I know that when you read the title of this blog – Home Heating using paraffin Inverter heaters, the word ‘paraffin’ alone, will conjure up those childhood memories of Grandad’s ancient paraffin heater running during long cold winters in his greenhouse and the lingering smell of paraffin which always used to follow, however before you hit the back button and leave, the paraffin inverter heaters I will be referring to here, are top of the range, ultra modern safe paraffin heaters designed and manufactured in Japan and of which are even far more safer to use than portable gas heaters using calor gas bottles, and open fires.
 | Inverter 5086 3.2kw Heater | |
 | Tosai-241 Paraffin Radiant Heater. 2.2KW Output | |
| | Zibro LC-2230 Inverter Heater |
A Global Energy Crisis is here and according to Cornwall Insight is likely to result in record breaking energy costs for the rest of the decade, and as a result of increased demand these inverter heaters have seen an increase in price of around £100 since 2022 with the current ‘best buys’ listed in the table above.
However with Electricity now costing 30p per KW/H on a standard Tariff then assuming you can find one, they will save more money than ever for properties with Electric Heating and more than recoup their initial outlay in the money they save on energy.
Many of those who are reading “Home Heating using paraffin Inverter heaters”, may be here out of pure curiosity, but those open minded individuals and savvy consumers who want to save money on their energy bills and who continue to read, will probably find that it actually saves them considerable amounts of money by switching over to paraffin heating for their domestic requirements, especially those trying to heat poorly insulated old buildings and those who are suffering from Storage Heater blues or indeed, are looking to substitute any form of expensive electric heating with something much more affordable.
For those readers with Gas central heating, lucky you!. This article is unlikely to be of any interest to you as you already have one of the cheapest forms of heating known to man – Mains Gas. However even if you have central heating, you may need additional heating in an extension, conservatory, loft conversion, caravan, garage or outbuilding where the cost of extending the gas central heating may not be economically viable or possible, so stick around, as paraffin heating may still also be of interest to you, and will work out far cheaper than installing extra radiators or the huge expense of running an electric panel heater, fan heater or oil filled radiator.
Using a Paraffin Inverter Heater can also work out a lot cheaper than using a traditional gas fire to heat a room. Despite the low cost of natural gas a lot of Gas Fires, even modern ones, can be extremely inefficient, often consuming as much as 6.4kw worth of gas just to produce 4kw worth of heat into a room, and some of the “living flame” gas fires are even worse than this, as the majority of produced heat escapes from the flue or up the Chimney.
So whilst Gas is one of the cheapest forms of heat, this usually only applies to very high efficiency Central Heating system boilers built in the last five years or so, and when compared to a Gas Fire, the increased efficiency of 99% offered by an Inverter Heater, compared to the 50% – 60% offered by an older gas fire, the small extra cost of paraffin or heating oil is more than offset by the wasteful, inefficient nature of the gas fire, making the Inverter Heater the cheaper form of heating one living room or an open plan area.
Home Heating using paraffin Inverter heaters will be of interest to those in rural or remote locations who don’t have access to mains gas, or households who currently use oil fired or LPG based heating systems, but the biggest savings by switching over to heating a home with a paraffin inverter heater will be to those using Economy 7 storage heating, Electric Central Heating or any form of electric heating appliances for their main heating, and this is where 30% – 70% savings can easily be made.
Home Heating using paraffin Inverter heaters
This is where my own experiences begin, I have a rural property which is outside of the mains gas area and doesn’t have any form of central heating, the property is insulated and has double glazing, however it suffers from one handicap, the fact that it has electric storage heaters. Those who have storage heaters will already know, that come winter they are extremely inflexible, increasingly expensive to run and by around 5pm or 6pm they have exhausted all of their useful heat and once night falls, the room rapidly becomes cold. Electricity is supplied on Economy 7 or Economy 10 tariffs, and although these tariff’s give you seven to ten hours of cheap overnight electricity, the cost of the Electricity during the normal day (peak) periods is significantly more expensive than on a standard non economy 7 tariff. Up to three or four times higher per unit in fact!.
This means, that when the Economy 7 storage heaters inevitably run out of heat, by around late afternoon or early evening, or the weather turns unexpectedly chilly some other form of ‘top up’ heating is required which is often also electrically powered, such as a convector heater, panel heater, fan heater or oil filled radiator.
These types of heating appliance use extremely large amounts of Electricity and after several hours of use can soon work out to be prohibitively expensive, which then largely negates all of the savings made the previous night during the E7 / E10 period.
Consuming electricity outside of the overnight off peak period rapidly becomes expensive. This is because E7 customers with storage heaters are openly penalised for their cheaper overnight rates and will pay double or even treble the cost for their daytime Electricity compared to non E7 electricity customers enjoying standard single rate tariffs.
The electricity companies know all about the limited effectiveness of storage heaters and because of these limitations know that there is a very real possibility that the majority of their E7 customers will require some form of top up heating at some point during the evening especially during the coldest mid winter months, at the times when the most expensive ‘peak rate’ periods will apply, and so are laughing all of the way to the bank.
In other words they give a discounted overnight during E7 / E10 off peak period which looks very generous on the surface, but they then quickly snatch most of that generosity back by charging very expensive daytime ‘peak’ rates at double or treble the unit cost compared to non E7 customers on standard single rates. In addition, the discounted Off Peak rate of the Economy 7 period is also rapidly increasing, back in 2011 I was paying less than 5p per kw/h, in 2023 I would be paying 17p per kw/h (and some customers are paying as much as 24p per kw/h) – all far more expensive than mains Gas customers who pay 10.4p per kw/h all day long (Capped Tariff 1st October 2022)
Electricity prices will continue to rise due to UK reliance on expensive Gas for power generation, as do oil prices and LPG, minimum deliveries for both heating oil and LPG may also make fitting central heating boilers powered by these fuels unattractive. Fitting a wood burner is an ideal way of mitigating the ever increasing cost of Electricity, however this is not always suitable in some properties, and also for those living in flats, smoke free zones or who are renting their property from a landlord. Besides, demand for these (September 2023) is now so great, that you will be very lucky to get one fitted before this Winter.
During winter 2010, I was often paying over £100 a month in Electricity costs to heat a 1 bedroom flat, based on running 3 large storage heaters, which was around double the cost of heating a Three or Four Bedroom house with Gas Central Heating. When I arrived home from work late in the evenings I wasn’t feeling any real benefit from it either as the Storage Heaters had exhausted most of their stored heat, and during the coldest winter months I still needed to plug in additional heating for several hours in the Evening just to be warm when reading or watching the TV.
Move forward to Autumn 2023, and I don’t doubt that the £100, I was paying for running Storage Heaters 12 years ago, would now be £300 – £400 a month, which is the reality that many are facing.
A quick calculation soon revealed the painful truth, in that for every hour I was running a 2.4 kw Convector Heater for top up heat during the Evenings, I was mitigating around 3 hours worth of Economy 7 cheaper rate electricity!!, because my Electricity cost during the peak period was 3 times the cost of off peak, so it didn’t take long for the Electricity company to claw back, nearly all of saving I had made on the discounted electricity which it had sold to me overnight, whenever I needed to run additional heating during the following Evening, which in Winter means this was happening almost 7 days a week.
Additional energy price hikes had also been announced for the second time in a year, and I could see the day when paying £700 a month in Electricity would become a reality. I began looking for alternatives to Electric heating, and stumbled across a forum for Boat Owners and static caravan dwellers, who had seemed to have found a solution.
