet.

penrhyn

Nothing wrong with the efficiency of electric heaters, they are probably is excess of 99% efficient in converting electrical to heat energy.
Storage heaters that make use of Off Peak electricity would be cheaper to run but hardly portable.
Something like a fan/convector heater with a timer and decent thermostat would probably be the way to go.
A mate recently bought a Delonghi one which seemed quite good.

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/4157100/Trail/C%24cip%3D1500005988.Kitchen%2Band%2Blaundry%3EC%24cip%3D1500006021.Heaters%2Band%2Bcoolers%3EC%24cip%3D1500006027.Convector%2Bheaters.htm

purplegrape

Thanks, will ponder some more. I think the thing that has been bugging me about the heating is the lack of timer (I think my landlord was cutting corners buying the only heater for the flat without one built in!) so that will be useful to look into.

Ken68

Timers are cheap Purple....3 for about £9.
All sorts of grants and tax breaks are available to your landlord. For example a relative of mine, a landlord, was offered £10,000 grant to cover double glazed windows and heating. Its an incentive to make more accommodation available and bring older property up to scratch.

Cardew

All electrical heating, as said above, is super-efficient; as close to 100% efficient as makes no difference.

However it is the most expensive way to heat a property - bar none, unless you have storage heating.

To answer the OP's question; it doesn't matter if you heat your room with your granny's old electric 1/2/3 bar fire,or the most sophisticated electrical heater, you will get the same heat for the same money.

Oil filled heaters take longer to warm up, but longer to cool. Fan heaters give almost instant heat - but no residual heat.

These days nearly every heater(like a £15 fan heater) has a thermostat; so control of temperature is not a problem; but they don't give you anything extra.

purplegrape

Hi, thanks Cardew and Ken. I'll need to buy a separate heater as the one in the flat is wired directly into the mains, so no way to attach a timer!

Luckily, I already have double glazing (installed July, so should be up to scratch!) so it's just the internal heating that's a bit wearisome!

It's the residual heat thats quite a bother, I'm fed up of going to bed with a cold nose as it peeks out from under the eiderdown!

So I guess the oil radiator (with timer!) would be a good way to go to create a general ambience heat, with the mains wired one to top it up if necessary.

wendy05

id like to suggest halogen/quartz heaters efficient instant and upto 1200w will warm a small to medium sized room adequately. cost around 10 pounds and cost around 9 pence per hour at full .

Ken68

http://www.outdoorstuff.eu/departments/heated-clothes/heated-bodywarmer-gilets-and-coats/?gclid=CMmF7M3vvpACFQZZMAodOGu-Pg

Don't know if they do pyjamas, Purple, or you could try electric blankets, stay in bed all day. :-)

purplegrape

Ken68 wrote: »

http://www.outdoorstuff.eu/departments/heated-clothes/heated-bodywarmer-gilets-and-coats/?gclid=CMmF7M3vvpACFQZZMAodOGu-Pg

Don't know if they do pyjamas, Purple, or you could try electric blankets, stay in bed all day. :-)

LOL! These look great - a friend of mine has been talking about inventing electrically heated coats for years!

JthaDON

wendy05 wrote: »

id like to suggest halogen/quartz heaters efficient instant and upto 1200w will warm a small to medium sized room adequately. cost around 10 pounds and cost around 9 pence per hour at full .

British GAS/Electric Costus us 17-18p p/Hour (1200w Halogen)