Winter's Coming, so whats a safe heater

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#797488 10-Apr-2013 22:45

We've owned a Delonghi oil column heater for about 10 years, it's a 2000W model. Before our daughter was born 15 months ago we decided to go out and purchase a smaller 1500W heater for her room. Settled on a Goldair as the equivalent Delonghi was about 40% more expensive. What a mistake... the Goldair is a piece of junk and might as well not have a thermostat and was hopeless at taking the chill off the air instead going from boiling hot to freezing cold even on a fairly low setting plus the thermostat gives a fairly noisy "ping" which gets annoying. We basically just use it to boost the heat in our lounge now on really cold nights/mornings which it does a good job of.

The Delonghi on the other hand has proved to be brilliant in our daughters room. It maintains a constant temperature and is totally silent. Safety was also a deciding factor for us and for that the oil column is great. Panel heaters were also an option but we preferred the having a more portable heater.

I know for sure which brand I'd go for now anyway!

networkn

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#797504 10-Apr-2013 23:31

I too find myself wanting to heat my 2 kids rooms (3 and 1). I am so worried about the thermostats on the cheaper heaters malfunctioning and essentially cooking my kids during the night. I need something that can be kept away from my 1 year olds interested investigations, my 3 year old is bright enough to understand not to touch it. I am not as worried by the heater being covered as we are fairly vigilant in that regard.

Did any of you get the heatmate and have a mini review?

Regs

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#797510 10-Apr-2013 23:59

get some merino sleep sacks for the little ones. they have a bag that is designed for temps below 20.

we had the go go bags from http://www.merinokids.co.nz/ and sold them after on trademe for about 75% of what we paid.. good value!

I had a oil column heater in the room, tried to keep the temp to 20deg, cost me $150 per month a few years back. power is a bit more expensive now. 6 months at $1200 - that's half a heatpump, or 1/2 of a gas central heating system cost.... food for thought.

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networkn

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#797515 11-Apr-2013 00:13

Regs: get some merino sleep sacks for the little ones. they have a bag that is designed for temps below 20.

we had the go go bags from http://www.merinokids.co.nz/ and sold them after on trademe for about 75% of what we paid.. good value!

I had a oil column heater in the room, tried to keep the temp to 20deg, cost me $150 per month a few years back. power is a bit more expensive now. 6 months at $1200 - that's half a heatpump, or 1/2 of a gas central heating system cost.... food for thought.

Yah we have some sleeping bags for our tiny tot with little fold over mittens, so it's not too much for her, but a 3 year old doesn't like that sort of thing. I basically want to take the "chill" out of the air.

Last winter, I would just go into his room for a few minutes before I slept and set his fan heater to high whilst I brushed my teeth but in the morning he would crawl into our bed and his hands and toes were like icicles!

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#797532 11-Apr-2013 07:16

insulate the ceiling

oil heater to take the chill off air

wear them a warm (we use kathmandu)jumper/ and any socks

merino go go bag

Klipspringer

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#797534 11-Apr-2013 07:29

Be quick. I saw this deal yesterday and its closing soon.

$109 for Eco Panel Heater.

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#797538 11-Apr-2013 07:35

It should be illegal to claim or imply one heater is cheaper to run than others, for a given heat output. "Eco panel" uses the same amount of power as any other heater.

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#798138 11-Apr-2013 22:42

Regs: I had a oil column heater in the room, tried to keep the temp to 20deg, cost me $150 per month a few years back. power is a bit more expensive now. 6 months at $1200 - that's half a heatpump, or 1/2 of a gas central heating system cost.... food for thought.

That doesn't make sense. Assuming a power price of $0.25 per kWh you'd need to have a 2kw heater running for 10 hours a day with the thermostat constantly closed to incur that sort of cost.

I estimate that mine costs me about $30 per month during the coldest months based on four hours a day of use, thermostat closed about 2/3 of the time, and a unit price of $0.25 as above.

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#798188 12-Apr-2013 07:27

In an uninsulated house an oil heater would probably run 24/7. I know, I used to have an uninsulated house. No matter how much heat you put in it's never that warm, and the heat escapes super quickly.

Chainsaw

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#798408 12-Apr-2013 14:15

What about tese things using infrared heat?
http://infracomfort.co.nz/

Something in it?

sleemanj

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#798417 12-Apr-2013 14:25

Kids room, I would definitely go with an oil column. Way less chance of something going bad and causing injury IMHO.

