Portable heaters review on Sliced Bread radio 4 12.30 tomorrow

[Wilma55]

Programme about best portable heaters to heat a room and how they compare to central heating. Should be worth a listen.

just listening on play again

Interesting that they suggest about getting addicted to the source of heat, then you move away and get cold.

Ive noticed this year having less heating, on at a lower temperature - we've got used to a cooler house, we don't need the house so warm. I use a hot water bottle more often for a nice boost of warmth, but gradually that gets cooler - but that somehow seems ok

End of Sept when the temp dropped, I felt cold and wanted the heating on. Having held out to the weekend, I'm much less 'addicted'. I need to continue this. I have always like more heat than everyone else. Warm to me is oppressive to other people.

I do not all together agree with sliced bread. For the first time I got money back, for me a lot from octopus energy because I used my boiler for hit water only, until this week when I put the heating on. I used a portable heater for where I sit. This heater was problematic as it’s thermostat was faulty. But since I could keep an eye on it just a touch to the switch and it goes on. Just unbelievably bad..DO NOY BUY Russell HOBBS. (Which Best Buy.). Returned the first one but Robert Dyas sent a second one.
i gave up. I now sit with 2 faulty heaters and save the supplier getting rid of their faulty radiators. I have to pay to get rid of their faulty products....is this the new trend for online purchases.

why did the government not talk to heater manufacturers to design an energy efficient safe electric heater as the whole population WILL TURN DOWN THEIR CENTRAL HEATING TO SAVE MONEY. KEEP MUMS AND CHILDREN SAFE from Hypothermia!
NOT FIRGETTING HTHE OLD. THE GOVERNMENT HAS THE CLOUT DO TO DO THIS.

MRS. J. KING.

Lobby the government to persuade the heater manufacturers to design a stand by electric space heater that is safe and energy efficient with a reliable thermostat.
pensioners will turn down or off their central heating and will need warmth where they sit to watch telly or relax.

We need safe electrical appliances if we are to avoid our old dying of HYPERTHERMIA

MRS J KING

Last year my boiler broke - I bought 3 heaters to heat the house all of different types.

Type 1 was a convection heater. Really cheap and light (£16). This is pretty good and I still use it.

Type 2 was a oil filled radiator. Quite expensive and bulky (£60). I don't use this much.

Type 3 was a glass panel heater £100. This was very expensive, but looks great. It links into the wi fi so you can control it from outside the house. It would look good in a modern flat mounted on the wall. It's about £150 now.

I would say the convection heater is the best. I can carry it around because it is light, it has 3 power settings (750W/1000W/1250W) and was really cheap to buy (I think now it is about £30). I use this in the home office on the lowest setting to keep the room up to temperature during the day.

@GasPanic. how much do they all cost to run for one hour?

Dunno.

But they are all effectively the same. Electricity is pretty much 100% efficient as a heat source - you put 500W of electrical energy in and get 500W worth of heat out. There is no magic type that gets you any more or even less, despite what some people claim.

The convection heater I guess in the first hour uses whatever power rating you set it to, and probably the same for the glass panel.

The oil filled radiator might be a bit more complex as it might draw more power at the beginning to get the oil up to temperature and then use less to maintain it. If you switch off the oil heater it will remain hot longer than say the convection heater which cools down quite quickly.

But none of them are better value in terms of energy efficiency in the respect they will all convert 100% of the electrical energy that goes in the heater into heat energy. But they might deliver that heat energy over different timescales.

Hope that makes some sort of sense. I like the convection heater because it is light to move from room to room and was cheap as chips to buy compared with everything else. But I wouldn't probably advise it if you have kids because it is too easy to drop stuff into and I doubt it would end well if something like a cup of tea got spilled into it.

thanks for your answer