Why I Bought This Radiator
I bought this radiator on a whim, but a long planned whim, and as a way of heating my workspace when everyone is out for the day. It’s for a winter boost, and it’s cheaper than having the gas heating on all day.
I’d been watching these for a while and my existing convector type glass heater just was not making me happy. I kept knocking it over cleaning as it was light and dropped it a few times as it was on feet rather than castors and no handholds. Impossible to easily move around and I disliked it with a passion. When I dropped it, one of the elements stopped working, so I really had to make a choice, and knew I wanted to do it soon, as when winter approaches, so does the lack of decent heaters available to buy at a decent price.
Gas v Electric Heating
Yes, I know the argument for leaving heating on ticking over all day and how lots of people say that it’s cheaper that way, but they obviously don’t live in my house, sadly. I’d love their bills. For me, I have a big old tank for hot water that needs 1.5 hours to heat and although it’s a brand new boiler, the daily cost can spiral if the boiler is on, even if most radiators are off.
I also know gas is cheaper per kwh than electric, but the boiler is 30kw and costs me at least a couple of quid per hour at times in winter.
I’ve costed this oil filled radiator, and it currently costs me about 18p an hour to run on Octopus Tracker as an average and using half heat at 1kw an hour. I never have it at full, and it switches off and on when it hits the temperature that I set, so the actual cost is a fair bit lower than that 18p average an hour. The price cap rate is currently sitting about 22-23p per kwh for electric as reference.
How it Looks!
The biggest initial draw for me with this version of a heater was how it looks. I can’t lie. For an oil filled radiator, it looks fairly awesome and takes up much less space footprint wise on the floor. I’d been looking at more expensive ones and couldn’t justify the price. It did take a while to find one I liked.
The look also does not show obvious fins when you look straight at it, so it is much more modern looking than the old style oil filled radiators, as they looked like old fashioned school radiators from 50 years ago. This one is much more aesthetically pleasing to me.
This De’Longhi comes with feet attached but folded inwards in the box. Taking it out of the box, all I had to do was fold the feet outwards, and job done. I’d read so many reviews on oil filled heaters that my brain was buzzing, so I pushed the button.
My photos don’t do this justice to be honest. I wanted the Beldray look with oil filled, and that’s what I now have.
Heat Retention
The second reason I bought it for, was the ability to retain heat after switching off. Having had oil filled heaters over the years, the convector/oil free ones were a big disappointment. I still have a little De’longhi that is about 400w power and it’s about 15-20 years old and still works like a dream.
This 2kw heater gives me what I want. It’s really good at retaining the heat, and remains hot and emitting heat about 15 minutes after switch off. For me, that gives a significant time where I can turn it down and know if will retain heat for a while. With my other non oil filled heaters, it was instant stoppage of heat once they are switched off.
Getting Started
This took a bit of reading. I am terrible for not reading instructions off the bat, and tend just to switch things on to see what they do. I would advice reading the instructions before playing about with the buttons, as it is fairly simple to use once you know how. I have it in a garden cabin workspace so I don’t plan to use the timer every day at the same time. It heats up so quickly that I won’t really need that function and I ruled out getting a wi-fi connected heater due to cost and that I wouldn’t trust an electrical appliance to switch on and off correctly without checking it anyway.
I can just set a temperature and it will switch off and on to suit what I want it at. To start, it’s just set the clock and away you go. It rolls around like a dream on my laminate floors and it’s a branded heater with a 10 year guarantee.
This heater does what I want from it, and it does it very well.
What Would I Change?
If I was being really picky, I would prefer the cable store to be on the opposite side from the digital display and buttons. I have it faced so I see the display during the day, and I’d prefer not to be starting at the cable store, but it’s a minor issue.
Wi-fi or a remote would be nice, but to be fair, given my experience of a wi-fi washing machine that has never worked, despite being connected and showing how long a cycle has to go, it was wasted money there. I’d spent more to get a system that apparently only works fully in ‘some,’ areas of the UK and did not say that anywhere in blurb, advertising or purchase material. It’s made me suspicious of wi-fi enabled appliances for higher costs.
Purchase Price
I bought mine in Sept 24 for £114. Prices change as the markets change, but I’m going to keep an eye on this over the next few months and possibly buy another one. I really do like it.
Where To Buy The Radiator
- Curved design allows a better hot airflow
- Easily set temperature, timer and manage power settings with the ergonomic turn and push controls
- Night time setting keeps a comfortable temperature with reduced energy costs
- Child secure, low surface temperature to avoid burns
- Fluid oil filled that holds the heat generated for longer
- Dimensions (wxdxh cm): 49.5x16.0x66.5
- Maximum heating power: 2000W
