Cost per hour to run this heater?

vicwatson

Can anyone tell the hourly cost (aprx) to run this heater from this description?

Is it worth the money?

Wall Panel Heater

each€69.99

Description
Natural convection technology uses only 400W to heat a 10-12m² room
Easy to install – just plug it in
Safe for children, pets and people with allergies
International safety standards approved

https://www.aldi.ie/en/specialbuys/sunday-4-january/products-detail-page/ps/p/wall-panel-heater-1/

vicwatson

Actually, is this the same product?

http://purchase.ie/eco-panel-heater

seamus

Standard Electric Ireland unit pricing is 0.1883 per kWh,

0.4kW x 0.1883 = 0.07532 euro per hour.

7.5c per hour.

Bruthal

If a 400 watt heater heats a given sized room to a required level, then it probably wont really be any dearer to use a 1000w, or 2000w heater to heat the same room to that same level.

jodaw

400w is 400w. That heater would not heat the average sized living room and it will be outputting it full capacity constantly to try and raise the temperature of the room.

There is nothing special and magical about that heater that will allow to do the same work as a 2kw heater for a 5th of the watts. Gimmick!

Buy a heater that will heat the space you require and switch it off use the inbuilt thermostat when you are happy with the temperature.

Bruthal

jodaw wrote: »

400w is 400w. That heater would not heat the average sized living room and it will be outputting it full capacity constantly to try and raise the temperature of the room.

There is nothing special and magical about that heater that will allow to do the same work as a 2kw heater for a 5th of the watts. Gimmick!

Buy a heater that will heat the space you require and switch it off use the inbuilt thermostat when you are happy with the temperature.

Yea the 400 watt heater won't do much.
Like I said, if a given heater heats a room adequately, a bigger heater won't be any dearer to heat the same room to the same level once the stat is set right.

In this case, a properly sized heater will be dearer to run than the 400 watt one, since the 400 watt one is going to be too small to heat the room to a decent level.

Have to laugh at the natural convection technology description.

ted1

Bruthal wrote: »

If a 400 watt heater heats a given sized room to a required level, then it probably wont really be any dearer to use a 1000w, or 2000w heater to heat the same room to that same level.

depends on the insulation. in a poor insulated room a higher rating heats faster, but it disappears faster,

if you stick on a meter the higher rating will have used more kWh than the lower rating

Bruthal

ted1 wrote: »

depends on the insulation. in a poor insulated room a higher rating heats faster, but it disappears faster,

if you stick on a meter the higher rating will have used more kWh than the lower rating

So, a 400 watt heater, bad insulation = adequately heated room then?

Bruthal wrote: »

If a 400 watt heater heats a given sized room to a required level, then it probably wont really be any dearer to use a 1000w, or 2000w heater to heat the same room to that same level.

If the answer is yes, then the bigger heater wont really cost any more to heat the room.

If the answer is no, then the bigger heater is needed.

ted1

I find it better to have a low energy heater on more or less on constantly than having a high energy heater heater kicking in and out lots. Cost per degrees is the same but with a lower rates heater it takes longer to reach the degrees where as a higher rated one reaches it faster allowing it to escape through the walls and roofs

Bruthal

Room at 20 degrees (example) is target.

Once at 20 degrees, heat losses are the same.

Take 2 hours to reach 20 degrees from initial temp and you have longer for heat to be escaping during heat up. Take 30 minutes and you have shorter time for it to escape. It balances out closely enough, and possibly a lower watrage heater will never get room to 20 degrees at all.


But the point is being missed. Op sees 400 watt heater. Asks running cost. People see 400 watt heater claiming to have convection technology. So they think it will be a great money saving appliance.

Now I'm with you on using a heater that will switch on and off less. But it's better to have a 1kw heater that reaches set point, than a 400 watt one that never does IMO.

Most people will assume the bigger wattage heater will be dearer to run. And they will probably be right, simply because the smaller one is not going to do the job.

If the 400 watt one does do the job, then use that. My point is, get a heater that is adequate for requirements, and it won't really cost any more to run if the 400 watt one was adequate, but the bigger one will be better if 400 is too little, which it will be in all but tiny rooms.

