Fan heater - it is actually economical!

I got a little fan heater :) It is just a tiny gadget and it consumes 2.4kW. 





Now that the weather is not that cold yet, I just need to turn it on for about 5 minutes every morning when I wake up and change to get to work. It is another 5 minutes when I get home so that it is all warm and toasty when I change. Because it is portable, and I literally "POINT n BLOW" to warm up a section at home. 

And I learned a wonderful trick too.Nothing great, just basic science:

Warm air goes up, and duvets trap heat pretty well.

I put the heater quite near by bed. Just before going to bed, I pointed the heater to the direction of my bed, turned it on, and lifted the duvet up. In a few minutes, a nice warm of layer air would be trapped trapped between the duvet and my bed. My duvet is 13.5 tog, and that was usually enough to keep me nice and warm. In late autumn and early spring, that was what I need. 

The weather is already quite chilly, but not really cold yet. By this time, I usually would have turned on my central heating. However, I found that all I need was about  20 minutes of that fan. Is that economical?
Lets check the cost!


 2.4 x (20/60)hour x unit price =0.8 x cost/unit of electricity for one day of heating.


The cost of day time electricity for my tariff was 17.5 pence/unit.


Therefore, if I use the fan for 20 minutes a day, the cost is 0.8 x17.5 p =14pence per day.
In one month, it would cost me around £3.50.


The cost would go up to £5.20 per month if I use it for 30 minutes per day.


Therefore, despite the bad reputation of fan heaters, it is actually cost saving if you consider that you can use the other sources of heating less or delay turn on your central heating!

p/s: Invest just a little bit more to get a decent heater fan. We found out later that the cheapest product on the high street was a disappointment.