I was introduced to a modern day, Japanese manufactured indoor Paraffin heater. This was no ordinary basic old fashioned paraffin heater like the ones my grandparents had once had heating their outside toilet , but a sleek, safe and odourless fan assisted paraffin heater, with a kw heat output exceeding that of most standard Electric heaters and being fan assisted it was also capable of heating a living area very quickly, and at a fraction of the cost of an Electric equivalent!.
I researched these paraffin inverter heaters further and traced their roots back to Japan, where central heating systems are rare, and where most Japanese families still heat their homes using these clever, safe and portable Paraffin / Kerosene fueled modern space heaters. They are also used routinely in Southern France & Italy, where they are so popular that dedicated pre-packaged containers of kero fuel are sold in most hypermarkets and DIY Stores.
At first my prejudice about paraffin heaters and memories of the lingering small of paraffin came back to haunt me, but I decided that the Japanese were a clever race, and had developed many modern designs as far as appliances and domestic equipment was concerned and as a Country they certainly wouldn’t be using Paraffin Heaters as their preferred, daily form of heating if it was dangerous or ineffective. Npower had also just written to me, announcing their latest price rises (for the fourth year running), I decided that anything to save me money over Npower’s E7 overpriced daytime rates was worth a go.
The manufacturer claimed that because their heaters had no external flue there was no heat to escape which meant that their paraffin heater was 99% efficient in turning fuel into heat, which was actually much more efficient than even a Gas Powered ‘A’ rated central heating boiler, and virtually the same 100% efficiency offered by direct Electric Heating. Unlike earlier paraffin heaters and Gas Calor heaters, this paraffin heater produced no obvious room condensation and had many electronic safety features which made it safe to use an everyday household form of heating, I was now convinced, so I ordered one.
The £250 that I paid for the Corona Inverter Paraffin Heater back in 2010, seemed a lot to pay for a portable space heater, especially one powered by paraffin, but it turned out to be an astute decision which in turn, eventually paid for itself over just one average winter, recouped entirely from the savings on Electricity.
The Paraffin Inverter Heater really gave me the best of both worlds, I could reduce my reliance on (and use of) the expensive to run storage heaters, and then instead of using the Convector Heaters on an overly expensive peak rate electricity tariff to top up the heat when I got in from work, I simply fired up the Corona Inverter Heater to quickly and efficiently deliver heat whenever I was at home, at around a third of the cost of peak rate Electricity.
I read that standard Paraffin / Kerosene fuel burning at almost 100% efficiency will produce at least 10kw of heat from every litre of Paraffin / Kerosene it consumes with all of that heat going into the room (its actually 10.3kw of heat per litre but lets not quibble). So lets do the maths, and let me actually prove the savings to you from my own personal experiences.
I currently buy Electricity during the ‘peak’ periods from Npower, at around 21 pence per KW/H (Edit: This would now be around 40p / Kwh in October 2023)
I originally bought Paraffin from a local allotment society for 70p a litre. I get 10kw worth of heat from each litre burned which brings down the price for heating to 7p per KW/H. (I now pay 5.3p per KW using standard home heating oil kerosene @ 53p a litre but i’ll get to that later)
My Corona Paraffin Inverter heater produces 3200 watts of heat, or 3.2kw so on its full setting, for one hours worth of use it costs 3.2 x 0.07p to run = 22.4 pence per hour to give out 3.2kw worth of heat at almost 100% efficiency, enough to heat a fairly large living room or open plan lounge-diner very quickly.
To run an Electric Convector Heater rated at 3000 watts (3.0KW) it would consume 3 electricity units every hour, which (back in 2010) would cost 3 x £0.21 units per hour to run – so £0.63 per hour to run a single 3kw heater when using peak rate electricity. By using a 3.2kw Corona Paraffin Inverter heater instead of a 3KW convector heater, actually saves me £0.406 per hour in real terms – cold hard cash!, plus I get an extra 200 watt worth of heat from the 3.2kw Paraffin heater over the 3kw convector, which isn’t a lot, but does add up over a period of running during a typical evening (an extra 1kw worth of heat for every 5 hours it runs to be exact)
So by using the Corona Paraffin Heater during the Evenings for an average of just six hours at a time, saves me £2.43 in heating costs per night, just by changing the way that I heat the room and the fuel that I use to do it, and trading Peak Rate Electricity back to good old fashioned Paraffin, burned in a state of the art heater.
Couple this with an average of 10 hours worth of use per day (when home at the weekends) and that saving adds up to £4.06 per weekend day, so the potential saving by using paraffin adds upto £20.27 per week (£2.43 x 5 nights + 2x £4.06 per day at the weekends) – that’s an amazing £81.08 per MONTH in savings from my own usage pattern, just by turning the convector heater off and the paraffin heater on, and avoiding the use of expensive Electric heating.
The figures speak volumes, and in just three winter of average use during the Winter, i’ve effectively recouped the cost of purchasing the inverter heater and beyond that point, the savings are in my pocket for many winters to come!, and the money is far better in my pocket than those pockets belonging to the shareholders of the expensive utility companies!.
So there you go – what more can I say? other than that I paid off the original outlay for my paraffin heater during the first half of its first winter, meaning that the savings that I am getting at the moment – upto £81.08 a MONTH are now mine to keep as the paraffin inverter heater is still going strong, and still saving me money, and the room is lovely and warm, I have made no other sacrifices to do it nor had to turn down any thermostats or put on extra layers of clothing or huddle under throws!. As a result of switching to an Inverter Heater my £100+ monthly winter E7 Electricity bill is a nightmare from the past and has dropped to a more manageable, summer-like £25 – £30 a month, now i’m no longer using it for heating. In fact so sudden was my drop off in usage during the first few months that they sent out somebody to check my meter!!.
It is even possible to obtain paraffin far cheaper than the initial 70p / litre example I gave and so stretch those savings further, but i’ll move onto that shortly. Also bear in mind that the savings and comparisons I made are for one heater in a small flat, if you have the requirement for more than one electric heater, and replace it with paraffin the total savings will increase even further by using a Paraffin Inverter Heater, in place of each Electric Heater, noting that the heaters are also portable and easily carried by one person, so it is possible to move it from room to room, living room to bedroom or even to the shed or caravan, and these heaters are also ideal for heating a conservatory, where Electricity has previously been the only option.
These heaters are also ideal for Tenants, as they are portable appliances and require no expensive installation or landlord permission, simply unplug them and take them with you to your next property, just the same as you would with any portable Fan or Convector heater.
Lets examine the features of the Corona Paraffin Inverter heater.
Safe and Reliable, being 99% efficient and having no external flue or chimney means 99% of the heat produced from the fuel actually goes into the room, not out of the flue. Far more efficient than portable gas heaters, LPG fired central heating, older gas fires and virtually just as efficient as more expensive electric heating, but at 50% – 75% of the cost – FACT.
Portable – requires no installation or outside flue, just fill with paraffin / kerosene and plug it in to a standard mains socket
Has flame failure sensors, CO2 detection and switches off if it falls over or is knocked, making it far more safer to use in the house, shop, workshop or office than conventional Gas Bottle heaters, open fires or newer Bio Ethanol fires.
