Best Heaters

Mattw

Mattw

Mattw

Associate
Joined
15 May 2006
Posts
389
Hi,

I have just moved into a flat with no central heating, and i must say its freezing!

i have a bought a 800w panel heater from a high street catalogue shop and it doesnt make that much difference, minimal in fact.

So what other options do i have? How are convection heaters or oil filled radiators? Which give the best heat, and which are the cheapest to run.

any advice welcomed

Thanks
 
Mattw said:
Hi,

I have just moved into a flat with no central heating, and i must say its freezing!

i have a bought a 800w panel heater from a high street catalogue shop and it doesnt make that much difference, minimal in fact.

So what other options do i have? How are convection heaters or oil filled radiators? Which give the best heat, and which are the cheapest to run.

any advice welcomed

Thanks
Click to expand...

Take your Panel Heater back, it's useless.

Convection Heater
Pro : Good heat, and ability to keep room at fixed temperature
Con : Expensive, Only really able to heat one room at a time

Oil Filled
Pro : Cheapish
Cons : Can smell, Needs refilled eventually, Only really able to heat one room at a time

If it's somewhere you've bought and there's the ability to get Gas central heating you should look into getting it done as it will increase the property value somewhat. Otherwise you may want to look into getting Electric Storage Heaters installed and switching to an economy power bill whereby the overnight rates are lower which is when the heaters charge up and then release heat during the day.
 
Check the insulation as well. The best heater in the world will be useless if most of the heat it produces escapes through the cracks.
 
I find the oil filler type give off more heat - I've never heard of one needing refilling (it's a sealed unit) and I've had mine for 20 years or more, no smell either. Maybe yours was broken?

Don't know if a covection type is cheaper to run but I prefer the 'proper radiator' appeal of the oil filled one.
 
its a rented property, no gas supply, and on a meter.

Based on that and the feedback, i assume the oil heater is the best all rounder?
 
1.7kW 4.3kW are how much power they use. IIRC electrical heaters are 100% efficient so the higher that is the warmer it will be. :)
 
get an oil filled heater, once they are hot they hold the heat for a good while and dont need to be turned on for long periods of time resulting it cheaper to run
 
Mattw said:
that may be a short term solution to a storage heater.

anyone actually used/use a storage heater?
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It's a long term soloution, if you situate it properly.

Unless you own the house, then I wouldn't go about drilling holes to fit storage heaters. Also, you can just unplug and wheel the oil heater when you move.
 
Mattw said:
that may be a short term solution to a storage heater.
Click to expand...
Yes and they are good for increasing the ambient temperature of the room but not as in your face as central heating, the heat just doesn't seem that strong. As someone has said you can get them to come on over night and the heat remains in the bricks for ages (a full day no bother).
 
we have storage heating and there poor :) spent all my money buying my first flat tho and my bank book is VERY tight so they will have to do, we have a cheapy 15 quid elecy heater in the living room to keep us warm at night works pretty well tbh, but cost a bomb to run. Anyone know how much central heating would close me to put in ? heard 1400-1700 from builders i know is that a good price?
 
Windle said:
Convection Heater
Pro : Good heat, and ability to keep room at fixed temperature
Con : Expensive, Only really able to heat one room at a time
Click to expand...

How are convection heaters expensive? Do you mean expensive to run? I hope not, had mine on loads this winter :eek:
 
I have storage heaters in my flat and they really are pretty useless. They are probably the last option I would go for if I got to choose my central heating. As it was they were already in when I moved in and can't afford to replace them yet.

Calor Gas?
 
Serj said:
How are convection heaters expensive? Do you mean expensive to run? I hope not, had mine on loads this winter :eek:
Click to expand...
They are pretty heavy on the kW/h. The one I have uses quite a bit. Our landlord has our rooms on pound meters so I'm really conscious about how much electric it actually uses compared to leaving my laptop running, TV on etc.

Was hoping I could get my hands on something that'll run a lot cheaper and still warm my room up. Especially since my face turns numb lately with the cold and I won't leave the convection heater running over night :eek:
 
My storage heaters are alright but they are 2 massive things, generally speaking my ground floor flat is roasting in the morning. Mid day it's warm but not too warm. In the evening they have a short topup period which while it's storing heat increases the room temp. So they work for me, especially seeing as how i can't get gas here and other forms of electric heating are useless to me as i need to be able to heat the whole flat at one time, not one room at a time.

So in summary i'd say, for one room at a time get a Convector or Oil Filled. If you want a whole flat heating system, go for storage heaters. However if you rent i'd be going to my landlord first to tell him to sort out a decent heating system, whether that be getting central heating installed or storage heaters.
 
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