The Best Electric Heaters to Buy This Winter

An electric heater is a good purchase for several reasons. You can place them in places where the central heating won’t reach, keeping your outbuildings and conservatories comfortable throughout the winter. Electric heaters are a good choice for people who have extremely cold houses, especially if they use them in conjunction with their existing heating.

Additionally, electric heaters can be effective ways of heating just one room without wasting energy by running the whole central heating system, which is ideal during those periods when the weather changes quickly or you prefer to warm one room while keeping the other cooler (for instance your bedroom for better sleep). 

The same can be said of rarely used rooms since electric heaters can often provide a faster and more efficient way of warming them up than central heating systems that are not installed in the particular space and only rely on the heat from other rooms.

However, be aware that even the Electric heaters have some negatives. The disadvantage is that the heat they produce will be lost quickly, and it can be difficult to heat up larger rooms with smaller or less powerful units which can also make it as not as cost-effective as your central heating as result. Therefore, they will mostly work better in small to medium-sized rooms or when combined with the existing heating systems.

See also: The Best Tower Fans in 2021 from Amazon

There are different types of portable electric heaters such as fan heaters, convection heaters or oil radiators, although, since they are all powered by electricity, their efficiency is quite similar. Their main difference is how they work.

If you already know how to choose the right electric heater for your home or office, you may skip the next part and check the list of the best portable heaters right away.

Our list of the best portable electric heaters is:

• Dimplex Studio G DXSTG25 Ceramic Fan Heater
• De’Longhi TRDX41025E Oil Filled Radiator, Dragon 4
• ANSIO Oil Filled Radiator Heater
• Small portable electric fans
• andily Mini Ceramic Electric Fan
• MYONAZ Personal Ceramic Space Heater

The products we reviewed in this article are not sorted in any order as we consider all the selected products to be a good choice to buy.

How to choose the right electric heater

You can jump directly to our list if you know what you’re looking for.

1. How do heat controls work? Selecting the right heat setting is crucial, as it determines how much heat the electric heater will produce. By making adjustments to the heat you can also cut running expenses, keep the house warmer on the coldest days and cooler on the warmer days.
2. How important is it to have a thermostat? With the thermostat, when the room’s temperature is reached, the heater automatically switches off and then switches back on when the temperature drops, maintaining a comfortable temperature in the room. If you have a thermostat that is calibrated (features proper temperature controls), you can set the temperature to the desired level.
3. How useful are timer controls? A timer control allows you to program when your electric heater turns on and off, much like the one on your central heater. By doing this, you’ll save the electricity costs as you will only use the heater when you need it.
4. Do I need any safety features? There are two major safety features you will find in many electric heaters. The first is overheat protection that prevents the heater from going on fire by turning it off before it would reach dangerous temperatures. The second common safety feature is tip-over protection, which prevents surfaces from being damaged if the heater tips over. Usually, it is best to purchase a heater with tip-over protection if it will be used in areas where it is likely that a heater could be knocked over, for example, if you’ve got children or pets at home.
5. Do smart plugs work with electric heaters? Smart plugs can turn your heater off, but you might need a type of heater with a simple ‘dumb’ switch that will turn the heater right away after being plugged in as many of the new smart heaters stay in standby mode after being turned on. 

Dimplex Studio G DXSTG25 Ceramic Fan Heater

The Dimplex DXSTG25 is a 2.5kW heater delivering top performance.

Dimplex DXSTG25 is not just versatile, it is also very attractive as it was designed to seamlessly blend into any living space so you won’t have any problem leaving it inside your home all year round.

Elegant black styling resembling a speaker and a solid glass bottom base create an upscale look, while a touchscreen LED display and LED-illuminated temperature control help you set up precise (or very near to that) room temperature in the range from 15°C to 35°C. This Dimplex fan can also be operated from the distance via its included remote control.

A digital thermostat ensures precise temperature control, as well as two heat settings (1.5kW and 2.5kW) to choose from (lower will consume less electricity), depending on your needs. To ensure effective room heating, the Dimplex DXSTG25 Studio G also includes an oscillating 76-degree function to spread the heat around the room and up to a 12-hour timer.

The fan has excellent airflow and the 2.5kW output will guarantee strong heating capabilities, although for slightly higher running costs than some 2kW heaters. The Studio G heater is quite light (weighing less than 4.4 kg), which makes it comfortably portable.

The cord’s length is about 160cm.

