Micro ultra high efficiency electric room heaters..... any good?

Let's be clear. If you put any sort of electric heater that consumes, say, 2kW in a room then 2kW of heat will be released into that room. In that sense all electric heaters are 100% efficient. The apparent differences come down to physiological effects. A radient heater, that glows red, will feel immediately effective on our skin, like being in the sun, but a heater with a fan may feel initially cooler. At the end of the day whatever electricity the heater consumes goes into the room. All the rest is just marketing smoke and mirrors. There is no such thing as a heater that consumes, say, 1kW but has the effect of 2kW.
 
I see the Dyson unit is in the list and is "quiet". Oh no it isn't! I don't know how efficient it is but it is as noisy as any other fan heater IMO.

For localised direct heat, Infrared heaters are very good. Point them where you want the heat (so you could direct them to yourself). Plus side - silent (I hate noisy heaters!). Down side - very very bright (I block out the heater by having the laptop screen between it and my eyes).

I find "wearable heaters" very good. I was given a Heated Vest at Christmas to use outside when working on the van and stuff. You plug in a USB powerpack that goes into a pocket to provide the energy. It is really good and I wear it inside under a jumper as I like the room a fair bit warmer than the OH. Doing this keeps us both happy :) - A wide selection here: https://amzn.to/3rym7AV
That is maybe the most energy-efficient as it is such localised heating?
 
The only electric heaters that are going to give you more heat than the power they consume are 'heat pumps' -- and then only under the right conditions. These extract heat from outside the area to be heated and transport it as latent heat (of evaporation/condensation) across the physical boundary. None of the heaters listed are of this type.

FWIW, we have one of the DeLonghi radiators and have used it at night in our bedroom during the coldest winter nights. However, particularly now that electricity is so expensive compared to gas, it's actually cheaper to use the gas central heating to maintain a reasonable 'background' temperature throughout the whole house!
 
If its a 2 kw heater of any type then it uses 2 kw of juice, blown are heaters do dry the van or anything else, oil filled heaters are slower but warm the air but dont dry as well, infa red only heats whatever it hits, not very good and does not dry the air.
If this is for the home then oil or gas on a stat at 21c and water on stat at 45c left on constant works best, dont turn heating of and on, it costs more, bit like town driving which is slow but burns more fuel, constant speed gives best mpg, same with heating as it takes about 3 days to warm the bricks thus radiating the heat back and holding a smooth cycle.
If you have rad stat valves down stairs turn them right up, upstairs set them to about 3, never worked out why plumbers fit the bu--ers down stairs as it defeats the purpose of the room stat.
 
I’ve got that one that’s the No1 in that list and it’s crap it heats a space of about 3 foot at full pelt its in the box wae all the other crap I bought on Amazon during the boring nights of lockdown. And it’s noisy.
 

Energy Cost Comparison - Nottingham Energy Partnership

Different energy sources are measured in different units: kWh, therms, BTU, cubic metres, litres and more. This makes it very difficult to compare the actual costs for powering a heating system between different energy sources. In order to make a fair comparison we need standardised units to...
nottenergy.com nottenergy.com
Slightly confusing but some use
Wood etc all about the same as gas but potentially more waste.

Yes electricity massively more expensive.
As others have posted 1 kwh is 1 kwh.
Small electric heaters can be handy eg a bedroom/office for limited period of time.
Using the heat efficiently is key.
In small houses keeping the gas CH on a lot at low room temperature and low water temperature is a reasonable plan.
Then supplement some areas.
Any gas or kerosene standalones are simply dangerous.
We need to allow some air to circulate otherwise simply breathing can cause a build up of CO2
 
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jagmanx said:

Energy Cost Comparison - Nottingham Energy Partnership

Different energy sources are measured in different units: kWh, therms, BTU, cubic metres, litres and more. This makes it very difficult to compare the actual costs for powering a heating system between different energy sources. In order to make a fair comparison we need standardised units to...
nottenergy.com nottenergy.com
Slightly confusing but some use
Wood etc all about the same as gas but potentially more waste.

Yes electricity massively more expensive.
As others have posted 1 kwh is 1 kwh.
Small electric heaters can be handy eg a bedroom/office for limited period of time.
Using the heat efficiently is key.
In small houses keeping the gas CH on a lot at low room temperature and low water temperature is a reasonable plan.
Then supplement some areas.
Any gas or kerosene standalones are simply dangerous.
We need to allow some air to circulate otherwise simply breathing can cause a build up of CO2
Click to expand...
21c is the recommended safe temp for old farts, 45c for the water so as not to burn/scald oneself.gas temp.pngheating poverty.png
 
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I have a 1000 to 1500 w ceramic fan heater it is very good but still uses 1000 to 1500w . nothing new about it .except it cost about £15years ago
 
Molly 3 said:
I have a 1000 to 1500 w ceramic fan heater it is very good but still uses 1000 to 1500w . nothing new about it .except it cost about £15years ago
Click to expand...
Do you just lock yourself in one room with a heater, all the doors in our home are open and the heat dissipates even all around, we burn oil at worst 2400ltrs a year, hopping that new thicker loft insulation will cut this down, next year we will be fitting the last few rooms with underfloor 4 inch thermal blocking, all the walls have foam, all windows double glazed, no thermal knickers required.
 
trevskoda said:
Do you just lock yourself in one room with a heater, all the doors in our home are open and the heat dissipates even all around, we burn oil at worst 2400ltrs a year, hopping that new thicker loft insulation will cut this down, next year we will be fitting the last few rooms with underfloor 4 inch thermal blocking, all the walls have foam, all windows double glazed, no thermal knickers required.
Click to expand...
In an old house Trevor, there is no insulation in the floor, just stupid.
 
