I came accross an old discussion topic about which heater is the most energy efficient. Is it the oil heater or a 2kw fan heater. All heaters are 100% efficient. Heatpumps are 3-400% efficient.

Somebody made the point that the fan causes the heating element to loose heat quicker and therefore needs more electricity to maintain the heat in the element. Fair enough.

One then argued that the element loses heat quicker, but the heat ends up in the house just the same. Fair enough. This being the case means both appliances will cost the same (assuming we ignore the cost of the fan running). Obviously the fan heater would be using more electricity, but the room would heat up quicker and therefore the appliance won't have to run for as long as the oil heater anyway. By this theory alone, both appliances would cost the same to heat up the room. So the question is "Does the air circulation caused by the fan heater, mean that heat is lost faster? Can someone please tell me? If this is the case I believe that the fan heater would be more efficient in early stages of heating, as the fan would distribute the heat faster and difuse in the room better. The oil heater would be more effcient in the long run as there is no air circulation and the heat would not escape as fast??

Now, I heat my house with a heatpump. Having stated my theory, would it be more energy efficient to use the automatic fan selection rather than use the very lowest speed??