Challenge 2KW Electric Convector Heater with Timer & 3 Heat Settings (A Grade)

Product Information

Looking for heating solutions like electric heaters and electric radiators? You’ve come to the right place. Our range of convector heaters are a great choice when it comes to providing some additional heat in your home. Put them on for a few hours at a time to help heat up an entire room, and with a timer and thermostat, you've got complete control. And to make your radiators seamlessly merge with your home’s décor, we’ve also got radiator covers in a wide variety of colours so you can heat up your space without compromising on style. Keen to optimise home heating? See our advice on boiler controls and thermostats , smart meters , and loft insulation

Due to the long list of factors that come into play to calculate your central heating costs, the only way you can confidently compare a heater to your central heating is to install a smart meter. You then divide your weekly heating cost by the number of hours you have it switched on and compare that figure to the cost of running your heater. Although the comparison might make your electric heater look cheaper to run, bear in mind that it will only be heating a much smaller area, whereas your central heating will be aiming to heat your whole home. You can also read our guide to the best heating for your home to find a whole-home solution for your heating needs. With that in mind, you won't be surprised to hear that you'll need to run it for a bit longer than other heaters to benefit from the heat it gives out.

Not necessarily. Heaters are highly efficient at turning electricity into heat regardless of their price. You don't necessarily need an expensive heater to get 'more' out of the electricity you draw. These have exposed heating elements, which heat up cold air as it passes. This often leads to slower, but more even, heating. They tend to be a little slower than fan heaters, but are quieter, and our tests found some are still pretty speedy. This story was first published on 7 October 2021 and is updated regularly to reflect new heaters we've tested as well as changing prices and availability of heaters. We're not able to show every retailer and cheaper prices may be available. Prices and availability last updated 26 October 2023. Tagged as: As you might expect, interest in electric heaters reaches its peak in the winter months. Over the last few years they've flown off the shelves as the nights have drawn in, even after having their prices hiked up rather than cut. The example above uses UK Sterling for the Electricity cost, but this can easily be substituted with other currencies, such as U.S Cents as the calculation method is exactly the same.

The next step after looking at products in the same category, was to look at products from the same brand, Challenge. More information on quality can be found in this old but still very helpful article from Harvard Business Review. As you can see Convector Heaters, Electric Fires and Fan Heaters can be extremely costly to run and as of 2023 Electricity is the most expensive form of heating, more so if the room or property you are heating is poorly insulated. If you are intending to stay in the property for a long time, then consider installing Storage Heaters which use cheaper off peak Electricity for your room heating. Remember that 1000 watts can also be expressed as 1kw and 2000 watts = 2kw and 3000 watts = 3kw. Fractions of this can also be represented by using a decimal place, and so a 2500 watt convector heater may also be referred to as using 2.5kw, a 2400 watt heater as 2.4kw etc.

The oil in the radiator acts as a heat reservoir, which stays hot for some time after the heater's switched off. Some are called 'oil-free' and function in a comparable way, just with an internal heating element instead of any oil. If you were to try replacing the use of your central heating by putting an electric heater in each room, it will definitely end up costing much more. Portable electric heaters use electricity, which costs 27.35p/kWh under the current energy price cap. Depending on how effective the heater is, they can take anything from 30 minutes to an hour to notably raise the temperature of a medium-sized room, so if you're only planning on using it until the room gets up to temperature, it will likely cost you between 28 and 55p. Keeping your home warm will make for a cosy atmosphere, especially when the weather isn’t always the warmest. We've got you covered with everything you need to kit out your home and keep it cosy with our comprehensive range of heaters and radiators. If you're relying on your portable heater because your boiler isn't doing its job, find out how to buy the best boiler or whether you're eligible for a free boiler or a boiler grant.

Remember that these are worst case figures that are based on the Convector Heater drawing Electricity continuously for the entire running period. However if you have a convector heater which has a built in thermostat (recommended), this will switch off the convector heater automatically, when the room has heated to the temperature selected on the Thermostat. Once this happens the heater will turn off again, until the room cools down by a couple of degrees, at which point it will switch on again to replace the heat lost, and will continuously do so, until it is either switched off, or the thermostat is adjusted. No matter what type of heater or radiator you need, there's something here to suit all budgets and requirements. And you'll find designs from an array of leading brands, including Challenge, Dyson and Beldray. Why not look at our collection of Dimplex heaters? An oil heater also uses convection and they're great at retaining heat, so be sure to look at our selection of oil filled radiators too. So a 2000 Watt Convector heater would use 2 units of Electricity for every hour that it is run, and at 30p per Electricity unit it would cost 2x 30p = 60p per hour to runThis oil-filled radiator really is mini - it's not much bigger than some of the smallest heaters we've tested. Some modern options also have smart features so you can program them via companion apps and smart speakers. Price is another really important factor for analysing the quality of Challenge 2kW Convector Heater vs other products in the Heaters and radiators category. It’s obvious, but you will need to set your expectations of quality based on your budget and the price of the product you’re looking at, against the price of alternatives. Cheaper electric heaters tend to have fewer features than more expensive ones. Compared with more expensive ones, a cheap heater is less likely to have: Once that desired temperature is reached, the heater won't run constantly anymore. It will toggle on and off sporadically to maintain that temperature. Cheap heaters usually have fewer features

Lets do the formula again, but this time using the rating of a 2500 watt convector heater, and an Electricity unit cost of 30p in the example. A wide range of heat settings: some only offer a couple of heat settings and basic thermostatic control that gives a vague steer towards hot or cold rather than letting you choose specific temperatures in degrees °C. The information which you need to be able to work out the cost of running your convector heater is shown by the number of Watts. Sometimes this may also be printed on the label as a single ‘W’– i.e 2000W or expressed in Kilowatts (KW). Basically a ‘KW’ (Kilo-watt) equals 1000 watts of Electricity, and so 2000 Watts would be 2KW and 3000 Watts would be 3kw and so on. Read our full story on illegal and dangerous plug-in mini heaters for sale on online marketplaces to see those we identified as having serious safety risks.However, many of the 2kW electric heaters we've tested tipped above and below that power output over the course of an hour's use in our tests, resulting in costs from 9p - 83p. They tend to be cheap to run, but some can be really slow to heat up. Most oil-filled heaters are also fairly heavy and cumbersome, so look out for models that come with wheels. If you have a combi boiler, you can make money savings right now by running it more efficiently. Boilers are able to run as low temperature systems, but many are set up to run at full tilt, costing you extra money.