While today’s fan heaters are pretty energy-efficient, they’re not suitable for leaving on for hours on end; they still consume a lot of electricity compared to, say, standalone oil-filled heaters. In fact, most of the models in this guide will cost between 35p and 70p per hour to run, possibly more given the current high electricity prices. Central heating is much more effective at maintaining a stable temperature over a longer period, whereas the heat from an electric heater will soon dissipate if the rest of your home is cold. Keen to optimise home heating? See our advice on boiler controls and thermostats , smart meters , and loft insulation 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. It's worth also bearing in mind that calculating the cheapest way to heat a room again depends on a number of variables, such as the size of your home and how energy-efficient it is, your heating requirements, and your energy provider. What are the disadvantages of a fan heater?

Under current energy prices, a run-of-the-mill plug-in electric heater can cost approximately 40p to 65p per hour to run on full blast.The oil in the radiator acts as a heat reservoir, which stays hot for some time after the heater's switched off. Some are called 'oil-free' and function in a comparable way, just with an internal heating element instead of any oil. When it comes to air purification, this Dyson can filter down to 0.1 microns, which includes pollen, pet dander, bacteria, smoke, benzene, nitrogen dioxide and, in the case of this specific model, formaldehyde – a poisonous gas emitted by cigarette smoke, many household products and wooden flooring. In other words, this model doesn’t just heat – or cool – the air in your room, it cleans it too at a rate of up to 290 litres per second. Convector heaters are usually taller than fan heaters, but thin and light – making them larger, but still relatively easy to move between rooms. 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. For such a small and keenly priced unit, the Russell Hobbs comes with a variable temperature thermostat and two heat settings – 750W and 1,500W. Granted, the thermostat control is a simple dial, so it isn’t possible to set an actual room temperature, but that’s par for the course with a heater at this price.

Fan heaters can consume a lot of electricity in a short space of time, and are therefore best used in smaller and well insulated rooms.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. Due to the long list of factors that come into play to calculate your central heating costs, the only way you can confidently compare a heater to your central heating is to install a smart meter. You then divide your weekly heating cost by the number of hours you have it switched on and compare that figure to the cost of running your heater. Unlike most fan heaters that blow out hot air from a front grill, here it is blasted out through the top of the unit in a 360-degree pattern. At just 30cm in height and 22cm wide, the Duux Threesixty 2 is unobtrusive – in fact, some may mistake it for a small waste paper bin.