Trust electric radiators

whykie

I have been looking at these radiators. They are so expensive but claim to use half of an oil filled radiation such as the rointe ones. Has anyone got any experience or specialist knowledge or advice on them ? Are they worth the outlay to save the energy costs long term ?

FlorayG

I looked at these and then compared paying this high initial cost Vs buying cheap ones and costing more to run. A bog standard plug - in radiator is about £60 I forget how much these are but how long will it take you to recoup your spend?

Swipe

Don't fall for their marketing. Cheaper ones will not cost more to run.

EssexHebridean

If you want a direct electric heater, you may as well spend as little as possible for the size you require, as a more expensive one will not be more efficient than a less expensive one. 

A cheap 1000w heater will cost the same to run for 1 hour as an expensive 1000w heater. The more expensive one might look nicer, but that comes down to a decision about paying for esthetics - you're not going to get any additional heat from it just because it looks fancy! 

matelodave

As EH says, all direct electric heating whether its filled with oil, virgins blood, magic dust, gold flakes, Sahara sand or clay/stone from the Dolomites etc are all100% efficient. 1kwh of leccy in will give 1kwh of heat out, no more and no less.

Be very careful - the description suggest that these are hybrid radiators with a soapstone core. THEY ARE NOT STORAGE HEATERS and therefore don't charge overnight like a storage heater using off peak electricity releasing the heat during the day.

They just have a slab of stuff inside which means they are slower to warm up and then slower to cool down than a cheap oil filled radiator but they still use peak rate electricity. They are no better than Rointe, Fischer or any other ridiculously priced over hyped "super efficient" heaters

A £1000 electric heater might look more attractive than a bog standard Amazon, Screwfix or B&Q oil filled radiator/convector heater/panel heater or even a fan heater, but it will still give the same amount of heat for the same power input and so cost you exactly the same to run.

The only relatively cost effective way to heat with electricty is by using proper off-peak storage heaters or a heat pump.

EssexHebridean

You missed out the Unicorn hair and Elven snot ones Dave!  

bob2302

There is a point to them. Radiators with a high thermal mass provide steadier radiant heat, which is better for localized heating. If you want to heat  a whole room, there's not much point. Oddly Trust claims the opposite.

matelodave

bob2302 said:

There is a point to them. Radiators with a high thermal mass provide steadier radiant heat, which is better for localized heating. If you want to heat  a whole room, there's not much point.

Yes but they still cost the same to runfor the same heat output. TBH an oil filled rad has slow heat and cool down characteristics (AFAIK that what Rointe are) but possibly more responsive than cooking a slab of soapstone.

bob2302

matelodave said:

bob2302 said:

There is a point to them. Radiators with a high thermal mass provide steadier radiant heat, which is better for localized heating. If you want to heat  a whole room, there's not much point.

Yes but they still cost the same to runfor the same heat output. TBH an oil filled rad has slow heat and cool down characteristics (AFAIK that what Rointe are) but possibly more responsive than cooking a slab of soapstone.

Obviously, but with localized heating you don't necessarily need as much heat. The problem with ordinary electric radiators is that the thermostat causes them to swing between too hot and too cold. I think there may be a gap in the market for something that has better control over the power.

Gerry1

bob2302 said:

matelodave said:

bob2302 said:

There is a point to them. Radiators with a high thermal mass provide steadier radiant heat, which is better for localized heating. If you want to heat  a whole room, there's not much point.

Yes but they still cost the same to runfor the same heat output. TBH an oil filled rad has slow heat and cool down characteristics (AFAIK that what Rointe are) but possibly more responsive than cooking a slab of soapstone.

The problem with ordinary electric radiators is that the thermostat causes them to swing between too hot and too cold.

The problem with ordinary electric radiators is that they are cripplingly expensive to run except for occasional very limited use to take the chill off a small space such as a garage or shed.

A better control system could be very unhelpful if it makes you buy or retain a system which will always be intrinsically unsuitable.

QrizB

Gerry1 said:

The problem with ordinary electric radiators is that they are cripplingly expensive to run except for occasional very limited use to take the chill off a small space such as a garage or shed.

A better control system could be very unhelpful if it makes you buy or retain a system which will always be intrinsically unsuitable.

Tight temperature control is one of the things Fischer claim for their expensive electric radiators. They don't save any appreciable mount of electricity.
Fischer's BRE test report showed that their rads did a good job of maintaining a constant temperature. That's one of the few things the report had to say in their favour, IIRC!