Where can I find out the energy efficiency of a Challenge NDY-1000W 5 electric heater?

Question

It is a UK mains operated device and is an electric heater. This is with a view to cost containing heating bills.

I have used search engines and tried to find the company on the internet, to no avail.

Answer 1

The inclusion of "1000W" in its model name suggests it's a resistive heater. If it is (as all the cheaper heaters are) and not a heat-pump type heater, it's 100% energy efficient in the sense that all the incoming electric energy is converted to heat. However that's not in any way meritorious. All resistive heaters do exactly the same thing with the electric energy they use: convert it all to heat. They only differ in how they distribute it into the house. It is wise to ignore ads for pricey "new-concept" heaters (typically involving some special material used as a radiator) that are basically still resistive heaters. When the 35 to 45% efficiency of generating electricity from heat (e.g., burning fuel) is taken into account, resistive heat is overall quite inefficient. On the other hand heat pumps can generate more heat energy than the electric energy they use, by extracting additional heat from the external environment. That's where efficiency becomes a concern, since the more efficient heat pumps tend to be heavier and use larger, more expensive heat exchangers. Search heat pumps for more information.