Stay Warm For Less This Winter
If you have a gas boiler, you can expect to pay around £1.30 per hour to run your central heating system. Those with an electric boiler are even worse off, with electric boilers costing up to three times more to run.
You can turn your thermostat down to save energy, and if your boiler has controls, you can lower the temperature of the water reaching radiators and taps. However, a central heating system will always be an expensive way to stay warm.
This article runs through the best gadgets that provide heat on the cheap, helping you stay warm without breaking the bank.
Let’s jump in!
Electrically heated mattress topper | Stay Warm For Less This Winter
Electric mattress toppers use around 90 watts of electricity per hour, so running it for two hours every night for seven days uses a whopping 1.26kWh – or 1.26x your kWh electricity rate. So, if you pay 34p/kWh, you will pay 42.85p per week.
Electric mattress toppers have super-low running costs and heat your bed, providing a warm, cosy space to sink into.
If you have a cold bedroom or struggle to stay warm at night, this is the best investment you can make. They cost as little as £30, or you can spend up to £100 for one with a timer.
Heated blanket | Stay Warm For Less This Winter
Heated blankets use batteries, providing a portable way to stay warm when you move around the house. They won’t heat your bed like an electric mattress topper, but they do emit enough heat to keep you warm out of bed.
The cost to run a heated blanket is split into buying and recharging batteries (it isn’t economical to use non-rechargeable batteries). Practically all your expenses are in purchasing the batteries because recharging them costs peanuts.
You can pick up AA rechargeable batteries on Amazon for as little as £12 for eight, while the heated blanket will set you back around £70.
PTC 3-pin heater Stay Warm For Less This Winter
This is the best device for small spaces. PTC plug-in heaters like the IUEG STAY WARM (Amazon, non-affiliate) plug into a 3-pin socket and output 500W of heat, which is sufficient to heat 40 square feet to around 19°C.
The running costs for a PTC heater are easy to work out – 500 watts per hour means it uses 1kW of electricity every two hours. Take the kWh price on your electricity tariff and split it in half to work out the hourly running cost.
If you have a large bedroom, you can use two PTC heaters for 1kW of heating output, which should heat 80 square feet quickly.
Portable electric radiator | Stay Warm For Less This Winter
3-pin electric radiators provide up to 2.6kW of heating power (the maximum a 3-pin socket can output) - more than sufficient to heat 160 square feet.
The great thing about portable radiators is they sit on castor wheels, so you can wheel them around and move them from room to room.
We recommend a 1.5kW radiator for small bedrooms and a 2kW radiator for big bedrooms, providing lots of heating power.
Running a 1.5kW electric radiator for an hour costs 1.5x your kWh electricity rate. So, if you pay 34p/kWh, you will pay 51 pence per hour.
Fan heater | Stay Warm For Less This Winter
Nothing beats a fan heater if you need to heat your bedroom quickly. These plug-in, portable devices blow hot air and usually provide up to 2kW of heating power, with lower settings of 1kW for mild heating.
Fan heaters are cheap to run and provide faster heat than radiators and PTC heaters, rapidly bringing your space up to temperature. The downside is that the heating element can smell if it has collected dust (although it does burn off).
Check out this £14 DF Fan Heater from Dunelm – it has a heat setting dial and a standard fan setting to keep you cool in warm weather.