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The Consumers Guide to Buying Portable Heaters

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  • Portable Electric heaters

    All you need to know

    How to Choose One How They Work Best buys & Reviews

    Choosing, buying & using Electric Heaters

Which Electric Heater do you need?

All Electric heaters use electricity to warm up an element (a resistive wire) which  transfers heat  by warming air directly or by radiating it as infra-red radiation (heat radiation).

» Read More of this intro' here

electric heater - 2kW fan heater
Prem-I-Air 2 kW Ceramic Fan Heater

Electric heaters are the most efficient of all space heaters because they convert nearly 100% of the energy they use to heat (compared with 80% or less for fuel burning space heaters).

With the exception of oil filled radiators heating is instantaneous and they cool very quickly, so when turned off they are safe to leave unattended.

All electric heaters with the same Kilowatt (kW) rating will use the same amount of heat when switched on.

A 2 kW fan heater will use  the same amount of energy as a 2 kW oil filled radiator or a 2 kW radiant heater.

Buying a more expensive electric heater  with the same kW rating  will not save  money on your fuel bill, what will is the way you use it.

Choosing an electric  heater depends on your requirements, a fan heater will blow hot air into the room heating it up quickly, an oil filled radiator will use a convection current slowly warming up the room and keeping it warm.

We've taken a look at each type, how they work at delivering heat and where best to use them.

If you want a more detailed explanation of how an electric heater  works then have a look at the bottom of this page. 

» Read less

This video gives a brief introduction to the different types of electric  heater, each is explained in more detail below.


 Fan and Ceramic Heaters

Fan heaters use a fan to draw air across heated elements and then blow the warmed air into the room.

Because they force warm air to circulate very quickly as soon they are turned off, the room will cool almost immediately.

» Read More here about Fan Heaters

electric Heater
Basic flat fan heater

electric heater
Bladeless fan heater

This is because unlike a convection heater, which heats up the room slowly by slowly circulating warmed air, transferring heat into the objects in the room, a fan heater quickly warms up the air, and air by itself, doesn't have much ability to store heat.

A fan heater is ideal if you need to warm up quickly but as the room cools quickly the fan heaters  thermostat  will keep switching on and off much more than a convection heater or oil filled radiator.

There are thousands of different styles of fan heaters, from the standard flat basic flat types, to oscillating tower heaters and models built to resemble wood burning stoves.

electric heater
Oscillating Tower Heater

electric heater
Ceramic Fan Heater

Ceramic heaters :-

Most fan heaters now use ceramic elements instead of heated coiled wire elements,  we  recommend buying a ceramic fan heater as they don't glow red-hot and  are safer than the wire wound type

Fan heaters are usually portable, but fixed wall models are available. For bathrooms wall mounted ones are the preferred choice.

Suitable ones will come with an IP (waterproof) rating and be marked 'suitable for bathroom use'.

Only  use an electric heater Ip rated as waterproof in a bathroom!

Fan heaters suck air though them andblow dust around the room, some of the  dust will build up inside settling on the fan & slowing it down (most ceramic fan heaters have micro filters to prevent this).

For a quality heater it's worth paying an electrician  every 3 years to open it up and clean the dust out, it will take  him about 10 minutes and the heater will run like new again, with the cheaper ones  replace them every 3 - 5 years.

Prices vary from the cheap sub £10 basic ones up to £700 + for top of the range models designed to resemble  wood burning stoves with real flame effects and sophisticated controls.

Warning :- A fan heaters element gets very hot very quickly, if the fan stops working the heater  WILL catch fire, never switch on a fan heater if the fan stops working.

» Read less

Convection & Micathermic space heaters

Convection space heaters  warm the air by heating up an element which the air flows over.

Home Heating Shop electric fire convection heater
A basic 2kW Convection Heater

As the air is warmed  it rises drawing fresh cold air up over the  element which in turn warms up drawing up more air.

» Read More about convection heaters

The  warmed air cools slightly as it rises higher and drops towards the floor and is drawn up though the heater again

This is called the convection cycle, because of this convection cycle this  type of electric heater will gradually heat up the air in a whole room and keep the temperature constant.

However they are not effective in draughty rooms as the warm air will escape and cold air will be drawn in from outside.

