A heater for children's room

caywltz

Hi, we've just moved in a new house, the central heating is alredy off, and it's a bit cold inside.
I wonder is a radiant heater will be efficient and safe for my daughters, 4 and 7 years old. Or spuld I buy an oil one as it's efficient and I think, more energy efficient.

HVACNUT

Oil or solely electric, make sure the electrical circuit its plugged into can handle the amps/watts of the heater.
DO NOT OVERLOAD THE CIRCUIT. No TV, cable box, Alexa, Nintendo, X Box, chargers, lava lamp, H.A.M. radio, what have you in the same circuit.

And of course a safety lesson for the girls. Maybe pick up a fire extinguisher while your out if you don't already have one. I'm not trying to scare you but (avoidable) accidents happen.

Can we help with the central heat?

pecmsg

All plug in heaters have the same efficiency!

Why is the heat "Already" off

GroundUp

Turn the heat back on

HVACNUT

Rereading, I think by "house", it's meant to be apartment?
And by "central", it's meant to mean the whole building?
Possibly?
Maybe?

JUGHNE

If you are not certain of the wiring situation, then it is best to run the heater on the low output setting. Most have a high/low selection plus the actual adjustable thermostat.
The high setting of 1500 watts usually will warm up the wiring, both the cord and house wiring. The lower setting of maybe 750 watts keeps wires cooler and usually is enough for this season.

caywltz

HVACNUT said:

Rereading, I think by "house", it's meant to be apartment?

And by "central", it's meant to mean the whole building?

Possibly?

Maybe?

Right you are. I call any place we live permanently a 'house', just a habit

caywltz

I'm not a native speaker, but that's, of course, not a good excuse, as live in states for a long time already

PRR

> or spuld I buy an oil one as it's efficient and I think, more energy efficient.

I assume you do not mean an oil burner in the child's room.

An oil-filled electric heater is not more efficient. It does spread the heat from a red-hot winding to large warm fins. It does hold heat for a while after turn-off, about the same as it takes time for heat to come out from cold start.

I like the oil-fill around children for the specific reason it probably will not set cloth on fire. While modern fan-heaters have tip-over and gross overheat shut-downs, I've seen too many dorm-fires from clothing on lamps and heaters. (I'm less worried about skin-burns because the pain is usually quickly obvious, and the lesson is remembered.)

You can have the X-box on the same outlet or circuit as a 1500W heater. Any one or two things that are hardly-warm. Cloc-radio. Cellphone charger.

You absolutely want to run it 10 and 20 and 30 minutes on full heat while constantly checking the cord, plug, and wall outlet for heat. Ideally the heat is imperceptible. I have proven several times that when I feel "a little heat", a month later it runs HOT and soon burns or falls-apart.

There's little point in a room-heater if the children leave the door open. Then it is whole-house heat. Which can be very expensive. Heat rises to the children's ceiling, fills the top of the room, spills into the house, drifts to the far end, cools, drifts along the floor back to the children's room, but now cool.

caywltz

PRR said:

> or spuld I buy an oil one as it's efficient and I think, more energy efficient.

I assume you do not mean an oil burner in the child's room.

An oil-filled electric heater is not more efficient. It does spread the heat from a red-hot winding to large warm fins. It does hold heat for a while after turn-off, about the same as it takes time for heat to come out from cold start.

I like the oil-fill around children for the specific reason it probably will not set cloth on fire. While modern fan-heaters have tip-over and gross overheat shut-downs, I've seen too many dorm-fires from clothing on lamps and heaters. (I'm less worried about skin-burns because the pain is usually quickly obvious, and the lesson is remembered.)

You can have the X-box on the same outlet or circuit as a 1500W heater. Any one or two things that are hardly-warm. Cloc-radio. Cellphone charger.

You absolutely want to run it 10 and 20 and 30 minutes on full heat while constantly checking the cord, plug, and wall outlet for heat. Ideally the heat is imperceptible. I have proven several times that when I feel "a little heat", a month later it runs HOT and soon burns or falls-apart.

There's little point in a room-heater if the children leave the door open. Then it is whole-house heat. Which can be very expensive. Heat rises to the children's ceiling, fills the top of the room, spills into the house, drifts to the far end, cools, drifts along the floor back to the children's room, but now cool.

Thanks for your thoughts, but I intend to leave it on at night, so oil-filled electric heater seems more safe than fan, and it's noiseless

caywltz

Update: I did small research, read a lot, found this page
They suggest many fan heaters
But I'm in two minds between DeLohni oil-filled and super-modern Dyson

caywltz

Dyson is compatible with Alexa, that's seems useful
Reviews are also mostly positive

ratio

Keep in mind that you get no more heat out of a 1200 watt electric heater that cost $500 than you would from a 1200 watt electric heater that cost $12.

hot_rod

I had a small fan type in my truck camper RV, noisy and blows dust all over. I switched to that oil filled model this year, completely quiet, safe, wide adjustment range. It did take more space in the camper, but that should not be an issue in a bedroom.

mattmia2

I'd second the oil filled for the lower surface temp. Don't run it at full output. Some ceramic element models also keep the temp of the element cooler. Don't use the kind with an open wire or rod type element.

Solid_Fuel_Man

Fan heaters are fast quick heat.

Oil-filled are better suited for heating a space for hours.

All electric heaters are 100% efficient. It's the delivery of heat (radiant or convection) that's the difference.

Before I had my kids rooms finished on a zone of cast iron radiators, I used an oil-filled electric radiator on "low" setting for all of the reasons mentioned here.

As far as electric heaters go, the oil filled ones are arguably the safest.