recommend electric heater cheap to run

celligraphy

hi ya currently have no heating in my house using a halogen heater 800w but the little one keeps breaking the bulbs in it , and really only heats you if you are infront of it and not the whole room. It is a small enough sitting/kitchen room but can you recommend a type for my house ? have no other heating in the house , http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/4152181.htm

are these any good the convector heater 2kw to heat and are they cheap enough to run ? landlord has pinergy in the house , or can ye recommend anything else

Pseudorandom

I'd recommend an oil filled radiator. Because the oil inside is heated it's more efficient as it can turn itself off via thermostat and still give off heat, unlike a blow heater which has to be constantly on. I have the 50 challenge one from argos and find it very good - we have central heating but use it for when we just want to heat the living room.

Pseudorandom

Oh and would you believe I also have the heater from your link. It's good if you want instant heat (handy for a bedroom in the morning) as it doesn't take time to heat up like the oil filled radiator but it's less efficient.

celligraphy

Have an oil filled heater but just seems to go through the electricity really fast and myself and my partner have been scarred by it many times , I. Just seen good reviews on the convector heaters and ju at thought they would be cheap to run ?

Pseudorandom

Oil filled heater should be cheaper to run than a convector. You can work out exactly how much the convector will cost from the rating, each kw is a unit hour so 2 kw will be 2 units per hour. The oil filled should be less as it won't be on for the full hour like a convector would be.

celligraphy

Oh ok thanks what would you recommend if I wanted something on for a few hour During the day ?

2011

Electric resistance heating is 100% energy efficient in the sense that all the incoming electric energy is converted to heat. However, most electricity is produced from coal, gas, or oil generators that convert only about 30% of the fuel's energy into electricity. Because of electricity generation and transmission losses, electric heat is often more expensive than heat produced in homes or businesses that use combustion appliances, such as natural gas, propane, and oil furnaces

From this link:

http://energy.gov/energysaver/electric-resistance-heating

brightspark

Pseudorandom wrote: »

Oil filled heater should be cheaper to run than a convector. You can work out exactly how much the convector will cost from the rating, each kw is a unit hour so 2 kw will be 2 units per hour. The oil filled should be less as it won't be on for the full hour like a convector would be.

A 2 kW convector heater will cost exactly the same to run as a 2 kW oil heater.

Both will dissipate the heat into the room (if it's not going into the room where is it going?)

However an oil filled convector heater will be slightly slower to heat than a convector BUT will take longer to cool (because it has a thermal mass).

If you only want to heat the room while you are in it, then the convector or radiant types are probably better, if you want to keep the room warm for a longer period of time then use an oil filled radiator.

On a personal level I feel the oil filled radiators would be safer than the radiant type as the direct heat level is lower


If you really want to save money change from pinenergy. I think they are amongst the most expensive providers.

Steve

Oil filled radiators / convection heaters work by heating the air in the room and causing it to move around.

Halogen heaters generally don't heat the air, they heat only what is in front of them.

If you want a cosy room, use a rad / convector. If you want instant warmth, use a halogen.

2kw is 2kw regardless of the method and will cost the same per hour.

brightspark

A little off topic but your landlord isn't compliant with the prtb regulations

Heating Facilities - Article 7
All habitable rooms must contain a fixed appliance capable of providing effective heating and the tenant must be able to control the operation of such an appliance.

But I suppose he could get around that by mounting the heater linked to in the first post directly to a wall.

Stoner

brightspark wrote:

A 2 kW convector heater will cost exactly the same to run as a 2 kW oil heater.

brightspark wrote:

Both will dissipate the heat into the room (if it's not going into the room where is it going?)

Imo The thing to establish is the heat load requirement for the room.

Dimplex have an online tool, pop the room dimensions in and some other details and it will spit out the heater size for you.

A 2KW heater unless it's split elements will switch in and out as the room temp drops below the setting on the heater.

It won't be on all the time if it has a stat, if the heat load is 1.5kw the 2kw will get the drop in temp back up to the desired temp and switch off, usually they maintain a +/-2degree range

Joe1919

There is a difference between heaters, especially between radiant and convector heat heaters. Radiant heat directly heats the person and can makes them more comfortable at a lower room temperature (hence the losses are less). They can also direct the heat (along with fan heaters) more accurately at the person and create a local warm spot in the room. Radiant heat will work better in an uninsulated drafty room and will even work outside in a patio.
However, I personally cant stand the brightness of halogen heaters and the noise of fan heaters. My personal favourite is the two bar electric fire, although they can be dangerous especially with children and older people. There are modern safer 'black heat' type radiant heaters available but I have no experience of them

Stoner

Joe1919 wrote:

There is a difference between heaters, especially between radiant and convector heat heaters. Radiant heat directly heats the person and can makes them more comfortable at a lower room temperature

Correct, I think a standard radiator is 20 radiation and 80% convection, I'd imagine an oil filled radiator would be similar, so more likely to heat the room rather than the first surface the heat hits.

celligraphy

Hi thought I would reply to this anyways I got the convector heater from Argos and works out at 35c per hour to run its much better than my oil heater which used to be between 70 and 60c to run per hour and actually does warm the place quite nicely .

We have a storage heater in the sitting room but does not work

Steve

70c/hour would put it over 4kW, couldn't be right.

A 13A socket can't handle that.