Consider the price. We’ll dive into a lot more detail on the price of RUSSELL HOBBS RHOFR5002 Portable Oil-Filled Radiator shortly, but in terms of quality, the obvious advice here is ‘you get what you pay for’. It’s really just being aware that if you’re buying the cheapest of the Heating and cooling from Currys PC World you might not expect the same level of quality as you’d get from a decent quality product like RUSSELL HOBBS RHOFR5002 Portable Oil-Filled Radiator. Some oil heaters come with a fan that companies have made to pull in cold air from around the room. This will increase the speed it takes to balance your room temperatures. Which oil-filled radiator do I need? Some modern options also have smart features so you can program them via companion apps and smart speakers. The most important thing is to never place anything combustible on or too close to the appliance. If using a fan heater, consider whether anything nearby can be blown over (it’s also worth noting that fan heaters should be placed in sufficient space to facilitate an airflow from behind).

We assess how easily each electric heater can be set up and how easily understandable the controls and settings are. We used any handles to lift the heater and move it around. While some heaters can be used straight out of the box, others have complicated program and timer settings. Running the heater on its highest setting will require more electricity to heat the oil faster, and you’ll be using the maximum 2500-watts (2.5 kilowatts per hour). Of the 41 products in the Heating and cooling category, 14 were more expensive than RUSSELL HOBBS RHOFR5002 Portable Oil-Filled Radiator and 26 were cheaper. Prices from Russell Hobbs Also, once turned off, the convector heater will not radiate any more heat, unlike the oil radiator, which will continue to warm the surrounding air as the oil slowly cools to room temperature. The next step in the price analysis was to look at the average price you would typically expect to pay for Heating and cooling and as Currys PC World was selected for this review we’ve used them for gathering our information on the average price of Heating and cooling.Nearly all have some kind of carry handle for moving about and many have a safety cut-out feature, which will switch off the heater if it gets dangerously hot.

Keen to optimise home heating? See our advice on boiler controls and thermostats , smart meters , and loft insulation They also don’t dry out the air in your room as blower-equipped heaters do. To add the cherry on top of the cake, they don’t make any noise! And that isn’t all; they’re also incredibly safe because they have no exposed element, which could be a fire hazard. If you have your heart set on a particular brand or even a selection of brands then we’d suggest you spend a bit of time writing up a list of the brands that you would happily buy. This can really help you in narrowing down the selection when it comes to choosing a product. For example, over at Currys PC World you can filter products by brand, so you could filter just to show the brands on your list. This is especially useful knowing that there are 41 Heating and cooling to choose from at Currys PC World.Oil heaters come with a control dial so you can choose to run the heater on a low, medium, or higher setting. Read more on the benefits of running an oil-filled heater. Are oil-filled radiators cheaper to run than convector heaters? When the price of gas soars, a portable electric heater (sometimes known as a space heater) is worth considering. Used properly, with judicious use of the thermostat, they can be economical – particularly for heating bedrooms and for occasional use in the coldest parts of the house. “When gas prices are unaffordable they may help cut bills if used sparingly,” says Rob Bennett, technical service manager at Pimlico Plumbers. “But electricity is not exactly cheap at the moment either. So you’re looking for the most heating output from the lowest electricity usage.” At 500W, it offers the same power at maximum setting as some of the full-sized heaters above do on minimum. It makes some noise, but not much more than an old disc-driven computer. Apart from the temperature setting, the only other control is a timer to switch it off after up to 12 hours. Although the comparison might make your electric heater look cheaper to run, bear in mind that it will only be heating a much smaller area, whereas your central heating will be aiming to heat your whole home.

Adjustable thermostat Using this function, a portable heater will heat the room and when the desired temperature is reached, it will try to maintain the room at that temperature. Most of the cheaper, simpler heaters we tested have a dial thermostat that doesn't let you choose specific temperatures in °C. You'll likely need to buy a more expensive model for that. Our tests also found that they're rarely 100% accurate and will probably think the room is a couple of °C warmer or cooler than it is. However, a 53 pence daily standing charge will also apply to all households. So you will need to calculate this if you’re trying to work out the exact figures. As we covered earlier choosing a brand can be really key to getting the right product in the Heating and cooling category. There are loads of great brands out there each offering great products at different levels of quality and price. If brand is important to you, we’re sure you already know that Russell Hobbs is a great choice. With 120 products available from Russell Hobbs there’s plenty of choice too. Although cheap to run, oil heaters are less efficient than heaters that consume gas. yet, gas heaters can not be used in closed environments due to the reduced oxygen from a burning flame. Safety and featuresIn our tests, we set every heater to run at full blast so you can see the maximum amount it cost to heat our medium-sized test room. If you have the thermostat of your heater set to a desired temperature, the heater will toggle on and off once it reaches that temperature – depending on what's needed to maintain it. The heater won't operate continuously, so won't cost you as much to run. Are electric heaters cheaper to use than central heating? It’s always best practice to avoid having anything within 3 feet of any active heater and avoid drying damp clothes by laying them over the heated fins.

Try setting the thermostat to somewhere between 15°C and 20°C so you feel comfortable getting out of bed in the morning. Is it cheaper to run an oil-filled radiator than gas central heating? Does the room have doors with gaps and no draught excluders, large windows, and poorly insulated walls? If so, these rooms will need a higher-powered heater to combat those draughty breezes. They tend to be cheap to run, but some can be really slow to heat up. Most oil-filled heaters are also fairly heavy and cumbersome, so look out for models that come with wheels.

Learn More

Look at the table below to get an idea of the size oil radiator you’ll need to warm your room. These are the sizes in watts your heater will need to be to control your rooms temperature. Room Size We set up each heater in the centre of our test room and run it on the maximum settings, with the room starting at a cool temperature. We monitor how much the room temperature changed over the course of an hour using temperature probes. We found the most drastic changes happen in the first half an hour and increases in temperature become more incremental after that. On the downside, this type can be quite noisy and they don't have some of the more advanced features you can get with convector heaters. Convector heaters consume around 2000-watts (2kWh) of electricity, which is often more than double the energy usage of an oil-filled radiator. Your heater’s power will be measured in kilowatts (kW). For most small- and medium-sized rooms, a 2kW device will suffice. All of the heaters in our review are 2kW or under. Running costs are usually calculated by the hour (kWh). High demand