Best type of portable heater for house.

civis_liberalis

Apologies if this isn't the right place, but it's as close to the subject as I could find.

I'm looking for a cheap portable heater, but I wondered in terms of electricity consumption, which ones would be best.

I'm not very keen on the convector heaters out of slits at the top (pic). They heat up small areas very quickly, but as soon as they're off the heat seems to dissipate. They seem to make the air very dry anyway.

How are they vs portable oil filled column rads? The heat from them seems to be better (maybe I'm wrong), but they're probably a bit more expensive if you plan to use them a bit.

I'll mostly just be heating a small bedroom that happens to be quite drafty. Insulation in the walls also seems to be non-existent, almost literally. S***e build, damp everywhere. Heat was on all the time last winter and made no difference. Might be stuck here for a while though.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

ManannanMacLir

Was about to post a similar question. I hope this isn't hijacking your thread! House is pretty draughty and I'm usually in my room. I would only need maybe an hour or two extra heat a night now it's getting colder and don't know if it's more economical to go with a portable heater or the GFCH.

ManannanMacLir

bump

antoinolachtnai

There is not much difference in efficiency to be had. Every electric heater is more or less 100 percent efficient in using the electricity it takes from the grid.

What makes these heaters expensive is that electricity is an expensive source of energy compared to gas or oil. Just compare the costs of the units on the bill.

This is why GFCH or OFCH is usually the best bet if it is available to you.

The heat from a convector dissipates quickly because it is just heating the air in the room.

One of the oil filled rads is really the same sort of thing, although it will heat up surrounding materials a bit.

If you use a halogen heater like http://reviews.argos.co.uk/1493-en_gb/4150200/reviews.htm it will heat the surfaces, and they will hold the heat for a longer period.

This might suit your needs better, although these heaters don't seem to last as long (they seem to wear out).

The other issue (and one that should be at the forefront) is safety. These are much more dangerous if you (or a child or elderly person) touches them, if something flammable falls against them or if the heater falls over. You definitely don't want to run this type of heater on a timer.

If the house is really damp, a dehumidifier might help. But it will still cost money to run.

If the house is really draughty, you need to fix the draughts. You will make the house a lot more comfortable, and you will save a lot on heating. (However, the house probably does need to ventilate.)

At the end of the day, if the house is damp and badly insulated, it will cost a lot to heat.

snaps

Just bringing up this old thread as in looking to heat one room (babys). We have ofch but is this a cheap way of heating now with oil at 1€/l? Also I've a smart meter on the electric, I've noticed when the ofch is running there's 300w being used, possibly running pumps. So taking into account price of oil and the electric consumption of the pumps, would a small oil filled electric radiator be better for one room? Now we do use the ofch for the whole house and water, but looking for something for the babys room for night use.
I've 2 fan 2kw heaters stored away, but they are noisey for night use.

wandererz

I have a DeLonghi Dragon 3 heater which i picked up in Argos last year to heat my office room.

This year i've decided to switch off the storage heaters in the lounge and run this as an experiment as i was not impressed with my heating bills over the past winter (bill shock).

I have this connected to an electricity monitor and is set variously to between 16C and 18C, even running all through the night.

This year I have only connected the electricity monitor during the past weekend, however it is showing an average of €23 per month. Which seems pretty reasonable to me.

This heats the lounge, dining and kitchen areas of a fairly large apartment and keeps a steady temperature.

I may also get another for the bedroom.

It has received fairly good reviews on Amazon as well (last checked before i purchased).

There is a timer function and also includes a remote control.

Hope this helps.