Produces little, if any condensation, unlike earlier paraffin heaters and gas bottle calor heaters
Little servicing or annual maintenance, and no service contracts, safety checks or repair bills – just an occasional fuel filter clean.
No wicks to replace or trim (Inverter model)
Fan assisted for rapid room warm up (Electric Fan requires 22 watts of Electricity, about the same as an energy saving light bulb)
Digitally Thermostatically controlled, which switches to a paraffin saving eco mode (800w) when the room reaches the selected temperature. In Eco Mode the heater will run for an amazing 45 – 48 hours on one fill of fuel.
Has a digital timer, set it to come on after work or before you get up in the morning.
Virtually odourless in normal operation. Just a quick whiff when starting / stopping.
Fan Assisted and Radiant Versions (which require no Electricity) available
The Paraffin Inverter heater is ideal for use in Conservatories, Porches, Outbuildings, Garages, Shed’s or any location where extending central heating is too costly, its also a very viable and cheaper alternative to very expensive normal indoor Electric room heating in bedrooms, living rooms, kitchens, loft conversions etc and in these applications it does stand to save the average household anything upto 40% – 50% off the cost of standard tariff electricity and a massive 75% off the most expensive E7 peak rate electricity tariff. In short if you are plugging in any form of Electric Heater on a regular or semi-regular basis, then replacing it with one of these inverter heaters WILL save you money – between 40% and 70% depending on your current Electricity tariff.
Finally, lets see how the cost of running the Corona Paraffin Inverter heater compares with other fuels (This update takes into account current prices in October 2023)
Paraffin Inverter Heater – 9.5p per KW (based on 95p / litre for small quantities of Heating Oil or Paraffin from a pump)
Corona Paraffin Heater – 8.3p per KW (based on 83p / litre for bulk purchased 28 second domestic home heating kerosene)
Average Economy 7 Daytime Rate – 40p per KW
Average Economy 7 Off Peak Rate – 17p per KW
Standard Single Electricity Rate – 30p per KW
LPG Central Heating (tank) – 16.5p per KW
LPG Central Heating / Gas Fire (bottle) – 19p per KW
Oil Fired Central Heating – 9.9p per KW (factoring in boiler efficiency / Flue losses)
Mains Gas – 6.9p per KW
Wood Burner – 8p per KW
Also compare the £2500 – £6000 installation cost of installing Oil or LPG fired central heating, or the average £3000 cost of a Wood Burning Stove with the low cost of the cheapest Paraffin inverter heater. Even if you bought four Paraffin Inverter heaters for use in a four bedroom house, it would still cost well under £1000, that’s almost a sixth of the £6000 average cost of fitting a LPG based central heating system, and the savings made on the outlay will buy a lot of Fuel.
As you can see, the Corona Paraffin Heater is worth considering as a portable, money saving room heating alternative to either Economy 7 or Standard Electric Heating, as well as LPG heating. Its also ideal as temporary heating for outbuildings or for using on Boats and Static Caravans where LPG may prove very costly. It is also ideal for supplementary heating in short term rented accommodation as no flue or building modification is required and being portable you can take it with you when you move.
First, let me state clearly that the Manufacturer of these heaters advise using only expensive prepackaged Class C1 Paraffin in these heaters, however outside of the UK, Paraffin is also routinely known as Kerosene and the fuels are virtually identical. Thus it would seem to be acceptable to burn cheaper 28 second domestic heating oil Kerosene instead of Paraffin, and stretch the savings and make it easier to obtain (Heating oil is also generally more readily available than C1 Paraffin).
In the UK, “Kerosene” is known and sold as 28 second heating oil, the same heating oil that home central heating oil fired boilers use. I have been buying and using standard 28 second heating oil in my heater frequently for over 10 years since my first purchase when this blog page was created in 2010, with no accidents, no fires, no spillage and more importantly no obvious adverse effects to either the heater or to myself from excessive fumes / odours as have many people leaving comments on this page, however you do this in your own heater at your own risk.
By buying heating oil kerosene from a local depot reduces my cost of the fuel from 70p per litre to 53p per litre, this means that the real cost of running my Inverter heater falls even further, from 7p per KW to 5.3p per KW – making it almost as cheap as mains gas, and even less than the cost of Economy 7 overnight electricity which my (useless) storage heaters use. You could probably reduce this to below 5p if you shopped around, and had the space to store a bulk heating oil delivery.
However, once again I must stress that if you choose to use domestic heating oil in your own heater instead of premium paraffin you do so at your own risk!. If you wish to stick with the manufacturers recommendations on fuel, it is still possible to buy the recommended C1 paraffin at 70p per litre, try contacting your local allotment society, and looking in the yellow pages for local oil and fuel brokers, or if you are happy with Heating Oil instead of paraffin, simply buy it in bulk from a heating oil supplier or from a friend / relative who uses heating oil fired central heating and a growing number of heating oil brokers have a self service pump available for small quantities.
For those who aren’t able to purchase small quantities of Domestic Heating Oil locally, we now have a growing list of Vendors who sell Heating Oil Online and offer delivery of small to medium sized containers directly to your door, with no large minimum order quantity.
For those who wish to continue to use the manufacturer approved premium paraffin in their heaters, Premium Paraffin can be purchased online using the vendors listed on our C1 Premium Paraffin Page, who offer a saving over buying the small 4 litre pre-packed containers from DIY Stores!.
If you do decide to use standard heating oil in your inverter heater, then I do strongly advise filtering the kerosene into the heater tank using a“Mr Funnel”. The Mr Funnel filter will ensure that any dirt and rust particles are removed from the fuel and that any trapped water caused by bulk tank storage is filtered out which ensures longer periods between cleaning of the heater filter and also prevents the heater from showing an “E4” error warning (which indicates water contamination in the fuel). You can buy a Mr Funnel water and dirt filter from Here
During the 2018 / 2019 Winter period I trialed a fuel additive product called Dipetane (which was mentioned by a few people over the years in my comments), with an open mind, I began adding 10ml of the additive to every 4L tank fill of Heating Oil. Despite my tendency to routinely consider all additives as snake oil, I actually noticed a significant reduction in carbon around the combustion chamber in all of my heaters when I did my service of them during the spring. So, Dipetane is the only additive which I would actively recommend for those burning standard heating oil in their heaters, and it can be purchased online from Here.
Finally, we all like to get a bargain and save money on the initial cost of buying a new heater and so I constantly search the UK and European inverter heater stockists in order to find the best deals every season. Obviously prices do change, as retailer stock levels and demand vary between the winter and summer months and to address this we now have a table below which is frequently updated with the current best offers.
| | Inverter 5086 3.2kw Heater | |
| | Tosai-241 Paraffin Radiant Heater. 2.2KW Output | |
| | Zibro LC-2230 Inverter Heater |
If you have any questions, comments or wish to share your own experiences in relation to using Paraffin / Kerosene for domestic home heating in these heaters, then please leave a comment. (You can also read hints and tips, as well as the experiences of hundreds of other Inverter Heater users in the comments below)
Just found this site – thanks. I like the whole idea. But can’t find paraffin in Bath for less than £8 per 4-litres (local garden centre). Do you happen to know a cheaper source?
Hi Margo,
Paraffin, is certainly harder to source nowadays, compared to years ago, when many households routinely used it for heating and lighting, and there was a self service style pump on most local petrol station forecourts. The paraffin, now found in most DIY stores (and Garden Centres) is pre-packaged, and sold at a premium, hence the high price.