But electric heating is expensive to run, and people seeing 400 watt heaters might see a cheap way out. Its just not that simple.

2011

The other advantage of the larger heater is that the set point is reached quicker. Nice on a cold day!

Electric heaters frequently come with documentation that assist with selecting the correct sized heater.

Stoner

ted1 wrote: »

I find it better to have a low energy heater on more or less on constantly than having a high energy heater heater kicking in and out lots. Cost per degrees is the same but with a lower rates heater it takes longer to reach the degrees where as a higher rated one reaches it faster allowing it to escape through the walls and roofs

Surely if this is the case then the smaller heater is not sufficient to begin with. You'd save money as the room would not be at the desired temperature for longer periods of time while the smaller heater caught up. Its a bit of a con IMHO , it's dropping the response and the level of heating in the room and calling it a saving. Might as well just tell people to dial back a degree to save money.

Many of the units like this have little calculators on their sites , last time I looked in Dublin in a new build we were looking at 1KW units being on for 40% of the time on a winters day to keep a room of about 9/10.sq.m at 24 degrees.
The client had a lot of experience with rooms of this size, installing 800 or 500watt units was not an option, sometimes the extra capacity is required.

cashelfest

I work from home and built a cubicle in my cabin/shed which I use as a mini -office. I did the maths on the 400w heaters. I designed the cubicle around the heat out-put of the panel, which I bought from Lidl in 2014.

The cubicle was made from pallets and a recycled double glazed window, plenty of insulation (rock wool) and even some old carpet on the wall (great for skype calls, as I get a pretty good acoustic from the set up). Door is insulated too.

Room if 6ft deep, 5 feet wide and 7 feet high, This was to accommodate a desk, a computer chaiir and other bits of electronics, phone, music system etc I built the desk from my daughter's old captain's bed.

The panel space-heater can get the room to a very cozy 23 degrees when the rest of the shed is at 5 degrees . The heater was useless in the 12 by 15 cabin. The cubicle cost about 100 Euro plus the space heater, so say 160.

First month I used it (Nov 2014) my heating bill was €100 lower.

The problem is it is slow to heat up, especially in the morning. So I use a fan heater for 20 minutes to boost the air temp, then the panel heater keeps the air warm for the day.

The insulation is key, mine is good and on cold winter days, the heat from the computer is sufficient to keep the cubicle at 17 degrees.

John T Carroll

I had to use a number of oil filled rads in January a few years ago and I monitored the usage in one 21 M2 room in particular heated by a 3 setting, 800W/1200W/2000W Rad. With an ambient of 5C and high winds the electrical consumption averaged (on the 1200W setting) 0.95 Kwh/hour or 45.2 watts/M2 to maintain a room temperature of 23C so from my experience at any rate using a calculation of 1 Kw/10M2 is a good one as it will give a reasonably fast heat up and then ramp back to maintain the desired room temperature.

cashelfest

There are some good online calculators, volume of the room is required. When I built my cubicle I looked up the volume at a 400w heater would give a 12C rise and that came out at 210 Cubic feet.

So it was just a case of working back from the figures to design the space. the critical elements in my design, were the size of Compute desk and the turning circle of my computer chair, the internal space is 6.6ft deep, 4 feet wide and 6.5 feet high.I have 4 inch of insulation on the walls and ceiling. Internal volume is 170 Cubic Feet.

padjo5

cashelfest wrote: »

There are some good online calculators, volume of the room is required. When I built my cubicle I looked up the volume at a 400w heater would give a 12C rise and that came out at 210 Cubic feet.

So it was just a case of working back from the figures to design the space. the critical elements in my design, were the size of Compute desk and the turning circle of my computer chair, the internal space is 6.6ft deep, 4 feet wide and 6.5 feet high.I have 4 inch of insulation on the walls and ceiling. Internal volume is 170 Cubic Feet.

Hey Cashelfest....great idea! Any way you could send me a snap oe 2 of your set up?? Cheers.