Cheminée électrique

[Bayleaf]

On the subject of heating, we're looking for a small, portable heating device for our newly finished (only took 17yrs!) end room. There's no heating in there at the moment, but as two sides are built into the hill, it is very well insulated so shouldn't need much and we don't want the hassle of getting another radiator plumbed in, or installing another woodburner.

Does anyone have experience of this kind of thing, and how effective/economic they are? The room is approx. 18m2.

Cheminée électrique.jpg

[MAD87]

I'd be v. interested too, for our véranda.

[ajm]

Is it basically a fan heater but a bit more decorative?

[RobertArthur]

@ Bayleaf, it looks charming, beyond any doubt. Electric = electric, so all these electric heaters are 100 % efficient. For every 1 kWh input they produce the same amount of heat. There are fairy tales about new heaters, 140 % more efficient than your old "grilles pain". Yes, they radiate their heat (accumulateurs) also when switched off. more comfort. But they are not able to produce 1400 watt of energy using an input of only 1000 watt. Interesting idea: this could be the way forward to real green energy.......Let's shut down 40 % of the French power plants.

The cheaper solution (around 29 euros) is of course this old friend, simple switches, three power positions, thermostat, no batteries. Blower included, to warm up your veranda quickly.

[exile]

SIL has one of the type you are showing Bayleaf. Used in the conservatory of about 15m square. Keeps the place warm, warms up quickly, and unlike RobertArthur's fire is decorative and gives a psychological impression of warmth even if only the light is illuminated with no heat being produced. I can't give you any ideas of running costs though.

[Bayleaf]

I'm currently testing an old Delongui that we had kicking around - similar to the one in RobertArthur's picture. Just waiting to see how that works, and how awful old dust smells when heated up! Not pretty to look at - but it's all about what is most efficient, as it'll only need to be on when the room is in use.

I do like the look of the one in the OP - but maybe just getting drawn in by the appearance! If old Dusty does the job, we're already 150€ better off, but Old Dusty may not be very economical ....

[RobertArthur]

Such an attractive cheminée électrique is a fan heater in disguise, nothing more, nothing less. The heater wires of Old Dusty have probably been made to last, many years ago. Lots of problems with the new high-tech (?) heaters, shipped in containers from the other side of our planet. Economical?

[hughnique]

I have one very similar to the picture you have put up bayleaf, as said they do look a bit more cosy than the bog standard convector heater, but either way its electric and we have found electrically heating our place to be very expensive. Over 1000 euro EDF bills if really cold, I can attribute somewhere around 600 of that to extra heating via various electric fires. Recently I bought a couple of portable gas fires from Amazon, one has a very nice coal effect, which gives a warm feeling even on low, we normally have to turn it off after a couple of hours as it gets a bit warm.

[Sparkle]

We have one that we bought in 2004 for our flat in the UK that had a chimney. However, we only used for the flame effect as it gave a cosy glow. Don't know how much you want to spend and the stove is expensive but I've been considering it for our tiny outside barn that we use a lot to sit in through winter and maybe have hot drinks/food. I have a 14 year old Everhot cooker so know they are reliable, and not expensive on electricity as they quoted at the time £7 per week to run. I wouldn't be without it.

https://everhot.co.uk/Everhot-Electric-Stove.aspx

[Bayleaf]

Such an attractive cheminée électrique is a fan heater in disguise, nothing more, nothing less. The heater wires of Old Dusty have probably been made to last, many years ago. Lots of problems with the new high-tech (?) heaters, shipped in containers from the other side of our planet. Economical?

All valid points! Old Dusty seems to be doing the job admirably, and being such a well insulated room (half underground! ), and "secondary glazing" plastic over the ancient single-paned door that we renovated, might just do the trick and hopefully not too pricey on the electric meter.

Not keen on gas appliances, as don't you still need to have some ventilation somewhere so any gassy smell doesn't build up? Or is that not relevant with modern gas heaters? (You can tell it's a while since I bought anything like this! )