Lately, i’ve been running my own inverter heater on oridinally household heating oil Kerosene, this is commonly sold as 28 second heating oil and used in domestic oil fired central heating, and whilst it is very diffcult to source heating oil from a local heating oil supplier in less than 500 litre quantities.
Sometimes you really do have to be cheeky to get what you need, and I had great success with appealing through my local Freecycle website asking to buy small quantities of heating oil from people living in households fitted with oil fired central heating. Now I arrange to take my containers around to their address when they are expecting an oil delivery, and they arrange with their bulk heating oil supplier for an extra 50 litres to be dispensed into my (2x) 25 litre containers at the same time as they have their oil tank refilled.
They also only charge me the actual cost of the oil, which works out at about 56p per litre or 5.6p kw/h in terms of the cost of running the heater on it. Of course they also get a bottle of wine and whisky from me at Christmas as a token of goodwill. So if you know anybody who uses oil fired central heating, then this may be one possible source.
Alternatively, see if there are Allotment Societies close by who may buy bulk Paraffin for use in their members’ greenhouse heaters during the winter months.
You can also buy premium paraffin online and have it delivered by courier. The price hovers around £20.50 for 16 litres, there is a delivery charge of £8.99 but this covers a delivery of upto 32 litres. You can buy it online from here:-
http://www.chorleybottlegas.co.uk/products.cfm?pageurl=Premium%20Paraffin
So the price for 32 litres including delivery would be £49.99, which equals £1.56 per litre. This is still very expensive compared to the other options, but compares favourably with your local quote of £8 per 4 litres, which would be £2.00 per litre
You may also like to contact Caldo Oils on 01744 813 535 they are based in St Helens, however they also distribute bulk fuel all over the UK, and they may be able to put you in touch with a fuel broker in your location, who can supply you with either kerosene or C1 Paraffin.
Margo,
I have also found the following Allotment societies close to your location, who may be able to supply you with bulk purchased paraffin into Jerry Cans.
http://www.banes-allotments.org.uk/
http://www.allotmentssouthwest.org.uk/index.php?page=north-north-east-somerset
http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/environmentandplanning/parksandopenspaces/Pages/Allotment%20Sites.aspx
Don’t worry about the published waiting times given on the links, as you are not wanting to rent an allotment, just needing to purchase paraffin from their club. Allotment societies are often more than happy to sell to non members, as it raises a little bit of revenue for the society, although some may charge you a small membership fee to access their facilities, such as the on site store in order to make a purchase.
This link might help people looking for Allotment Societies in London. I have no idea whether any of them sell paraffin. If anybody knows of any that do please let us know
http://www.londonallotments.net/links.html
I have three of these inverter heaters and I use the caldo paraffin. I buy it in bulk in the summer usually and they deliver it for free when its convenient for them. http://www.caldo.co.uk/
Two of my heaters have the E4 fault code problem. Anyone know how to fix this?
Id be interested in trying out kerosene 28 in one of them. Are you sure there are no problems related to using it?
Hi Brett
E4 Faults are generally caused by contaminated fuel (usually a high water content) or poor combustion. Have you cleaned the plastic mesh fuel strainer filter located in the bottom of the heater where the tank nozzle slots into?. Its worth removing this and giving it a good scrub with old toothbrush or nail brush. Don’t forget to also clean the air intake filter located at the back of the unit also.
If that doesn’t solve the problem then its probably Water contamination in fuel, which is a little harder to remove, but is common during the winter, especially if you have stored the fuel for any period of time in a cold area such as a garage or shed and happens when condensation forms inside the small airspace inside the container and drips into the fuel.
The easiest way of removing it again, is to filter the fuel through a “Mr Funnel” type filter as you pour the fuel from the container into the heater fuel tank, this special filter removes all of the water which has found its way into the fuel, and in combination with a fuel filter and air filter clean, should remove your E4 error issue.
In relation to running these heaters in Kerosene, I can only advise based on my own personal experience. I originally wrote the article above, nearly three Years ago, and since then I’ve continued to use nothing but 28 second Kerosene for fueling two inverter heaters, with no reported problems.
I use my heaters in the Evenings when the E7 storage heaters run out of heat, and so they generally get around 5 or 6 hours hours of use every night in the winter months, so they are in regular use.
There are also a couple of other Inverter heater users who also use Kerosene, who have commented on the C1 Paraffin Page http://electricheatingcosts.com/class-c1-paraffin/
Thanks for the reply. Ive just filled up my inverter paraffin heater with heating oil so will let you know if I discover any problems. If it works OK, and I dont get too many complaints about the smell, then I could be saving about a third on my paraffin costs. Might be more but I cant remember how much I paid last time. Thanks for the advice. Incidently, Ive bought spares from Dry it out for this heater and the man there was very helpful.
Heating oil works fine. Once I used up the paraffin I will use only heating oil. Thanks, great tip!
Hi all! I borrowed a 3200 watt inverter to try out in my workshop. We used heating oil and it worked fine. I was amazed at how much heat was produced. I’m definitely going to buy one, but don’t know whether to spend extra and buy the same type from a UK supplier or go for the cheaper Italian supplied version. I can get the UK supplied one for £230.00 posted, but can’t help thinking that the extra £40.00 could be spent on fuel, if I buy the cheaper one. Is there any difference in quality between the two and do they use fuel at about the same rate? I don’t want to get the wrong one for the sake of £40.00.
Thanks in advance.
Neil.
PS. A mate of mine is thinking of one for his log cabin.
Hi Neil,
Thanks for your comment. Yes, these little inverter heaters really are amazing, and do save loads of money, especially when compared to Electric Heaters of the same wattage. I’ve used domestic heating oil instead of the expensive Premium paraffin in both of my inverter heaters now for a couple of years, and suffered no ill effects whatsoever. However you may want to invest in one of the “Mr Funnel” type filters if, like me, you intend to use the heater on heating oil on a permanent basis.
In respect of your question regarding which heater to buy, well I have both a “branded” (Corona) inverter heater and also one of the OEM copies, which are often re-badged and sold as Ruby or Kero and these versions seem very popular heaters in Europe. The one I have is a Kero SRE series which I bought through Brico Bravo, all of the heaters are imported through exactly the same main European importer and distributor and so they all have to conform to very stringent EU safety regulations, so on the issue of safety there should be no comparison between the Corona heaters and the cheaper Italian model. I also find it to be just as well built – at least nothing has broken, fallen apart or started leaking, and both heaters get used on a daily basis during the winter months.
The Italian heater seems to have a slightly smaller fuel tank capacity, and I would estimate it to hold around 4 – 4.5 litres as opposed to the 5 litres which I can squeeze into the Corona fuel tank.
Fuel consumption seems to be roughly the same, they are both rated at 3200 watts output, and use roughly the same amount of fuel on a litre by litre basis. The Italian heater has slightly better temperature controls than my Corona 3016, and as well as having the usual digital temperature settings, the Italian heater also has ‘Min’ and ‘Save’ functions where you can manually switch the heater to its lowest (800w) setting or into fuel saving mode, whilst in comparison the Corona will switch between its Low and High settings automatically based on the digital temperature settings, there is no manual override.
So, I find the Italian heater is much more flexible for background heating, such as warming a bedroom an hour or so before it becomes occupied, I just leave the heater on its minimum setting, regardless of the setting on the digital thermostat.
