Which is the best portable electric heater?
You're keen to ditch the gas heating, but money is tight. An attractive replacement option is portable electric heaters; you can pick some of them up for less than $100.
However, the appealing low up front cost of portable heaters is offset by high running costs and legitimately high risks.
In this article we'll make sure you're aware of the challenges with portable heaters and recommend an option to minimise your risks.
Portable heaters...are you sure?
We appreciate you might not have the budget to consider other options, but we'd always recommend split system reverse cycle air conditioning as an alternative. Running costs are significantly lower, it is more effective for heating rooms and as a solution it is significantly safer.
Remember that you don't need to heat or cool your entire house. You can install reverse cycle air conditioning in a single room, which can be a "climate-safe space" on extremely cold days.
This will get you through the few days of the year where the temperature is at unsafe levels without spending huge amounts of money cranking a portable heater. The reverse-cycle functionality will also have you covered on really hot days.
If you think you can stretch your budget, we'd recommend you check out our article 'Which is the best split system air conditioner?'.
That said, even the most affordable units will still cost around $1000 to purchase and install and we appreciate that isn't going to be available to everyone.
What are the different types of portable heaters?
Radiant heaters
Radiant heaters are personal heaters. As the name suggests, they radiate heat from a red-hot heating element. They are one of the cheapest heater types to purchase.
The relatively exposed heating element can be a fire and safety hazard. For example, a piece of clothing dropped over it may ignite, or small children playing around a floor model may burn themselves, so treat with caution.
Oil-filled column heaters
Oil-filled column heaters don't actually burn oil – they use electricity to heat the oil that's sealed inside their columns. The heat from the oil is then transferred to the casing and to the air circulating the columns.
Column heaters are particularly useful in rooms where they'll be switched on for long periods of time or where they'll operate unattended, such as overnight in a bedroom. The surfaces you're likely to touch on a column heater don't get as hot as on other types of electric heaters.
They rely on natural convection so they take longer to heat a room than fan-assisted heaters of similar capacity.
Convection and panel heaters
Convection and panel heaters draw cold air over an electric heating element. The warmed air then leaves the heater and rises towards the ceiling, while cooler air moves in to replace it.
They usually have a fan which enhances the convection effect by forcing the warm air from the heater. When you use the fan, the room will heat up more quickly and evenly but it is likely to be noisy.
Panel heaters are a type of convection heater that are, as the name suggests, particularly thin and flat, though they can also be quite long. They often come with a wall-mounting kit for permanent attachment, much like an old-style radiator.
Ceramic fan heaters
You'll see the term 'ceramic' used in conjunction with some fan heaters. This is a safety advantage rather than performance advantage, as the ceramic cools faster than metallic heating elements, reducing the burn risk. Dyson heaters fall into the fan category.
Infrared heaters
A relatively recent entrant into the consumer market, infrared heaters heat the room like the sun heats your face (without the UV rays so no danger of skin cancer). Whereas other heaters heat up the air in a space, infrared heaters will heat up objects.
What's the best scenario for using portable heaters?
If you're going to use a portable heater, stick to a small, enclosed room like a bedroom or a study. They are not suited to large rooms or open plan areas and will chew through a huge amount of electricity.
It's best to move a single portable heater around the house with you, instead of using multiple heaters at the same time. Portable heaters can draw a surprisingly high amount of current, especially when they are turned up to maximum.
Aside from an eye-watering electricity bill, using multiple heaters at the same time will run the risk of maxing out your mains supply and tripping your mains switch if you try to use any other appliances like kettles or toasters at the same time.
What's the safest way to use a portable heater?
We don't want to freak you out, but portable heaters are extremely unsafe.
They are responsible for around 43% of all home heating-related fires and 85% of associated deaths every year. If you are going to buy a portable heater, safety should be high on your list of priorities1.
In their 2022 heater reviews, Choice failed six out of the 15 portable heaters they tested2!
If you're going to buy a portable heater, make sure you follow these pointers:
- Only ever use a space heater on the floor. Never use a space heater on a shelf, bench or any raised or uneven surface.
- Don't use a space heater in bathrooms, kitchens or any other wet areas. Water and electricity are a bad combination.
- Keep flammable items such as clothes, curtains and furniture at least a metre away from your space heater, and be mindful of the risk of items falling onto the heater from above.
- Never leave a running space heater unattended, especially if there are small children or pets around.
- You should never use an electric heater with an extension cord or power board. Heaters draw a lot of current which can cause smaller gauge extension cords to heat up and catch fire.
Which is the cheapest type of portable heater?
Purchase cost
All portable heater types come in a range of prices. Generally speaking, smaller units (like ceramic fan heaters) will cost less, but they will work harder to heat a space and cost more to do so.
Try to avoid the price tag as your main decision-making factor.
Running cost
Oil column heaters will be the cheapest on the market to run on average, but only by a narrow margin ahead of convection heaters. There are some comfort trade-offs for that cheap running cost, primarily being slow to heat and ineffective at heating a whole room if they aren't combined with a fan.
What's a good portable heater option?
Portable heater type
In addition to marginally lower running costs, convection heaters such as oil column and panel heaters are the safest to use as they tend to have lower surface temperatures, don't have exposed heating elements, and are more stable due to their greater weight or wall mounting.
There's always a risk of fire due to faulty wiring or connection to an unsuitable extension cord, tipping over, oil leaks, or fires caused by items hung over or falling onto the heater. And while they tend not to get as hot on the surface as other heater types, you can still sustain a nasty burn.
A specific product
It's been a bit tricky to find a recommended portable heater. All the Choice recommended options have received poor community feedback3! We did find the DeLonghi DL2401TF on ProductReview, where it won a product award in this year's electric heating category.
With 70 reviews at an average rating of 4.1 stars, it's the only option we could find that meets the product advice of Choice and appropriate levels of positive customer feedback.
A trick to reduce portable heater costs
If you have a ceiling fan, the reverse feature found on many of them can be a bonus in winter when combined with an electric heater. Ceiling fans use much less electricity than electric heaters and can help a heater achieve the same result with less work.
Usually a ceiling fan blows a cooling breeze down towards you, but in reverse or 'winter' mode, the fan instead draws the room's air up towards the ceiling. It then mixes with the warm air rising from the heater, and is moved along the ceiling and back down the walls, thus spreading the warm air more evenly around the room.
Used with the convection heating of an oil column heater, this approach could bring down your running costs.
Next steps
They aren't ideal, but hopefully now you've got a good portable heater option and the guidelines to use it safely.
If you are all set with your planning for heating upgrades, take a moment to congratulate yourself! When you are ready to move to the next area of upgrades in your journey to an Energy Freedom Home, such as cooking or hot water, click here to head to our planning article.
If you'd like to figure out an affordable way to heat, cool and dehumidify a "climate-safe room" with a single split system, join an Energy Freedom Homes Masterclass and learn to identify your needs, gain expert installation advice, and meet trustworthy tradespeople. Check your Masterclass readiness now!
References
1 Steen, M., & Iredale, A. (n.d.). How to find a great portable electric heater. Choice. Retrieved 2023, from https://www.choice.com.au/home-and-living/heating/electric-heaters/buying-guides/electric-heaters
2 Engel, P. (2022). 6 out of 15 electric heaters fail CHOICE safety tests. Choice. Retrieved 2023, from https://www.choice.com.au/home-and-living/heating/electric-heaters/articles/electric-heaters-fail-safety-tests
3 (2022). Best electric heaters to buy in Australia. Choice. Retrieved 2023, from https://www.choice.com.au/home-and-living/heating/electric-heaters/review-and-compare/electric-heaters