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. Next up is material. Read through the product description for Challenge 2kW Convector Heater to get an understanding of the materials the product is made from. Some materials will obviously be known for delivering better quality item than others. You might also have decided that you’ll only accept a product made from a particular material.

so we use the following basic maths equation to work out the running cost of an appliance for any period of time We've found that convector heaters and oil radiators can take more than half an hour to raise a room's temperature significantly, but a good fan heater can do this in half the time. Price is another really important factor for analysing the quality of Challenge 2kW Convector Heater vs other products in the Heaters and radiators category. It’s obvious, but you will need to set your expectations of quality based on your budget and the price of the product you’re looking at, against the price of alternatives.The information which you need to be able to work out the cost of running your convector heater is shown by the number of Watts. Sometimes this may also be printed on the label as a single ‘W’– i.e 2000W or expressed in Kilowatts (KW). Basically a ‘KW’ (Kilo-watt) equals 1000 watts of Electricity, and so 2000 Watts would be 2KW and 3000 Watts would be 3kw and so on.

Some portable heaters have useful extras, such as an LCD screen that displays the current temperature or a remote control for turning the heater on from across the room. These features may come in handy: Keen to optimise home heating? See our advice on boiler controls and thermostats , smart meters , and loft insulation These have exposed heating elements, which heat up cold air as it passes. This often leads to slower, but more even, heating. They tend to be a little slower than fan heaters, but are quieter, and our tests found some are still pretty speedy. You can also read our guide to the best heating for your home to find a whole-home solution for your heating needs. The next step after looking at products in the same category, was to look at products from the same brand, Challenge.So a 2000 Watt Convector heater would use 2 units of Electricity for every hour that it is run, and at 30p per Electricity unit it would cost 2x 30p = 60p per hour to run

The cheapest electric heaters we've tested all have thermostats that detect the ambient temperature and adjust the heater's output according to your preferred setting. They usually have adjustable energy settings and timers so you can turn the heat down if you want to, or limit your heater's running time.We've noticed that prices tend to edge up the closer to colder weather we get - we've seen some price increases over the last few weeks. So if you want to get a cheap electric heater, our advice would be not to hang around. We use a force meter to record how much is needed to topple each heater over and a decibel meter to measure how much noise each one makes while running. As you might expect, interest in electric heaters reaches its peak in the winter months. Over the last few years they've flown off the shelves as the nights have drawn in, even after having their prices hiked up rather than cut. It is also very important that you work out just how much heat is required to warm the size of room to a comfortable temperature. For example, if a room requires 4kw of heat input to warm it to 21c, then you are unlikely to be able to heat it adequately by using a single 2kw or 3kw convector heater. To produce the 4kw required to heat the room comfortably, you would be advised to use (2x) 2kw convector heaters which would work out very expensive. (This calculation doesn’t apply to Halogen Heaters as they are not warming the entire room).