Anyone using an Inverter heater?

Muahahaha

Just wondering is anyone here is using an inverter heater to heat their home and looking t get feedback on running costs, quality, etc.
I read about them on another forum and they're supposedly way way cheaper than using storage heating, one poster said he heated his entire apartment throughout the winter for a total outlay of €110 which seems like a bargain. According to the site below 20 litres of fuel last 250 hours at the 800watt setting, 100 hours at 1800w and 66 hours at 3200w. 20 litres costs €33

I'm thinking of buying one and then combining it with a Wifi enabled plug so I can turn it on remotely using a smartphone about 30 minutes before I arrive home. I calculate that I'd be using it 5 hours per day so if I can get away with the 800w setting for a 2 bed apartment then the 20 litres of fuel should last 50 days and work out at approx €20 a month which, given my winter ESB bills are around €75 a month, seems like decent value.

But before I spend €250 on one of these heaters I'm wondering if anyone has any experience of them. I know they are pretty popular for heating apartments in France and Japan, I'm not really sure why they aren't more widespread here, given that energy costs have been rising year on year for a good while now.

http://store.jhmcloughlin.com/product_p/htr123886.htm

fasttalkerchat

Can you not get one that runs on Kero? That way you won't get ripped off buying a small quantity of fuel.

Muahahaha

fasttalkerchat wrote: »

Can you not get one that runs on Kero? That way you won't get ripped off buying a small quantity of fuel.

Is there a specific one you'd recommend ? How are they on fuel economy ?

fasttalkerchat

Muahahaha wrote: »

Is there a specific one you'd recommend ? How are they on fuel economy ?

I've never used either. Just thinking that since most people have an oil tank outside with fuel bought at €0.85/L or whatever it might be cheaper to run.
How much is your Parafin per litre?

borderlinemeath

We have one, and use it for heating a large kitchen/diner/living room area that is the main room in the house that is used. We're both home during the day so it's handy to stick for an hour or so rather than running the boiler and heating the whole house unnecessarily. We really only use it for incidental use rather than as the only heating source but it keeps our bills down.

It's a great little heater though, very fast to heat a room, quite economical if you set it right (ie use the eco function, and keep the average temp to say 17/18 rather than up at 22/24.) We have a 3 yr old model, the inverter 5006, 3200w. I've seen the newer fancier ones and apparently they're even more economical.

fasttalkerchat

borderlinemeath wrote: »

We have one, and use it for heating a large kitchen/diner/living room area that is the main room in the house that is used. We're both home during the day so it's handy to stick for an hour or so rather than running the boiler and heating the whole house unnecessarily. We really only use it for incidental use rather than as the only heating source but it keeps our bills down.

It's a great little heater though, very fast to heat a room, quite economical if you set it right (ie use the eco function, and keep the average temp to say 17/18 rather than up at 22/24.) We have a 3 yr old model, the inverter 5006, 3200w. I've seen the newer fancier ones and apparently they're even more economical.

Does it run on paraffin?
How much do you pay for fuel and where?

borderlinemeath

fasttalkerchat wrote: »

Does it run on paraffin?
How much do you pay for fuel and where?

We get the rolf fuel down in McLaughlins, it's only a few miles down the road in Balbriggan, we tend to buy 100 litres at a time, and that could do for maybe 3/4 months of incidental use.

fasttalkerchat

borderlinemeath wrote: »

We get the rolf fuel down in McLaughlins, it's only a few miles down the road in Balbriggan, we tend to buy 100 litres at a time, and that could do for maybe 3/4 months of incidental use.

It looks like €1.50/L
Surely these heaters cant be 80% more efficient per litre than a kerosene one.
IIRC Paraffin usually means an odourless Kerosene. Maybe the difference is that there is no smell and less CO released.

borderlinemeath

fasttalkerchat wrote: »

It looks like €1.50/L
Surely these heaters cant be 80% more efficient per litre than a kerosene one.
IIRC Paraffin usually means an odourless Kerosene. Maybe the difference is that there is no smell and less CO released.

I can't be 100% on price, himself goes down and buys it.

They are a very efficient heater though. But it completely depends on the temperature in the room. If the room temp is 10degrees then it's going to take a more fuel to bring it up to 17/18degrees and maintain it. Just looking at it now (it's not turned on) it's saying the temp is 14d so it wouldn't take much to get it up to 17d. When it reaches the temp needed then it switches itself of and saves fuel that way.

Muahahaha

borderlinemeath wrote: »

I can't be 100% on price, himself goes down and buys it.

