Many people use things like electric heaters and gas fires to give their central heating system or storage heating a boost.
However, this can be an expensive way of keeping warm. Read on to find out which are the most energy-efficient heaters.
What kinds of heaters are there?
Broadly speaking, heaters can be divided into two main categories - fixed and non-fixed.
Non-fixed or portable heaters can be picked up and moved around, and are mainly powered by electricity, although there are also portable fires fuelled by bottled gas.
Fixed heaters - which you’d normally find in a fireplace - can be powered by mains gas, LPG, electricity, and solid fuels such as biomass and coal.
Portable electric heaters
The main kinds of portable electric heaters are:
- oil-filled radiators,
- convector heaters,
- fan heaters,
- halogen heaters.
None of these is much more energy-efficient than the others. However, halogen heaters heat up and cool down more quickly, and fan heaters are also relatively quick to heat up and cool down, with the added advantage that they blow the heat to where it is needed. Halogen heaters also tend to use up the smallest amount of space, followed by fan heaters.
If children or other vulnerable people are around, you should take extra care with portable heaters. An oil filled radiator in particular may be unsuitable, because of the high temperatures they can reach, which could harm anyone touching them.
There should be plenty of space around individual heating devices, especially fan heaters, as they need to draw in air, and halogen heaters that have an oscillating movement.
Stand-alone electrical heating devices will usually be less wasteful if they have thermostatic controls - in other words, if they have the capability of switching themselves off once a particular temperature has been reached. If a device doesn’t have such a facility, a separate plug-in thermostat can be purchased.
Given that portable electric heating devices use electricity, they’re generally not as cost effective as central heating systems running on gas or oil.
Portable bottled gas heaters
Bottled gas heaters, have wheels and are semi-portable - they’re bulky, so getting them up and down stairs can be a challenge! Another disadvantage is that the bottles of gas become empty and have to be re-filled or exchanged, whereas electricity is generally continuously available.
The fumes given off by bottled gas fires mean that you’ll need to have a window open for ventilation which makes them even less efficient and expensive.
Fixed electric heaters
You can get fixed heaters for most different heating fuels but in general, the running costs are still higher than central heating systems.
For heat from electricity, you can get wall panel heaters, which work by convection and are often used to supplements to storage heaters.
You can also get electric wall fan heaters. These are generally used in bathrooms and are fixed at head height or higher, blowing heat downwards.
Gas fires and fixed gas heaters
When it comes to gas fires, the following options are available:
- Open flame
- Radiant
- Glass-fronted
- Flueless (catalyst)
Fires with a balanced flue are more efficient, because there’s no need for ventilation.
Modern gas wall heaters are also available with balanced flues, which means they’re almost as efficient as modern central heating boilers. They don’t act as a focal point of a room like a fire would, so they’re a better option for halls, stairwells and kitchens where there is an outside wall close by.
Solid fuel fires
Solid fuels have been given a boost thanks to the popularity of wood-burning stoves.
There are also fires and burners for solid fuels like coal. Coal has a much higher energy density than wood - i.e. more heat can be delivered from a particular volume of fuel - and some stoves and fires are capable of burning both kinds of fuels.
If you live in a smoke control area - also known as smokeless zone - certain solid fuels can only be burnt on ‘exempt appliances’.
Many stoves that burn wood and coal-based solid fuels have this exempt classification, because they’re generally enclosed and glass-fronted. Such ‘appliances’ also burn the fuel more efficiently and completely.