Free standing electric heater recommendations please? (2 Viewers)

neilmac

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Nov 24, 2008
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I'm looking for a heater to use in the motorhome while on EHU, preferably thermostatically controlled.


Needs to be economical but effective and small enough to tuck away somewhere when not in use. During the recent cold spell I used a halogen heater which seemed to work well but after being on for a few weeks solid - the element blew next time it was switched on:Doh:.


What do you use?
 

pappajohn

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Aug 26, 2007
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electric oil filled radiator is the most popular item.....600 to 800watt should do it.
they are thermostatic and usually output adjustable.

halogen heaters are great if you stand infront of them but they DO NOT heat the air or the fabric of the van...turn it off, instant cold.
 
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scotjimland

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Oil filled heater(s) ..:thumb:

I have two wall mounted slim line Delonghi , 800 watt each .

here is a 400 watt model Link Removed

Not the cheapest but you get what you pay for, ours were in constant use for almost three years when we were full time..

I wouldn't trust a cheap Chinese oil filled heater, there have been reports of them leaking and shouldn't be left un attended ( that's on the instructions) .. no good when your out or asleep

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JohnM

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i use two small oilfilled 1200w each.bought from argos.used them over festive hols some days at-16.worked a treat dident trip elct.good quality challenger brand with 3 heat setings and thermostat.
hope this helps with your choise.
JohnM ::bigsmile:
 

dellwood33

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Agree with both above posts - Oil Filled heaters.
We got a 500 watt model which stores nicely under the dinette seat when not in use.:Smile:
 

ourcampersbeentrashed

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poundstretchers had a small halogen heater with safety feature that if it tilts or gets knocked over it automatically switches off. It was £7 dont know whether they still have any

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hilldweller

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Needs to be economical but effective

Those two are pretty opposing conditions.

If you need 1kW then you need 1kW, economy does not come into it ( apart from purchase price ).

Other way round, every 1kW heater puts out 1kW.

I use a fan heater because that stirs the air around and slightly reduces all the heat rising to the roof. Not good noise wise.

I do see come crap in adverts, like "high tech ceramic element gives maximum heat". Load of bollox.
 

hilldweller

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poundstretchers had a small halogen heater with safety feature that if it tilts or gets knocked over it automatically switches off. It was £7 dont know whether they still have any

I've found that type very good as personal heaters, person feels the heat rather than it just rising to the ceiling.

I'm a bit unhappy on the safety front - kick one as you walk out, point it to the furniture and you have good fire potential.
 

madbluemad

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Those two are pretty opposing conditions.


I do see come crap in adverts, like "high tech ceramic element gives maximum heat". Load of bollox.

Dont hold back Brian, say what you think !!

Jim
:roflmto:

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hilldweller

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Dont hold back Brian, say what you think !!
Jim
:roflmto:

It really *annoys* me. People pay vastly inflated prices based on the advert implying they get out much more heat than other electric heaters.

So what else is new in our society.
 

chatter

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i have an oil filled rad and a russell hobbs fan heater called a 'quiet fan' and it really is only real noise is the clicking when it kicks in and out, I wish i had bought more than one when i saw them as i havent seen them about for a couple of years now, and find the one ive got great, I refuse to use the blow heater furnace thing on my van as i find it too noisy by far
 

hilldweller

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a russell hobbs fan heater called a 'quiet fan' and it really is only real noise is the clicking when it kicks in and out

I've been looking for something like that for about 300 years.

Does it have a part number ?

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Terry

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hi we use one like this
Link Removed
just on the first setting
terry
 

scotjimland

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Fan heaters are good for a quick blast of heat .. but I'd never leave one unattended .. nor have I ever found a truly quiet one.. no matter what the bumf says, they all make noise.
Quality oil filled rads are great for background heat and IMO are much safer than fan heaters..
 

imprint

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I posted the other day that, in response to a suggestion on this site, we bought a 700 watt one from Tesco,for the 'van, just before Christmas.

We arrived home on 1 January to find c/h had bust. We've got a woodburner used for coal in the main living room, anyway, and two other electric/oil rads in the bedroom and corridor.

Here, in the study where I spend all the daylight hours, and more, we've had this little thing on non-stop, 24/7 in today's money, since 1 Jan. Fingers crossed, it's still fine ( I'll kill Jom Lad if it packs up during this present post!) It's pretty snug, but we've got 12 ins. insulation in the roof, good double glazing and well-insulated walls.

C/H man will be here on Feb 12 - we're off the beaten track in Glen Haggis. Meantime, we snug as bugs in rugs.

It's called a Mini grzejnik olejowy if you're reading this in Poland!

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TonyIsh UK

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I wouldn't trust a cheap Chinese oil filled heater, there have been reports of them leaking and shouldn't be left un attended ( that's on the instructions) .. no good when your out or asleep

BE VERY CAREFUL, my son and family's appartment was burnt to the ground when an oil heater started leaking hot oil. Two or three hours later they would have been asleep and would have known nothing about it, until the smoke alarms went off. An alternative scenario is too much to think about.