I’m sure that your friend will find these ideal for heating a log cabin especially if the only alternatives are Electricity or LPG, which is where the biggest savings with these heaters can be made. I use mine as a main source of heat in a flat-annexe attached to a farmhouse, in a rural area with no mains gas. Using the fitted storage heaters was both expensive and inefficient and since using the Inverter heaters I have transformed the previously cold, drafty flat into a warm comfortable living space and at the same time, also taken the sting out of the winter energy bills.
This is now the middle of the third winter where I have relied on them, and they have both more than paid for themselves in the savings.
Being able to set it on the lowest setting would be excellent and ideal for what I want to use one for. This is the one I’m looking at buying….
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Indoor-Multifuel-Stove-Electronic-Inverter-Heater-3000W-SRE300-Paraffin-Kerosene-/131012925917?pt=UK_Home_Garden_Hearing_Cooling_Air&hash=item1e80fa99dd
It differs only slightly from the one in your link, smaller tank and and 800 to 3000 watts, opposed to a 1000 watts minimum. My mate uses Mr Funnels, so that won’t be a problem. :-)
Glad I found this site, as I’ve found it very useful and I’ve sent links to some other friends, one of which hates modern light bulbs and only has electric.
There is a health hazard to use this device as the main source of heating
@ Matt do you actually have anything to back up your claims that these heaters are a health hazard? or are you just a troll spouting random, ill-informed scaremongering information?. On your next post here, please provide us with valid sources for your claim, ideally a fact based lab report from a reputable / medical source, and of which mention these heaters by name.
I find it difficult to believe that these heaters would be allowed to be freely imported and sold in the UK (and indeed in the more stringent, safety & environmentally aware EU) if there was any threat to health whatsoever and in the UK we pretty much quickly ban anything and everything if there is even a tiny risk that it will maim or kill.
Yes, there is a very small risk of CO2 poisoning if the heater is used in a very confined space, however this risk applies to ANY open flame combustion based heater, including the popular mobile gas heater or even a badly maintained log burner or a gas fire with a blocked chimney. In other words, don’t fire one of these up in order to heat a wardrobe or a tent, and make sure you buy the correct heater for the room size and that there is some natural room ventilation. However, all of these inverter heaters carry built in CO2 monitoring with cut outs, which will extinguish the heater should you choose to fire it up in something small like a wendy house and CO2 levels rise above normal safe levels!, (The many built-in safety features actually make an inverter heater safer to use than the other heating appliances which I mentioned). There are also some common sense safety rules when filling these heaters with fuel, but i’m sure that I don’t need to point out obvious things like that.
On a more personal note, I use two of these heaters (living area and bedroom) on a regular basis, and as my main source of heating in a small flat, and this is now well into my third winter of doing so. During this time, I have never had any medical complaints, nor suffered from any breathing related ailments, runny eyes, headaches, flu-like symptoms etc, nor have I spontaneously combusted. I also have a carbon monoxide detector and a standard smoke detector, and the Inverter Heater has, so far, triggered neither of these.
So, if there was any health hazard attached to using these heaters, after three years of regular use, I would be a prime candidate for the earliest of symptoms by now.
I will also point out, that these heaters are very popular in households all over the world, in fact they are still the MAIN source of heating in millions of Japanese households, and have been for many years (over 700,000 portable inverter heaters were sold in Japan in the winter of 2011 alone), in fact kerosene fueled portable Inverter heaters are far more popular and common in Japan than Gas Central Heating systems.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerosene_heater
http://archive.is/ZEuin
In addition to Japan, they are also a popular source of heating in France, Spain, Cyprus etc and are very popular with UK Ex-Pats living out there, to the point where their usage has grown so much, that Kero is now sold in bulk containers at most Hypermarkets.
http://www.expatica.com/es/essentials_moving_to/essentials/Heating-up-your-Spanish-house-in-winter_13362.html
http://www.expatforum.com/expats/cyprus-expat-forum-expats-living-cyprus/287377-kerosene-heaters.html
http://santiagotimes.cl/kerosene-heater-sales-rise-50-percent-as-chiles-weather-cools/
I would also be happy to provide more links Matt, all of which will further negate your scaremongering, however, since I have already taken the time to link to several sources, all of which back up my own points, would you now also have the courtesy to share your sources Matt?.
@ Neil C – Yes that heater looks very familiar, I think it is from the same family as my SRE model came from, although mine is a slightly older model, but it was also from the same vendor – Brico Bravo.
It is a shame that Brico, seem to be constantly hiking their prices at the moment. I paid around £149 inc delivery for my SRE heater from them just a few winters ago, and their price also seems to have gone up by yet another £10 since last month!. I would perhaps suggest buying one soon, or there won’t be much saving to be made over buying a Corona from a UK source. I know a few people who already have chosen to buy a “Branded” Corona heater for the extra £30 – £40 rather than the Cheaper Brico version, even though, personally, I rate them equally.
I may remove the Brico link page as its not so much of a deal anymore, but if anybody knows a cheaper alternative for these heaters then please comment the link below and I will promote it.
thank you for your advice.am living in 3 rooms cotage house and i want use this heather like main source because central oil heathing in mi house is expensive for one person.It uses only two rooms in the evening since the whole day of work and home is only 15 degrees when they return to work.
Ordered the heater a few days ago and I decided to get the small Mr Funnel from the eBay link. Funnel arrived today, just need the heater now. :-)
Heater arrived today and at first I was a little disappointed as the first thing I saw was ‘Made in China’ on the box. I then thought that nearly everything you buy these days is made there so decided I shouldn’t worry about it. The build quality is actually very good.
I chose to try it out with paraffin, just in case it was faulty, so the fuel couldn’t be used as an excuse not to repair/replace it under guarantee.
Anyway, I needn’t have worried as it fired up lovely and gave out loads of heat, even running at only 800 watts.
One extra bonus is that on eBay it’s listed as £189.99, but the receipt reads €189.99, so hopefully it’s cost me under £160.00. I’ll post again when the bill comes in.
Hello Admin,
Thank you so much for taking the trouble to research and offer all of this advice. I have been a fan of Paraffin heating for years, no doubt because my mother used it to keep us toasty warm throughout my childhood through the fifties and sixties and I am still here!. In those days, other than an open fire or electric there was little more choice to be had. I still use an Aladdin blue flame and also have a KSP Ruby which warms the whole downstairs rooms and even up stairs as we are open plan. It is a wonderful heater. I have ordered an Inverter heater and it seems to be the same model that you have talked about. We intend to replace the gas and electric as our main heating and cut it down to a minimum, maybe only for hot water due to the rip-off costs. We love it and are certainly warm and cosy. Keep up with your excellent work and thank you once again.
Hi George,
Thank you for your kind words. This blog is pretty much a “work in progress”, which will be constantly updated as the technology evolves, and more and more users of these heaters contribute their own experiences and advice. Right now it serves to give advice to those who feel trapped by the constant rising of energy prices, and that it is possible to save some money without having to make the sacrifice of being freezing cold and uncomfortable in the process.
I’m a child of the 70’s, an era when Storage heaters and Gas Central heating was gaining ground and becoming the heating of choice in modern new build houses. However I fondly remember walking to school, past the local garage, complete with its self service paraffin pump on the forecourt, in fact I believe that even then paraffin was widely available from virtually every petrol station and hardware shop, and it cost very little, at least in real terms compared to the inflated prices of the pre-packaged stuff today.
