Are expensive electric room heaters more efficient than the cheaper ones,if so why;?

Question

I have always under stood that if you put 1 KW in ; you get one KW of heat out, and if the heater has the facility to retain heat ;it then must have taken more energy to heat up the heat retainer.

Answer 1

You are absolutely correct.1K watts is 1K watts. The only consideration is features that will draw just a touch of power. A blower may help the the heat be distributed faster. Some may include timers, lights and who knows by now an mp3 player is probably on one two.

The point is these creature comforts may add a little but the features will not really have a big impact on heat generated. So if you want the mp3 player ;) .....it costs extra.

Answer 2

I think you are talking about Night Storage Heaters, the big heavy electric heaters costing hundreds of pounds compared to the lighter smaller panel heaters costing £20- 30.
You are correct, 1kW of energy should produce 1kW of heat. The difference is that the storage heaters heat up at night when the low tariff electricity is running (if you have a dual tariff or "economy 7" tariff) and release this heat during the day when they are "off". Therefore they are very efficient at saving money but are no more efficient than the cheaper ones at converting electricity to heat. (The most efficient conversion of electricity to heat is a heat pump air conditioning unit that produces 3kW of heat for 1kW of electrical energy - don't ask as I don't understand, got something to do with entropy).
A panel heater just sucks in power and whacks out heat.
I use night storage to provide "back ground heating" i.e. to keep the chill off the place and panel heaters to provide "comfort heating" i.e. to get the room to a temperature I am comfortable with.

Answer 3

Most expensive heaters come with a thermostat which will enable you to control the room temperature and save on the power consumption thereby making it a bit more efficient.
I found the oiled filled electric heaters the most energy efficient as the oil retains the heat.

Answer 4

If your talking about night store heaters, the element runs through the heart of the bricks causing them to heat up, on switching on they use 2 or 3 kwt according to what size you have until they switch off, this is usually done on a cheap rate tariff, and then they discharge the heat when high tariff's come in saving full priced electricity.

Answer 5

I think it's a case of - You get what you pay for and nothing to do with actual efficiency.

Cheap electrical goods that are made in places like China are flooding the market, generally they are not so good (trying to be very PC here) as known brands which have been tried and tested.

I have bought home electrical items made in the Far East and they have died far too quickly. Electronic items on the other hand have usually proved fine.

I would suggest you go mid-range with a name that has been around for a while, you are more likely to have it last more than a few months.

Hope this helps.

Answer 6

It all depends what you need to heat, 1kw consumed is 1kw of heat but it will seem hotter from an infra-red element in a highly polished reflector than from a cheapo Chinese fan heater. Also in an expensive 'focal point' heater, a large part of the cost will be in the design of the unit not just the efficiency of heat output.

Answer 7

price may indicate a difference in efficiencies but i will not use it as a bench mark to determine it as there are a number of very good products coming out of China these days.A electric radiation type heater for instance is only a 3rd to a half efficient as a heat pump water heater although both are electrically powered.However an important factor to bear in mind when purchasing is the after sales service back especially when its out of warranty.

Answer 8

You tend to get what you pay for, and the more expensive ones will have a better design, be more efficient and be fairly economical as compared to cheaper ones.
A good example of this idea is this: (This was some time ago by the way): A friend of mine bought a cheap radio-cassette recorder to use in his car, and at the same time I bought a much dearer one. For almost identical usage, His ate batteries, whereas mine lasted so long that I had to check them for leakage! I rest my case!

Answer 9

Short answer is NO ... longer answer is if you get night storage you can take advantage of cut price electricity ... other factors are large surface area with a smaller temperature differential will deliver heat at a constant rate and not be lost when doors or windows open