When we downsized to a small bungalow (with gas CH) 4 years ago we immediately opened up the hearth and installed a log burner. Bear in mind that this was way before the energy crisis and we were well aware that a log burner is not a low cost form of heating. However, there is something delightful about a cosy, living fire in the middle of winter (our dog thinks so too) and we were prepared to pay for the luxury.

Roll forward to today and relative prices have levelled up somewhat. So, a few weeks ago with winter gas supplies and prices still uncertain, I stocked up on a winter's worth of logs and also installed a duct with a 'silent' fan through the loft from the warm lounge to the cold back bedroom.

Seems to work OK so far, but we shall see better when the weather turns really cold.
 
I used to live in Devon and my house had a multi-fuel burner in the sitting room (standalone one. not linked to anything else)
When I looked into getting Cavity Wall Insulation, I was told because of the burner, I had to have a 7" ventilation hole in the wall to the outside.
And it had to be permanantly open irrespective of if the burner was being used or not. Not heard anything so stupid as that, especially as only used to use the fire (which had a proper lined flue all the way up the original chimney so had all the right installation done) just a few days a year.

I didn't bother with the insulation as I didn't want a bloody great hole in the wall basically (even though I could have just put a cover over it, it was more a principle thing).
 
Now these comments about "a 1000W heater will use 1000W so it doesn't matter what heater you get" are missing the point somewhate I reckon. It depends what you trying to heat, and how fast and how long you want to heat it.
It is a bit like the discussion about Air Fryers vs Conventional Ovens, or boiling a Kettle on Gas vs Electric - it is not just about the raw energy, but HOW it is used.

Central Heating with radiators, or an portable oil radiators heat up a room over time. If you are in that room all day, then that is maybe the best form of heating, but it is a waste of energy to heat up a room if you are just going to go in there for say 1 hour or so. That is when directional heaters are far better in terms of efficiency as they will warm up where they are pointing - so fan heaters, IR heaters and Ceramic heaters are a much better idea if the idea is to use as little energy as possible whilst being warm enough.
In my 'Loft Studio', if I expect to be in there most of the day, I will turn the radiators on, but otherwise they will be off and if I spend any unplanned time there, I plug in an electric heater for the duration.

Storage Heaters used to be a popular thing but you had to try and predict the weather the next day otherwise you would either be too cold or too hot. I have underfloor wet (i.e. not electric) heating on the ground floor. That kind of heating is usually best left on all the time. The problem is the sitting room faces south and has two 8' wide Patio Doors in it - and on a sunny day (even in winter) the room warms up very well and if the underfloor heating has been left on it is baking first thing. And if the underfloor heating isn't left on and it is a cloudy day it is cold first thing. There is no predicatable middle ground that involves having the heating on 'set and forget'. Sometimes the Dyson Tower is on fan to cool, sometimes it is on heat. (Personally for my choice, it is on OFF as it is so bloody noisy).
 
I happened across a video this guy did a few years ago which was interesting and probably has direct answers to the question asked.
PS. He does lots of pretty random videos but they tend to me well made and presented. Worth checking out.

Note: American channel so some of the power limitations are due to their rubbish 120V system ;)

And a followup (not watched this yet)
 
Insulate, draught strip, curtains/blinds/shutters, keep doors closed, only heat the rooms used, close off unused chimneys - lots of advice out there.

But don’t forget warm clothes. Merino base wear, woollen jumpers and socks, fleece lined bootees, a bobble hat….
 
Ardachaidh said:
Insulate, draught strip, curtains/blinds/shutters, keep doors closed, only heat the rooms used, close off unused chimneys - lots of advice out there.

But don’t forget warm clothes. Merino base wear, woollen jumpers and socks, fleece lined bootees, a bobble hat….
Click to expand...
Only heating one room is incorrect, you heat the whole house at even 21c, how do you get to the loo or kitchen with doors closed, do you keep sarnies and a bucket at hand. 😂
 
We are now in the habit of closing all the doors to each and every room as we go in and out of them so what the ever and always reliable @wildebus has to say is as always oh so very true, so thanks for your thoughts David.

My house is a large and long, quite well insulated bungalow that has masses of West facing windows and an enormous log burner in the very large sitting room, (we blocked up the external for this some years ago to block the gale force wind that used to blow through it believing that there were enough air leaks from various other points of the house to supply the all important ventilation). So we are now running our wood burner every single day knowing we have enough wood to last us for at least the next 2 to 3 years.
So far this year our heating hasn't been on at all and it will remain off until the knees start to knock!! We might/will be buying a heater to turn on for a few minutes whilst we take a shower, but apart from that we are going to try and man it out!!
 
When it comes to having a boiler that does water and central heating it is hard to know just what to do sometimes. If it has come on to heat the water, probably best to leave it running a bit more for the central heating? And it if is doing a couple of rooms, may as well open rads to do a coup!e more you may use? But where does it end?

Now the optimum temp according to Trev is 21C? If that were the case, we would be having the heating on all year round as it rarely gets to 21C in the UK for a whole day even in summertime :).
I think I will stick to turning the heating on when needed, and in the rooms being used. Trev .... 2400L of oil in a year sounds rather a lot to me? I filled my tank in February and last week I ordered oil to take me to close to full again ... 600L. Now this was used in mostly the warmer months, but I don't expect to have to get more until next February so at the very worst around 1600L in the year? I don't think I have ever had more than three deliveries in one year and would usually not go below 40% on a 1200L tank.
The house is occupied 24/7 so it is not like we don't have the heating on during the day at all either.

P.S. I watched the second video after posting it. It was quite interesting although a bit random (I enjoy the way that guy waffles on so still liked it :) ) and had some good stuff in it. I'd recommend watching it if not done so.
 
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