Hopefully, the growth of heaters such as these will trigger a return to seeing paraffin and kerosene being easier to obtain and more widely available as I know that many visitors to this website are having difficulty sourcing a supply of fuel locally, especially those in larger cities, who are often restricted to the small 4 and 5 litre containers sold in DIY Stores, which often equates to a cost over £2 a litre. A price which is quite ridiculous, considering its a duty rebated heating fuel, and far easier and cheaper to refine in bulk than petrol.
Its quite ironic, that energy prices have now rocketed to the point where many consumers are actively returning to the traditional fuels which were popular many decades ago, such as paraffin heaters, open fires and wood burners and I can see this trend continuing as the energy companies try to squeeze more and more people towards fuel poverty. Hopefully, heaters such as these, will at least allow us to even the balance a little.
Hi admin, Thank you for your reply and what you have said is very true. Over the years, it seems to have been engineered, what with the clean air act coming into effect back in the sixties, which had to happen with all the London smog’s that I can remember very well. In return, most new built houses since then have been designed without chimneys and therefore steering everyone towards cleaner gas central heating. It was a god send to those of us that had never known such luxury, but it has got to the stage where they have us by the short and whats names!. I have now received my new Inverter heater and I am as warm as toast right now, what a great investment. All I worry about now is that the powers that be, do not start pricing us out of Paraffin as people start to revert back to our good old favorite and very reliable form of heating, we can but keep our fingers crossed. Thank you for your time and my best regards. George.
Hi, can anyone help and work out how much it would cost to have one of these heaters on 24/7 in cold weather. I lost my home and have come to live with a relative with all of my many cats. The cats are housed outside in a summerhouse and a garage with duvets and sofas etc, but as they are elderly they must be kept warm. My calor gas heating bill from late last August to the last bottle I purchased in early June amount to over £3000! I cannot repeat the same this winter as I simply cannot afford it. So please, can anybody work out for me how much it would cost having one of these heaters on 24/7. Both the summerhouse and the garage cat studio have plenty of ventilation. Thank you somebody. xxxxx
Hi Yvonne,
There are a lot of variables in working out how much it is going to cost to heat any room, aspects such as the physical size of the room, the desired temperature, the level of insulation in the fabric of the building and of course the outside temperature at any given time. So for example it is going to cost many times as much to heat a 20ft x 15ft room with poor insulation, than it would to heat a 10ft x 10ft room with a large amount of modern wall and ceiling insulation.
The same variables apply to the outside temperature also, for example you are going to need more energy / fuel to heat a room to 18c when its -10c outside than you would to heat it to the same 18c when its 7c outside, so as you can see its not just a case of saying it will cost a fixed £5 per day, everyday throughout winter, as the demands on the heater and how much fuel it consumes are going to change on a daily basis depending on how cold it is that day, and how high the room temperature is set on the heater.
One of the best ways of saving money on heating, any heating is to better insulate the room, this may be as simple as carpeting the inside walls (if it is an outbuilding) to add a cheap, simple layer of insulation to better insulating the doors with draught excluder. Ideally you need to choose the building which has the best level of insulation to house your cats as this of course will be the cheapest to heat.
On its lowest setting a Paraffin Inverter heater will run for around 56 hours on 4 litres of Paraffin / heating oil, which equates to around 14 hours use per 1 litre of fuel. On the surface this sounds very attractive and cheap, however you will need to decide whether the lowest setting of the heater will be enough to keep the room heated 24/7, or whether the heater will be switching to its higher setting(s), which wil of course consume much more paraffin.
At the other end of the Scale, the heater will consume 1 litre of paraffin / heating oil for every 3.3 hours of use, which is on its most highest setting. From experience, your usage will probably fall somewhere between the two points, again depending on how cold it is outside and how well the room holds the heat, hence it is extremely difficult to pin down an exact running cost.
I use two of these heaters for heating an entire flat, and in the coldest winter months, I use around £40 – £45 worth of heating oil every month, based on Evening and Weekend domestic use at a 21c room temperature setting, so compared to a £3000 Calor bill then I suspect that there is some scope for you to save money by switching over to an Inverter Heater, however do make sure that you are able to easily obtain heating oil (cheaper than paraffin) locally, I pay around 65p per litre, and its an idea to stockpile several containers worth over the summer (when heating oil is cheaper), as the price tends to escalate suddenly as Autumn approaches and demand increases!.
Finally, I suspect that you could also save money simply by using a cheap 1kw heater in the room for your cats, I have worked out that a 1kw heater running continuously for 24 hours a day would only cost £86 per month or £860 for the same 10 months where you have paid £3000 for Calor, so my advice is that MOST alternative forms of heating would seem to work out cheaper than using Calor in this application.
I am contemplating buying 2 of these heaters. I have found your blog so encouraging. Just a few questions
1) Am I correct in saying using heating oil may effect the warranty ??
2) I would try and keep the warranty or some sort of emergency cover on it, I am guessing that it would only be covered if I use the oil the manufacturer recommend ?
3) Am I correct in understanding you said it saves about 1/3 on the cost of fuel by using heating oil? I am trying to way up the difference between using the cheaper option and jeopardising the warranty against the possible cost of repairs.
4) What is the safest way of storing the fuel,it will be outside.
5) If I chose to, would I be able to buy 500 litres and store it in a regular Oil Tank? Could I get one fitted, raised up with a tap do you think?
Thank you again Mr Admin for all your help and advice in advance
Rita Lloyd
Sorry forgot these questions
1) What is the biggest quantity one can get the recommended Paraffin in?
2) Where would I get and what sort of tank would I need to store that in?
3) If they stop working for any reason and it was out of warranty, who would one turn to to get it repaired
4) Is it possible and do they need servicing annually??
Think that is it !!!!!! Many thanks
Hi Rita,
Whether using domestic heating oil in these heaters will void the warranty, is largely down to the wording in the warranty section of the user manual, as it does vary from manufacturer to manufacturer. For example, the manual for a Corona Heater states that the user should only use premium fuel in their Inverter Heaters, which if the warranty is to be preserved, effectively means using only the recommended £1.40+ litre premium pre-packed fuel from the heater dealers and larger DIY chains. Unfortunately this negates any real savings in using these heaters to replace Electric Heaters or Storage Heaters, especially when the one off purchase cost of the actual heater(s) is also added into the equation.
However some of the Chinese Heaters are a little more flexible in relation to the fuel, and my cheap imported ‘Kero’ heater states in the user manual that Kerosene Fuel should be used, and since 28 second heating oil sold in the UK is essentially Kerosene, then there should be no problem with the warranty.
It all comes down to how much you value your warranty, over the potential to save money over your future energy bills. I took a little bit of a gamble and I have been lucky in that both of my heaters are still going strong well outside of their warranty period. If this Winter they stopped working, the money I have already saved over Electricity, would replace them both and at the same time, still offer a saving over what I would be paying to Npower or Eon.
The void between Kerosene (Heating Oil) and Premium Paraffin is huge at the moment, around 70p – £1.00 a litre cheaper for heating oil compared to pre-packaged premium paraffin, depending on what the premium products are sold for locally, so it doesn’t take long to get back the cost of the heater, *IF* it should fail in the warranty period.