De’Longhi TRDX41025E Oil Filled Radiator, Dragon 4

The Dragon series radiators by De’Longhi have an enviable reputation, and this 2.5kW Dragon 4 or less powerful but cheaper 2kW model feels like a radiator you can trust.

The 2.5kW model TRDX41025E with 10 fins has got more than enough output to heat up rooms for up to 75m3 and, with three different heat settings (1100W,1400W and 2500W), it can be used for low-level heating of larger spaces, or scaled down for smaller spaces as well. 

Thanks partly to an ingenious “chimney effect” design that pushes warm air through the top vents, the De’Longhi oil radiator TRDX41025E delivers good, consistent heat at speed. Needless to say that the oil inside the radiator releases heat for a while even after the radiator has been turned off.

As for functions, the De’Longhi TRDX41025E has front-facing LED screen controls that allow you to easily set the thermostat to desired room temperature, heating power level or set a timer from 0 to 24 hours (15 minutes intervals on 2 temperature options). It also has an ECO mode to save on power consumption and Anti frost function which activates the heater when the temperature drops under 5°C.

We can’t forget about safety, as this De’Longi oil radiator features a child (key) lock and overheating protection.

If you don’t require a digital LED display to be present on your heater, and wish to go for a lower-priced model, there is also an outstanding 1.5kW model De’Longhi Dragon 4 TRD40820T for £150.

The De’Longhi Dragon TRDX41025E weighs around 17.5kg and the cord is around 1.5m long. There is also a less powerful (max 2000W), cheaper model TRDX40820E with the same features. 

ANSIO Oil Filled Radiator Heater

ANSIO’s Oil-filled Radiator is another great piece we recommend to consider while looking for your next electric heater for this winter.

ANSIO is a company that, apart from electric heaters also focuses on other home appliances for daily use such as fans, electrical and chemical dehumidifiers, kettles, steamers or air purifiers.

Their well-designed electrical heater for 2021 has the advantage of having 11 fins and the capability to be operated from a distance via the included remote control. The ANSIO Heater also has a built-in thermostat, 24-hour timer.

It can operate in 3 different power modes at 1000W, 1300W or the highest 2300W. As it is standing on castor wheels, it makes it a perfect portable heater for your home, should you seek such a feature.

The temperature can be set between 5 °C to 35 °C as well as you can also set the timer from 1 – 24 hours to start or stop the radiator with a Memory function that will save your last settings for the next time you turn the heater back on. We can’t also forget the useful safety features it has, such as a child lock or overheat and accidental tip-over protection.

The cord of the ANSIO electric heater is approximately 1.5m long. The heater itself weighs under 14kg.

Small portable electric fans

The electric fans don’t necessarily have to be large tower fans or bulky oil radiators. There has always been a significant demand for small portable electric fans to heat up small rooms effectively and quickly. The demand got even higher during/after the pandemic, where there is a huge surge of people working from home but not needing to heat up the whole apartment when working from only a single room.

One of the well-made and positively reviewed small electric fans (by over 16k customers on Amazon) is andily Ceramic Fan below.

andily Mini Ceramic Electric Fan

The 1500W unit weighing only 1.2kg is designed just for this purpose. The andily fan features an adjustable thermostat and three different heat settings ( low 750W, high 1500W and Eco 1000W – to balance good heating and affordable running costs).

The andily fan has also got in-built safety features such as overheat protection that will shut the unit off in case the parts of the heater overheat and tip-over protection which turns the heater off when the heater tips forward or backwards.

Even though it doesn’t have modern controls, LED display or remote control, its two simple rotate control switches seem satisfactory given its very small portable size.

The cord has a length of around 1.5m with dimensions of the heater 19 x 15.3 x 27 cm.

Budget – MYONAZ Personal Ceramic Space Heater

There is also a very interesting and innovative tabletop ceramic heater fan from MYONAZ company.

The brand came up with the idea to implement 4 different devices into one.

The small heater unit weighing only around 1.3kg has a 500W power output which can be used as a tabletop heater or cooling fan with the advantage of having an extra desk lamp or reading light and an additional USB charging port for your phone or any other device, which can be placed on the top of the heater which is covered by an anti-slip surface.

Another nice feature of this small heater is oscillation up to 150 degrees. The heater has 2 different temperature settings (hot or cold) and shouldn’t reach more than 45 dB noise, which is ideal for working or reading.

The LED light, which has 4 different levels of brightness to adapt to different light conditions, is not directly attached to the oscillating fan so it won’t become shaky when the fan is oscillating.

The MYONAZ heater also features an overheat and voltage protection for safe use.