Link Removed

That was a bit of a shock to us at the time.

Rgds

Edit Just to add we use the following heaters, solid built,

Link Removed

Rgds
 
Last edited:
Nov 30, 2009
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Since 2009 with motorhomes several caravans then tents before that.
We've got Webasto diesel heating on the MH. Which we think is fab.

Though if we are paying for hook up we use an electric heater's.
We've got a small noisy little fan heater, which we use when touring here n there.
If we know we are going to be in a certain place for a while we take a larger silent 2 kw convector heater. Its got thermostat control, 3 heat settings and thermal overload protection.
Ralph got ours from Screw Fix ,
Quote 39438-11 £20.37.
Soon warms the place up, and fits perfectly below the wardrobe central in the MH. So its not too hot for the bunks lounge or luton.
Bev:Smile:
 

chatter

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I've been looking for something like that for about 300 years.

Does it have a part number ?


russell hobbs -
quiet fan heater-
model : 12751 -
220-240v-50hz,1700-2000w

if you should find them over here i would like another one or two,
have found them on google but not over here. link below

Link Removed

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chatter

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I give up then, it defeated google.

well the only place ive found it was the link i put on, yet i bought it from our local wholesaler about 3 miles from me they had a stack and they went like hotcakes at the time as i bought 1 took it home to try it found how quiet it was and went back 2 days later and the stack was gone
 

diamond52

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we use small fan heater - thermostat controlled nothing fancy - cheap as chips about £14 - depends how big your van is - but keeps ours warm thru the night
 

PeteH

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Fan heater

Hi

Its not a russell hobbs if you look very closely its a westinghouse (logo on the front) have you tried US websites?

pete

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Terry

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Hi Jim,while I understand your concern about leaving the fan heater on, they are / have built in overload protection so that they cut out if they overheat.Helpfully this should work before it sets anything on fire :Eeek:Common sense tells me not to put anything that is easily combustible in front / near to it. Yes they are a little noisy but you soon learn to ignore this and go to sleep :thumb::ROFLMAO: The main reason for using the fan heater is it takes up very little room and we do not have anywhere suitable to put a oil filled rad that would not be in the way :thumb:
Tried one in the front of the cab and thought it more dangerous than the fan heater because it could easy fall over onto the seats etc, Other than there it would have to go on the work surface,then we also had the problem of where to stow it while on the move :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:
ONE size does not fit all :thumb::ROFLMAO:
terry
 

zaskar

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I got a Siemans control unit whch controls the heater via the temperature wirelessly so which ever heat setting we put it on we can reduce it to night setting (15degC) and increase it before we get out of bed (22degC)! It works great and did not cost a fortune, £12 for the heater and £30 for the control unit. Graham



I've been toying with trying this ever since we owned a caravan with the Alde3010 heating system which has the same feature(overnight temp setting).

Could you please give details of the control unit and where you got it?
Was the Siemans controler specific to the type of heater? What I'm trying to say is, was the heater unit a special one with some sort of reciever built in for the signal from the control unit?

Cheers.:thumb:

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OP
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neilmac

neilmac

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Thank you to all for your many replies and recommendations :Smile:

Some really good advice and ideas, I think we'll go for either small oil filled or convector with a frost stat.

If I hadn't asked I probably would have gone for a fan heater, if I could have found one with a thermostat, and then realised about the noise and worry of leaving unattended.

Thanks again :winky:
 

hilldweller

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If I hadn't asked I probably would have gone for a fan heater
Thanks again :winky:

I've ordered one of the Russell Hobbs off ebay - I'll report when it arrives.

I really can't work out Jim's concerns on fan heaters. Used them for 40 years and never had a problem other than noise. ALL heaters could catch fire.

I've had the old wound bar electric fire set off fireworks, I've had the infra-red tube heaters with tube failure. No danger though.

Make your own mind up, tank of oil bounced around a MH or a fan, I can picture more failure modes in the more complex oil heater which has all the electrical and thermostatic failure modes plus oil leakage and fire.

I don't recall reading any disaster reports of heaters anyway.
 

Douglas

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Those two are pretty opposing conditions.

If you need 1kW then you need 1kW, economy does not come into it ( apart from purchase price ).

Other way round, every 1kW heater puts out 1kW.

I use a fan heater because that stirs the air around and slightly reduces all the heat rising to the roof. Not good noise wise.

I do see come crap in adverts, like "high tech ceramic element gives maximum heat". Load of bollox.

I too am amazed at some of the questions and misinformation on the forum, subject like batteries, Gas and measurements. The biggest jaw droppers are the stupid giving advice to the ignorant on subjects that should be common knowledge. they are a salesmans dream.

Doug...

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