Unfotunately, you can only buy the Premium Paraffin products in 4 litre containers in the UK usually from Hardware stores and DIY Chains, which works out very expensive. You can sometimes find 20 or 25 litre drums online, however since the Royal Mail stopped carrying hazardous fluids in 2012, its extremely expensive to buy these products by mail, as the special carriage charges are often three times the cost of the actual purchase. This is another reason to find, buy and transport your own fuel from a local broker.
You also have to take into account, that in Japan (Where these heaters are routinely used in place of central heating) they largely only have Kerosene available locally, “Premium” products are largely unknown in places like Japan and the U.S. Perhaps its a European thing. So if you did get unlucky and the heater fail under warranty, I suspect that it would be nothing to do with the fuel, considering their popularity in non premium product places, like Japan.
I would, however, recommend using one of the “Mr Funnel” type filters to filter the fuel as it goes into the heater tank, as we do see some small amounts of water, dirt and rust particles in fuel which has been bulk stored in underground tanks, at some point in its distribution.
In respect of storing the fuel, I use basic plastic 25 litre “Jerry Cans”, and visit my local fuel broker about once a month (in mid winter) to fill 4 containers (100 litres) this can easily (and legally) be carried in a domestic car / small van. I then keep these in the Garden Shed (alternatively they could be kept in one of those lockable plastic Garden chests, which are designed to hold gardening tools). These 25 litre containers often carry fruit juice for the licensed trade and various other trade fluids. If you have one of the commercial car washing businesses locally (e.g IMO), they are also used to carry detergent, and often these businesses are happy to give them away as they usually have to pay for them to be disposed of. Ebay is also another option.
In fact Ebay has many weird and wonderful containers for sale, ranging from 30 / 60 litre screw top barrels, to 120 litre ‘rain butt’ type containers. Provided the top is removal and air tight (with the top in place) then anything can be used. Most house insurance policies allow you to keep upto 100 or so litres of fuel at the address provided its outside of the house in a shed or other outbuilding. Anything above 100 litres then you would need a proper ‘bunded’ fuel container, which are often used for domestic heating oil boilers and store 500+ litres.
There is nothing stopping you from obtaining your own small bunded heating oil tank of 500 litres, however you would have to buy this outright as the fuel brokers will only subsidise them as part of an oil fired boiler heating installation contract, and they can be as much as several hundred pounds although they do appear on Ebay as second hand. If you did choose for a bunded heating oil tank, you could site it in the garden and have a fuel delivery broker of your choice to come and fill it from a tanker. Provided its an approved tank and you meet the minimum delivery quantities, I suspect that they won’t know (or care) whether its feeding a boiler or your inverter heater.
Other alternatives, are IBC’s of 600 and 1000 litres (Google or Ebay them), however if you are intending to have a local broker deliver to you from a road tanker, you would need to check first that your local broker is happy to fill IBC’s from their tanker though, as often they will only fill approved bunded tanks – although I suspect most won’t care as long as its located in the Garden away from the house, in good condition with no leaks and they can reach it with their hose.
If you do choose a smaller container / drum (25 – 100 litres) try and fill the container as far to the top as you can to minimise air gaps and screw on the air tight lid / cap as tight as possible.
I have only serviced my heaters once in about 4 years, and I did this myself (I have put a guide and a “how to” on this website) which can probably be carried out by anybody with a reasonable level of DIY Skill. If you prefer not to do or try this yourself then I would suspect that most plumbers or heating engineers would be more than happy to service it, or alternatively there was a place in Preston who advertise their services over the Winter months and offer mail order servicing of Inverter Heaters for around £45 per heater, the contact name for the person dealing with this was Alex and the number given was 07988774336 – however I have never personally used this company.
Most problems can be avoided by keeping the fuel stored in air tight containers, away from sunlight, and filtering it as it goes into the heater tank, as well as basic routine monthly maintenance such as cleaning the fuel filter and air filter. Using the correct start up / switch off routine as described in the manual also prevents the heater jets becoming clogged with carbon.
Finally, given your questions, I would perhaps advise that you start out with just one heater first, and at the same time establish a local supply of fuel. Once your confidence in using these heaters grows, you can then add another heater at a later date. This was what I did, and so far, four years on, I have no regrets, just the saving of around £40 – £50 a month in my monthly Electricity bills during the colder months.
Great blog- just bought my own inverter and am so happy not being so stressed as I was when I turned on the electric heaters. I have contacted a local place in london who is offering lowest price 92p/ litre for 28 kerosene at the pump (own can). Seems really expensive in comparison to what you have posted especially as it looks like the price is dropping like mad and the market price is about 51 (http://www.boilerjuice.com/). Any advice on if this is just the markup in fall or if I should keep looking? Also, roughly how many litres during an average winter month do you use?
Hi Mark,
92p per Litre does sound expensive, I currently pay 67p per litre from an heating oil supplier on the Staffordshire – West Midlands border who has a similar set up (Pump on the premises), and even at the price i’m paying, I consider this to be expensive compared to what I was originally paying when this blog was originally written.
I suspect that local competition in your area plays a part in this, (or rather lack of competition) and I would think that they are perhaps the only heating oil supplier in the area who has a self service pump for small quantities, perhaps you could try and persuade any other local heating oil brokers to invest in a pump on their premises? and this will increase the competition and eventually reduce the prices. The price of Kero may also be higher in the City than a rural area due to a lower number of properties using oil fired heating and requiring a regular bulk tank delivery.
I am constantly frustrated regarding the premium which some heating oil suppliers place on small quantities of heating oil sold via self service pump, dispensed into a customers’ container. I appreciate that the best prices are always going to come from bulk buying 500+ litres at a time, and that there are some additional overheads in relation to buying, calibrating, insuring and maintaining a pump which is accessible to the public, however some of the premiums levied per litre between a self service sale over a tanker delivery is just blatant profiteering, especially when you consider that such self service purchases negate the need to fuel and run a delivery tanker to an address or the driver to make the delivery and i’m sure that these self service sales are only so expensive because of the lack of competition and basic old fashioned greed, especially at a time (Oct 2014) when oil prices have taken a tumble and we have seen a mild start to the Autumn.
All that I can suggest is that you continue shopping around, perhaps widening your search area if you have the means to transport a container a further distance. I do have to travel about 45 minutes each way, in order to get the price i’m currently paying for Kero, however I take three containers per trip in order to offset the cost and make the journey worthwhile. Although I appreciate that this is only possible if you have suitable transport and also the facilities to safely store a quantity of fuel. Suffice to say that the lowest prices do tend to be in areas with the biggest demand for Kerosene.
Hopefully as the interest and demand for these heaters continues, the competition will increase and the price of the kero will eventually fall everywhere as more and more fuel brokers recognise that there is a trend for consumers requiring smaller quantities of fuel.
There is a bit of good news however, even at 92p per litre it works out that you are paying about 9.2p per kw/h for heat, compared to 12p per kw/h for Electricity on the best standard tariff (or 16p+ per kw/h on the daytime rate if you are on Economy 7) so you are still saving money over using Electric Heating even at these prices. Hopefully you will eventually find a supplier whose Kero prices are a little more realistic.
To answer your other question, last Winter was relatively mild, so its probably more accurate to use my consumption for 2012/3 which was more of a typical UK winter. On average, I used around 10 – 12 litres per week of standard Kero during the coldest period, this figure was the combined fuel usage of two heaters, one heater being used in the living area for around 5 hours per week-night, and 10 hours per weekend day, the other heater just being used for a 10 – 20 minute blast to warm up a bedroom prior to going to bed.