They are a very efficient heater though. But it completely depends on the temperature in the room. If the room temp is 10degrees then it's going to take a more fuel to bring it up to 17/18degrees and maintain it. Just looking at it now (it's not turned on) it's saying the temp is 14d so it wouldn't take much to get it up to 17d. When it reaches the temp needed then it switches itself of and saves fuel that way.

Thanks for the replies. Can I ask does it switch itself back on again when it drops below the set temperature, I.e. Does it automatically keep the room more or less at the selected temp or do you have to manually have to fire it up again ? Also what size room approx in square metres are you heating ? And do you know if set to Eco mode does that mean it is running at the lowest setting (800w) ?

Muahahaha

fasttalkerchat wrote: »

It looks like €1.50/L
Surely these heaters cant be 80% more efficient per litre than a kerosene one.
IIRC Paraffin usually means an odourless Kerosene. Maybe the difference is that there is no smell and less CO released.

Mc Laughlins in Newbridge and Balbriggan sell 20 litres for 33 euro. I think you can use kerosene in them but I also think I remember hearing that it's not recommended, not sure of the reason, could be a safety issue

borderlinemeath

Muahahaha wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. Can I ask does it switch itself back on again when it drops below the set temperature, I.e. Does it automatically keep the room more or less at the selected temp or do you have to manually have to fire it up again ? Also what size room approx in square metres are you heating ? And do you know if set to Eco mode does that mean it is running at the lowest setting (800w) ?

No it kicks back in itself, no need to restart.
TBH I don't know where the instruction book is at this stage but we always have the ECO function on. It starts heating the room immediately so it's not noticeable that it might take a bit longer to heat due to being on Eco mode. The room we have it in is about 70m2.

The tank is 5L and it states that it will run 59 hours on one tank at ECO mode, and it will run pretty close to it if you keep the temp at a low enough average. So for 20L of fuel it will do 236hrs (so the newer models are more efficient if they run for 250hrs on 20L)

Muahahaha

borderlinemeath wrote: »

No it kicks back in itself, no need to restart.
TBH I don't know where the instruction book is at this stage but we always have the ECO function on. It starts heating the room immediately so it's not noticeable that it might take a bit longer to heat due to being on Eco mode. The room we have it in is about 70m2.

The tank is 5L and it states that it will run 59 hours on one tank at ECO mode, and it will run pretty close to it if you keep the temp at a low enough average. So for 20L of fuel it will do 236hrs (so the newer models are more efficient if they run for 250hrs on 20L)

Thanks for that Borderlinemeath. I think I'm sold on this idea now, especially given the fuel economy and it's great to hear that the heat the place up well and pretty quickly. Just one more question- do they dry out the air much, do you notice any effects in your throat or anything after sustained use ? I suppose if they did a bowl of water near by would solve the problem but I'm just curious.

borderlinemeath

Muahahaha wrote: »

Thanks for that Borderlinemeath. I think I'm sold on this idea now, especially given the fuel economy and it's great to hear that the heat the place up well and pretty quickly. Just one more question- do they dry out the air much, do you notice any effects in your throat or anything after sustained use ? I suppose if they did a bowl of water near by would solve the problem but I'm just curious.

They can be quite drying, but I never noticed it in my throat as such, we have it in a big enough room that is partly kitchen so there can be cooking/steam etc to counteract it. What I did notice was that if I ever used it in a smaller room (sometimes it was brought into the small living room/study) then my lips would get dry quite quickly. I tend to always use vaseline/chap stick but used it a lot more getting used to the heater.

cipro 55

We get the rolf fuel down in McLaughlins, it's only a few miles down the road in Balbriggan, we tend to buy 100 litres at a time, and that could do for maybe 3/4 months of incidental use.



Hi Borderlinemeath.

I just got an invertor heater from McLoughlins in Newbridge. Can i get the oil in Balbriggan ?? Thanks.

borderlinemeath

cipro 55 wrote: »

We get the rolf fuel down in McLaughlins, it's only a few miles down the road in Balbriggan, we tend to buy 100 litres at a time, and that could do for maybe 3/4 months of incidental use.



Hi Borderlinemeath.

I just got an invertor heater from McLoughlins in Newbridge. Can i get the oil in Balbriggan ?? Thanks.

Yep, they sell it in 20 litre drums:)

pat joe

Hi
Biggest worry for me is potential for odour. Can anybody tell me if odour is issue in large kitchen/ living rm ?

crossmolinalad

Don't like the idea of a fuel heater in a room without a chimney
When you use them you will have to open a window
We had some for the caravan/tent when camping and the manuals say clearly only be used in ventilated spaces or so you have to open a window for fresh air
So for me an absolute no no in the house