Can anyone recommend an economical stand alone electric heater?

I would say any plug-in oil filled radiator rather than a fan heater, but make sure you’re only heating a small room that has good insulation, though let him out from time to time for air!!  Fingerless gloves if he’s at a keyboard and no sitting still for long periods of time.

Thank you... and yes agree might be good to let him escape for a bit each day..although Ince he has his cosy room he may not want to!

I work from home too and used an oil filled electric radiator which was ‘ok’ - I much prefer a soft electric throw over the chair and around my shoulders. Its so much cosier and you can regulate temperature much better

Martin Lewis was right when he said to ‘heat the human’ not the home

I do put the central heating for a minimum of 30 mins a day to make sure it wont get damp etc but I have a small bungalow and the radiators stay hot for ages once turned off

This is a great thread with great advice. I never considered the different types of electric heating in this way before!

We’ll make sure to keep this topic on its own with a great title and best answer. So if anyone has any other advice in the meantime, jump in! It’s super relevant at the moment with higher prices and colder weather. Speaking of which, here’s some resources which may be helpful. 

https://www.ovoenergy.com/customer-support-package

Does anyone have experience of replacing storage heaters with electric radiators? We have old storage heaters that are very expensive to run and are looking to upgrade. We have no access to gas and cannot get a heat pump as we’re in an apartment. We’re looking at German style Magamatic ceramic radiators, or oil filled and would love to hear from anyone who has experience with these. We’re home all day so do need heat during the day but we do not need heat at night time or for it to be on all day every day! Does anyone know how these compare and what the running costs are like?

I replaced my storage heaters with these Elnur radiators. They are programmable and have a thermostat. The cost of running them, comparing the first winter of using them with the last winter of storage heaters, was approx. the same. I’m in the house all day so have them on between 7:30 and 21:00 with the RTS switch if I am trying to work out the best tariff to replace THTC with. They can be bought at various places online including Amazon for the last ones I bought. 

Electric heating has one attribute that none other has: it’s 100% efficient. Every single watt of electricity you use is converted into heat. 

However, it may not be as effective as some other forms of heating. Heaters that depend on convection to distribute heat around the space may end up heating only the layer closest to the ceiling, with the air at floor level quite a bit cooler. Some sorts of radiators will raise the temperature of objects in front of them without heating up the air in between much. Whichever sort of electric heating you opt for, it will use just as much electricity to produce the same amount of heat. 

Storage heaters have the advantage over ‘direct’ heaters in that they are designed to store heat and release it slowly. This means they can be charged up at cheaper overnight rates, and so are less expensive to run. If you’re looking to save money by replacing storage heaters with direct ones, you’ll probably be disappointed. 

Are you currently on a two-rate tariff, with a lower price for electricity consumed in offpeak periods, like during the night? 

Hey @Lea881 

Welcome to the forum, and a great first question too!

I’m glad you’ve had a few responses here already and hopefully you can take some good advice from both of community members.

We’ve actually got a couple of similarly related topics that may also be an interesting read:

Do let us know what you go with, and even let us know how you get on with it.

Yes we’re currently on Economy 7. However whilst we are getting cheaper electricity at night, you then pay higher rates (that the standard flat rate) during the day. Also I feel that storage heaters, whilst designed to save money don’t really do that until you’re the kind of person who wants the heating on all the time. Right now for instance we’d probably only turn the heating on for a bit in the morning, another boast half way through the day and then a final quick boost in the evening. To get any heat from a storage heater it needs to charge for 7 hours overnight at double the output wattage ie 3.3kg to get 1.5kw output. Therefore you could have direct heating on a standard tariff for 8 hours before you’d start to pay more - if you had it on for any less you’d be saving money. Given the British climate I think most people only need the heating on all day during the coldest few weeks of the year. We’re looking at changing to some kind of electric radiator and are looking at oil filled or ceramic core / magmatic core ones such as Ecostrad Klasse IQ, Ecostrad Allora or Milano Aruba Ardus and were wondering if there is a difference in the running costs. Everyone says 1kw or energy produces 1kw of heat so it doesn’t make any difference which one you choose. However I’ve seen some publications such as Which and This is Money say that heat retentive qualities will reduce the bills. Surely heat retentive qualities help you to not need the heating on for so long as it’ll still put out some heat after it’s off?