Micathermic heaters are new generation heating appliances, they  use mica heating plates instead of traditional wire elements

These radiate heat as well as use a convection current so heat objects in front of them as well as the air in the room. They are one of the many examples  of electric heater that uses multiple ways to deliver heat.

Open wire  heaters with vents above the heating elements  are the most common type of convection heater.

If you leave one in the same place long enough, you will see a dark patch form on the ceiling above it, this is the smoke residue from dust drawn into the elements and burnt.

Because wire-element convection heaters have the heating elements exposed directly to the air, electric heaterand these glow red-hot, they heat up quite quickly and can pose a fire or burn risk if anything comes in contact with the elements.

They must not be left  unattended around vulnerable people and they are not recommended for bathroom use.

Both open element and micathermic  convection heaters should have  thermostats which are necessary to keep the room temperature constant and to prevent  overheating.

We advise never  buying one without a thermostat as if the element is continuously on there is a high risk of overheating.

Electric convector heaters can be just a metal box open at the top and bottom with wire heating elements strung across the inside (open element, a basic model like that can cost under £10.

Or they can be sturdy framed micathermic  multi element ducted chambers, with sophisticated programmers, thermostatic controllers and fan assistance, these top models can cost £200 or more.

Most of the better models use a combination of radiated heat and / or fan assistance to aid heat distribution.

» Read less

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6dlpOT0XeI
Convector Heater reviews & recommended buys

Radiant Heaters

Bar Heaters :-

Radiant bar heaters are the best choice  if you are  going to be using a room for a short period and will not be moving around.

» Read More here about Radiant Heaters

electric heater
Traditional wire wound element bar heater

They are ideal if your watching TV , working at a bench or desk,  or eating a meal.

This is because  they work by directly heating  whats in front of them (you & your surroundings) instead of the whole room (think of them working like a torch, only heating what they shine on).

If you  want to heat up the whole room then radiant bar heaters are not a good choice as they can take a very long time to heat up a space,  whatever is in front of them will get  hot, yet things a few feet away will still be cold.

electric heater
A Lloytron 4 bar halogen bar heater

Halogen Radiant heaters have now taken over from  the old bar type, the  problem with cheap halogen heaters is  the quartz tubes are filled with pressurized gas and are fragile  so break easily.

Touching or getting dirt on the tubes creates a hot spot which causes the element to burn out. Due to these faults cheap halogen heaters do not last very long.

Other more robust  alternatives are ruby sleeved tubes, Infra red tubes, and ceramic elements which are all much more expensive.

A good, high-powered radiant bar heater will have  tungsten halogen lamps, with ruby-red quartz outer sleeves. These are durable, long-lasting and because of the high price are usually reserved for commercial use.

Typically wall or ceiling mounted a 1.5 Kilowatt heater mounted on a wall at the recommended 2.5 meters high and angled down at 45 degrees will directly heat a floor area of 3.4 x 3.7 meters, that's 12.58 square meters or 999 square feet, that's the size of an average room!

Because the lamps have a temperature approaching 2200 ºC,  walking underneath them can be uncomfortably hot. Radiant heaters like these cost over £200.

Any heater of this type with a greater rating than 1.5 Kilowatts would be unsuitable for domestic use, unless you live in a property with a very high ceiling.

» Read less

 Infrared Heating Panels

These panel heaters  work by the heater elements transferring their heat to a large flat  surface which radiates heat into the room warming any objects or people in front of it,

» Read More about Panel Heaters

Unlike convector heaters they do not rely on heating air passing over them.

Thespanels do not get as hot as oil filled radiators so present less of a burn hazard.

They are thermostatically controlled and once the room is up to heat they  only switch on power for around 20% of the time to maintain the room temperature.

Infra red panels are ideal for nuseries, sickrooms and  art studios as they dont give off any fumes or smells and do not consume any oxygen, they do not dry out the air or change the humidity of a room, are silent , and unlike convection and fan heaters do not create heavy air currents carrying dust around the room, as even when the air in room is fully heated  only 32% of the of the heat is maintained by convection.

These panels are the most versatile of all electric heaters as they can be placed in any room; bedrooms, children rooms, rooms with elderly or ill occupants and are splashproof.