If you are really worried about a thermostat failure causing a hot night (I wouldn't be), you could easily set up some sort of temperature alarm, thermistor, a microcontroller board (arduino, pic...), and a buzzer.

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StarBlazer

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#798447 12-Apr-2013 14:59

I gave a long-winded answer on this thread regarding heating;
http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=141&topicid=115815&page_no=8

The simple fact is there is no point running a 425W/h panel heater in a room that requires a 1KW/h heater. They only give the illusion of warmth because they radiate heat in the vicinity but they do nothing for the room. Only heatpumps generate more heat than the power they consume - everything else (without a fan) is just about 100% efficient - they produce 1KW of heat from 1KW of power.

I wouldn't put a convector heater in an unattended room as there are exposed elements - the same way you wouldn't put one of those old 2 bar heaters in there. Prodding fingers, dropped toys (I've had to fish a couple out of my column heaters) as well are risks.

For an oil filled heater be careful of the surface temperature. The cheaper heaters have exposed fins, not only do they get very hot, they also would hurt if they fell over onto tiny feet (trust me I have the scars to prove from when I was a toddler).

I have bought oil column heaters where the actual fins are covered - two of them have a "fast heat" element inside to give the room a boost when I've forgotten to switch them on. They are also oversized a little for the room, but that means I don't run them on 6/6 all the time. Overnight they are usually on around 1.5/6 (now) to 3/6 (middle of winter) - when I get the plug-in thermostat they will be even better and more efficient as the temperature will be regulated.

As said earlier - if you don't have a smoke alarm in the room - get one. I believe the current consensus is to now use photoelectric in bedrooms, check with your local fire station - but that's a different topic.

Procrastination eventually pays off.

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#798448 12-Apr-2013 15:03

StarBlazer: I gave a long-winded answer on this thread regarding heating;
http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=141&topicid=115815&page_no=8

The simple fact is there is no point running a 425W/h panel heater in a room that requires a 1KW/h heater. They only give the illusion of warmth because they radiate heat in the vicinity but they do nothing for the room. Only heatpumps generate more heat than the power they consume - everything else (without a fan) is just about 100% efficient - they produce 1KW of heat from 1KW of power.

I wouldn't put a convector heater in an unattended room as there are exposed elements - the same way you wouldn't put one of those old 2 bar heaters in there. Prodding fingers, dropped toys (I've had to fish a couple out of my column heaters) as well are risks.

For an oil filled heater be careful of the surface temperature. The cheaper heaters have exposed fins, not only do they get very hot, they also would hurt if they fell over onto tiny feet (trust me I have the scars to prove from when I was a toddler).

I have bought oil column heaters where the actual fins are covered - two of them have a "fast heat" element inside to give the room a boost when I've forgotten to switch them on. They are also oversized a little for the room, but that means I don't run them on 6/6 all the time. Overnight they are usually on around 1.5/6 (now) to 3/6 (middle of winter) - when I get the plug-in thermostat they will be even better and more efficient as the temperature will be regulated.

As said earlier - if you don't have a smoke alarm in the room - get one. I believe the current consensus is to now use photoelectric in bedrooms, check with your local fire station - but that's a different topic.

So you recommend covered fin oil heaters? In a kids room?

StarBlazer

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#798470 12-Apr-2013 15:44

networkn: So you recommend covered fin oil heaters? In a kids room?

No I am not suggesting covering a heater (I thought I should emphasise that) - I'm suggesting buying one like this;

http://www.delonghi.com/nz_en/products/g011230rtw/
where the fins are not exposed like they are on this model;

http://www.thewarehouse.co.nz/red/catalog/product/Necessities-11-Fin-Oil-Column-Heater?SKU=1663044

Sorry for any confusion

Procrastination eventually pays off.

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#798749 13-Apr-2013 12:07

StarBlazer:
networkn: So you recommend covered fin oil heaters? In a kids room?

No I am not suggesting covering a heater (I thought I should emphasise that) - I'm suggesting buying one like this;

http://www.delonghi.com/nz_en/products/g011230rtw/
where the fins are not exposed like they are on this model;

http://www.thewarehouse.co.nz/red/catalog/product/Necessities-11-Fin-Oil-Column-Heater?SKU=1663044

Sorry for any confusion

No I understood you completely and didn't think for a moment you wanted us to cover our heaters :).

I was simply checking your recommendation of the oil heater without the specific fins for a kids room.

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