Electrical Heating in the Home

Fan Heaters

These are cheap, small, portable and heat up quickly. They are ideal for top-up heating. They can also be used, in summer, as fans only. The noise of the fan can be irritating though, and if this is a consideration, it is better to use convector heaters.

Convector Heaters

Again ideal for top up heating, but slightly slower, bigger and more expensive to buy than fan heaters. They can be floor standing or wall mounted. They are almost silent though, except for the fan operated ones, which don't seem to have any advantage over the smaller and cheaper fan heaters.

Panel Heaters

These are very slim wall mounted heaters. They occupy a large wall area. They usually don't have a thermostat, so are on all the time.

Oil Filled Radiators

These look like conventional central heating radiators. There are flat ones that can be wall mounted, and wider ones, on wheels, so that they can be moved to different rooms. They are slower to respond than fan or convector heaters, but some people prefer their lower temperature over a bigger area.

Tubular Heaters

These are tubes, varying in length from about 350mm to 2000mm (1' to 6'). They are usually wall mounted. They are very low wattage (about 150W per metre) and don't have a thermostat. They are normally used in greenhouses, animal cages, airing cupboards, behind fridges and freezers in outhouses where it gets too cold for the fridge to operate normally, etc.

Bathroom and Toilet Heaters

In a bathroom, the heater must either be operated by a pull cord switch, or externally, from another room. The latter would usually be a wall mounted panel heater (these can be supplied with towel rails to dry towels as well). The former could be a downflow fan heater or radiant heater, mounted on a wall near the ceiling, for which wiring would have to be installed, or heat/light unit, replacing the existing light fitting. 250W heat/light bulbs can also be put into an existing light unit (without using a shade), to give some heating.

Electric Fires

These can vary from the cheap radiant fires, or the more recent halogen heaters, to expensive coal, log or flame effect fires, often used as a focal point for a room. The latter commonly combine radiant and convection heating.

Other Electrical Heaters

Air curtains, plinth heaters, etc. usually employ natural or forced convection, designed to fit in a particular location, such as above a door or in a plinth. Ceramic and quartz heaters usually employ a mixture of radiant and convected heat, and are often more powerful than conventional domestic heaters, making them useful in industrial applications.

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