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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. They can be installed on a wall just like standard types of radiator or can be freestanding units that can be moved to different rooms. The ability to heat just one room is the reason many advise that homeworkers give them a go. Portable electric heaters use electricity, which costs 27.35p/kWh under the current energy price cap. Depending on how effective the heater is, they can take anything from 30 minutes to an hour to notably raise the temperature of a medium-sized room, so if you're only planning on using it until the room gets up to temperature, it will likely cost you between 28 and 55p. Convector heaters are usually taller than fan heaters, but thin and light – making them larger, but still relatively easy to move between rooms.
Programmable timer Useful for setting a heater to turn on just before you get home or wake up, so there's no waiting around for the heater to warm up. These can still be bought, but they aren't as popular or widely available as fan or convector heaters. Oil-filled radiators can be cheaper than turning the central heating on if you are only heating one room. (Image credit: Getty) Are oil heaters cheap to run?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. Electric oil-filled radiators are portable so you can heat only the room you are using to reduce your energy costs. Oil-filled radiator vs central heating The nature of convection heaters mean they usually take a little longer until you feel the heat (compared to a halogen heater for example), but it will heat the whole room evenly. Typically, convection heaters are around 2000W in power output which does make them more expensive to run. On top of this, you might tend to leave a convection heater on for longer periods of time too (compared to radiant heaters).
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. 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: 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. They are also designed with wheels to allow for easy portability, meaning you can easily move the radiator between rooms in your home or office. On top of this, to ensure extra safety, they come with built-in tip over cut out technology, which automatically switches the heater off should it tip over. Depending on what sized room you're wanting to heat, our oil filled heaters range from our mini radiator which is 800W in power right up to our larger 2500W oil filled radiator, meaning you’ll be able to find something to suit your requirements. We buy all the electric heaters we test. We put the bestselling heaters from popular UK retailers through these tests: Heating speed, evenness, and accuracy
Read our full story on illegal and dangerous plug-in mini heaters for sale on online marketplaces to see those we identified as having serious safety risks.
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