Halogen heaters

[woozer]

My other half is quite ill so we need to keep him warm - I havebeen told that these Halogen light heaters are only 2 or 3 pence an hour to run - is that right and where/how can I check ?

[buildersmate]

Here's a few simple facts about heaters that work by electricity - they are ALL 100% efficient. That is, they convert all the electricity you pay for into heat - no ifs or buts.

So please forget all this hype about halogen heaters being more efficient to run or costing this or that. IF the halogen heater you are producing to buy only costs 3p per unit to run, it is only going to be rated at an output around 250W - rather less than half the output of a ladies hairdryer. Don't believe the hype.

(Note to the 'experts'. Alright before someone picks me up on it, is of course true that some electric heaters incorporate a fan to blow the air around and this reduces the efficiency to a bit below 100%)

[simonruss]

electrical appliances come with a rating of how much energy they use in either w or kw, 1 kw is roughly 13p, therefore anything with a rating of 1kw/h will use 13p per hour to run as 1kw/h is 1 kw per hour, anything with a rating less than 1kw/h requires a simple bit of maths to work out the cost to run.

[buildersmate]

............ and something that costs 3p/hr to run hence has an output of around 250W. QED.

[beso]

The only way to escape the connection between heat and Watts is to use a heat pump.

These can pump up to five times the heat that would be produced by using a resistive heater.