Handy Heater: Personal and Portable Digital Electric Heater

Product Information

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. Portable electric heaters use electricity, which costs 28.62p/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 57p.

Pinning down an exact comparison of how much central heating and electric heaters cost to run is nigh-on impossible, as the factors below are just some of the variables that play a part: In the manual, it states: "The plug-in heater is fitted with a thermal safety cut-off device, built in to prevent it from overheating. Should the plug-in heater start to overheat, the thermal safety cut-out system will automatically operate and the heat setting will switch off." 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. The Handy Heater works really well if you have a closed space. This means you will need to make sure all the doors and windows are closed when you start using it. If you have anything open, the Handy Heater will struggle to make any significant difference in temperature. Some modern options also have smart features so you can program them via companion apps and smart speakers.

Customer reviews

Some portable heaters have useful extras, such as an LCD screen that displays the current temperature or a remote control for turning the heater on from across the room. These features may come in handy:

We set up each heater in the centre of our test room and run it on the maximum settings, with the room starting at a cool temperature. We monitor how much the room temperature changed over the course of an hour using temperature probes. We found the most drastic changes happen in the first half an hour and increases in temperature become more incremental after that. There is an adequately sized digital LCD display on the unit. There are clearly marked temperature control buttons, they allow you to adjust the temperature from 60 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit. There is also a fan speed button that allows you to change how fast or slow the fan blows air. The Handy Heater also features a timer button that makes it easy to program it to run from 1 to 12 hours. You won’t have to get out of bed to turn it off, which is a great feature to have in a heater. But that's not all! Handy Heater also comes with a timer function so you can pre-set the amount of time you want it to heat for, and then it will turn off automatically. Great for warming you while you get to sleep, pre-heating a chilly corner of a room while the rest of the house heats up, or just giving you peace of mind that you can set it and forget it and it won't stay on all night when you've gone!Unfortunately, it hardly offers the possibility to act as a full-fledged ventilation in your home or your house, as this small electric heater only warms within a radius of about three meters and is rather something for smaller rooms than for large areas. Handy Heater Major Features On the downside, this type can be quite noisy and they don't have some of the more advanced features you can get with convector heaters.

We buy all the electric heaters we test. We put the bestselling heaters from popular UK retailers through these tests: Heating speed, evenness, and accuracy The infrared heating element of Handy Heater is incredibly efficient because it uses a lot less energy than standard, larger heaters. Only 500 watts will give you a temperature range of up to 32°C, and it’s fully programmable so you can easily set the perfect temperature on the LED display. Plus, because of the clever way Handy Heater is made, there is a built-in safety cut off to prevent overheating and the outer casing stays cool to the touch so you can unplug it and take it with you, straight away. 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. It could be a great investment for those working from home through the winter months, university students who want to warm up their halls of residence, or anybody who simply wants to keep their central heating costs to a minimal this year.So, if you’re out and about, camping or caravanning, working in a cold space or just want your own personal heat that you can take anywhere with you, Handy Heater is the perfect little heater for you! Features and Benefits It’s not always easy to make your immediate surroundings warm and cosy as the cold winter draws in. In garages, shops, offices and especially if travelling or camping, getting warm and cosy usually means wrapping yourself in chunky layers and gloves - not really ideal for getting things done or relaxing in comfort. The infrared heating element of Handy Heater is incredibly efficient because it uses a lot less energy than standard, larger heaters. Only 500 watts will give you a temperature range of up to 32°C, and it's fully programmable so you can set the perfect temperature, easily read from the LED display, to suit the conditions. Plus, because of the clever way Handy Heater is made, there is a built-in safety cut off to prevent overheating and the outer casing stays cool to the touch so you can unplug it and take it with you, straight away.

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.With the cold weather comes the need for heat while you work. But it's not always easy to make your immediate surroundings warm and cosy. In garages, shops, offices and especially if travelling or camping, getting warm and cosy usually means wrapping yourself in chunky layers and gloves - not really ideal for getting things done or relaxing in comfort.