They can be freestanding or mounted on walls or ceilings. The range  is astounding, with new technology such as engineered plastics with metallic filaments, carbon nano fibers, and carbon crystal panels allowing a degree of design flexibility not seen in other forms of heating.

Some are designed to be painted to blend into a rooms decor, there are transparent or colored thermo-glass panels, some can be printed with any picture or scene you like, including family pictures and company logos, animated scenes such as flickering fires and  even be formed into blinds and screens.

» Read less

 Oil Filled Radiators

Oil filled electric radiators, are sealed units with an internal heating element submerged in a liquid such as oil, water or other heat transfer liquid,

» Read More here about Oil Filled Radiators

electric heater
OIl filled radiator

the element heats the liquid which heats the case. Depending on the design of the radiator, the heat generated can be radiant or a combination of both radiant and convected heat.

Traditionally oil was used to fill this type of electric heater, some modern designs now use water or thermo gels, this is becoming more common as in case of leaks oil is messy and difficult to clean up. Recently  liquid free designs have been produced, unlike wall mounted electric radiators which have a solid filling, these heat up an airspace within the casing.

Oil filled radiators are great keeping a single room warm when the central heating is turned off. They have no exposed elements, but they can get very hot if used at full heat, so are not suitable for bathrooms or for children or elderly peoples bed rooms unless fixed on a low setting, cool touch infra red  panel heaters  are best used in these locations.

» Read less



Electric Fires

Dimplex free standing stove type electric fire

Most free-standing and wall hung electric fires  are easy  to install and do not need an electrician or any special knowledge, the floor mounted  types   come as simple plug-in and stand up models which do not require any special installation,

» Read More here about Oil Filled Radiators

» Read less

Place them where you want and plug  into a normal wall socket. With the wall mounted type you may have to fit a simple wall mounting bracket.

As The Home Heating Shop  is about portable space heaters these are the ones we review  and recommend from our partners and  trusted suppliers.

There are many types of electric fire available  to suit all tastes, you can browse a selection of electric fires here.

If you are interested in  fitted electric fires which are permanently installed in existing fireplaces or inserted in walls some  of these, depending on the energy usage, may require a new circuit from the consumer unit (fusebox).

If youneed one of these  visit  The Home Fire Shop which advises on  permanently fixed electric, as well as gas  fires as well as wood burning stoves.electric fire
We recommend  consulting a   registered electrician if you are uncertain about buying a wall mounted or free-standing electric fire.

Use the The Registered Competent Person Electrical search facility  type in your postcode and it will give you a list of registered electricians near you.



How  Does an Electric Heater Work?

electric heater
Close up of a bar heater element

All Electric heaters work by getting an element (wire or other material) hot, then using that hot element to heat either the air (convection and fan heaters) fluid (oil filled radiators, water heaters, kettles) or the objects (radiant & infra-red heaters) in your room.

How do they use electricity to get the heating element hot?

electric heater
Water heater element

The math behind how this works is complicated but we don't need to discuss that here because how it actually works is very simple.

Think of electric current as tiny particles (called electrons) made to flow through a wire, the wire is full of other tiny particles which the electrons bang into and have to squeeze pass, the obstruction by these other particles is called resistance./

This rubbing of the electrons against the obstacles (resistance) in the wire is called friction and creates heat, the more electrons forced through the wire the more resistance, the more friction so more heat, this is called resistive heating!

In any heating appliance (Kettles Toasters, and your  Electric Heater) the  heating elements are  made of materials which have a high  resistance and are robust enough to stand repeated heating and cooling without breaking down (usually a nickel based  alloy called nichrome).

A high current passes through the element  so the amount of friction is massive and gets the element very, very hot, so hot that the wire elements can glow red and (in the case of fan heaters) can melt if air isn't blown over them to cool them down.

Try the old winter trick of warming your hands up, put your hands with your palms pressing against each other now rub them back and forth quickly, after a few seconds they get warm, a few seconds more and they get uncomfortably hot so you have to stop.

That heat is caused by the pressure needed to move one piece of skin over another, friction! That's the same rubbing happening between electrons and other particles in the wire but millions of times faster.

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