Amazing! Thanks for the detailed reply- extremely useful. I will buy a small quanitity for now and keep looking! This is really a great option. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Mark
I’m in Hertfordshire and am having trouble finding Kero – would you mind telling me where you are getting your from on pump?
Currently I am transporting it from my parents house in wales who have oil filred central heating – its not ideal.
Hi,
many thanks for the detailed information…you’ve really done your research! I’ve taken the plunge and bought one off ebay
http://fave.co/1xKxuDP
from Brica Brava. It’s the SRE304 model with 3KW output. I bought it with a 10% off voucher too, bringing the cost to just over £150 including delivery! I’ve also bought a Mr Funnel, so I’m now looking for the cheapest supply of Kerosene in the local area. I live in South Staffs, and regularly travel to Birmingham. I’ve found a company in Erdington that can supply Kerosene in 25 litre quantities from a pump for 75p a litre…is there any chance you could let me know where you get it for 67p on the Staffs/West Mids border? It’d be less distance to travel, and every little helps! I’ll keep you all informed as to how I get on with it…I want to heat my conservatory with it- I’ve been using an old 70s Valor radiant paraffin heater, but the cost of premium paraffin is ridiculous. I’ve been buying it from a pump in a hardware shop in Sheldon, Birmingham for £1.65 a litre. I’m hoping that the difference between that and cheaper kerosene will make a big difference to the monthly fuel budget.
Thanks again for all the advice.
Jerry.
Hi Jerry,
Unfortunately my previous supplier has stopped selling Kero from the Pump and now only deliver in 500 litre bulk deliveries to those with heating oil tanks. I’m guessing that the existing supplier you use in Erdington is GB Fuel?.
I have since switched supplier and use a company in Cheadle, Staffordshire called Stoddards. Its a bit more of a trek, but I buy in 80 – 100 litre batches from their pump, which last me for quite a few months. The current price is 72p a litre, which is more than I like to pay but it is slightly cheaper than 75p, and will do until I find another alternative source locally. Its still better than the £1.50+ per litre from B&Q!.
One thing that I have found is if you build up a rapport with the supplier and keep going back to them over a period, they get to know you, and are a little bit more likely to give you a bit of a loyalty discount (if you keep asking them for it!!). After all, they are already charging a very generous 15p – 20p per litre premium at the pump on exactly the same fuel which they deliver to customers with bulk tanks for about 54p per litre, and their overheads are actually lower at the pump as they don’t have to pay for the diesel & running cost for the tanker and the wages of a driver to deliver it!. So be prepared to negotiate a little after you have given the supplier continuous business.
I’ve given Stoddards’ information below, should you want to consider them.
Stoddards Fuel
Telephone: 01538 752253
Greenhill Garage
Leek Road
Cheadle
Staffordshire
ST10 1JF
Just one other thing which is worth a mention at this point. If any UK based heating oil vendors who can supply small quantities of Kerosene for users of these heaters are reading this, then you are welcome to post a (Free) advert for your company here along with your business website url and contact details. This site currently gets around 3500 hits per month during the Winter Months (and visits are growing on an annual basis, as is the popularity of these types of heater), so its a very effective form of targeted advertising and it costs nothing.
This same invitation also applies to users of these heaters, it would be good if you could also share your sources of Kerosene (heating oil) on this comments section too, in order to help other inverter heater owners in your area.
Thanks for the advice.
Yes, it is GBfuels in Erdington…I work in Birmingham so I’m intending on using them regularly over the coming months. Just hope my heater’s suited to kerosene. It’s a Zibro clone, not a Corona (as previously mentioned on this thread). I just hope they haven’t put in some kind of sneaky modification to ensure it doesn’t run on Kero, just premium. That’d be just my luck!
Thanks for the info on Stoddards- However, it’s slightly further to Cheadle from home than to Erdington and doesn’t make the 3p saving per litre worthwhile. Great idea asking for a loyalty discount as I order more Kero over the Winter. I’ve also got a multifuel burner in the house, so I might order my coal from GBfuels too. Hopefully, a better chance of a loyalty discount!
Thanks again.
Jerry.
Hi Jerry,
If its a fan blown Inverter Heater similar to the Corona Heater then it should work fine, there are several different clones of the Corona heaters sold all over the world, but they all use a similar format and design. The only heaters which I don’t recommend using Heating Oil in, are the wick based radiant heaters, similar to the one on the link below, as these get sooty when used on anything but Premium Paraffin.
http://fave.co/1sX83sg
The Fan based Inverter Heaters work completely differently using a type of small scale injection process rather than the old style wick, so they can be used with standard Kero.
Its worth remembering that Kerosene and Paraffin are just generic names for what is exactly the same fuel, and the Japanese (who are the biggest consumers for these products) run their heaters on Kerosene routinely, which is exactly the same fuel as we use in the UK for 28 second heating oil, so the manufacturers would be loosing a big chunk of their international market if they ever stopped the heaters from running on Kero!
Premium Paraffin, is just a big marketing ploy for what is slightly better refined Kerosene, the extra refining process removes most of the Aromatics, making it virtually odourless and more hence its more appealing when sold to fuel anything which is used indoors. Of course, premium fuel also comes with a premium price.
Another fuel that works very well with these heaters, is Jet-A1 which is used to fuel helicopters and light aircraft. This again, is just nicely refined Kerosene with a few additives to stop it icing at low temperatures. Unfortunately unless you live close to a small airfield, its beyond the reach of most people. But I do know a few people who live close to small airfields with pay at the pump Jet A1 facilities, so they can just roll up with their containers, swipe their credit cards on the pump and then dispense as much as they like into their containers.
Whatever fuel you use, the only time that these heaters give out their distinctive Kerosene smell is when they first start up and again when they go through the shut down process, but its brief and will never pose much of an issue.
Sorry for the late reply Huw. I get my Kerosene for 92 p -L in North London at a pump. I have asked them for a cheaper price but they have refused. I suggest if you go there ask them as well. I will keep asking them and eventually the pressure will work. The name is Adams bottled gas.
Address: 89 The Ave, London, New Southgate N11 1NF
Phone:020 8368 8936
Open weekdays and sat until 13.
Hi,
I had the Inverter delivered from Italy last Wednesday. It’s branded as a ‘Royal’ heater, and made in China. After reading the extensive instructions, I thought I’d fill it with premium paraffin to make sure it worked ok. It did, and threw out a heck of a lot of heat! As you say, it smells only for a brief time when you start it up, and switches off. When it’s running there’s no smell. The 5 litre tank lasted till Saturday morning- I had it on ‘save’ setting, which keeps the room at a set temperature, switching on and off as needed. It’s been used to heat a conservatory. Saturday afternoon…crunch time! I decided to fill it up with kerosene (after being put through a ‘Mr. Funnel’ orange filter) and switch it on. I sat there with a fire extiguisher, just in case!!! It fired up beautifully, and has been working on kero ever since. The flame isn’t as blue as when using premium, but it seems to throw out the same amount of heat. There’s no more of a smell either. The only error warning I’ve got is E11 (which is insufficient ventilation), but opening a door and window a little more usually solves the problem. I really hope it keeps going. Would you recommend using this ‘exocet’ additive? It’s just over £11 a bottle on ebay, but wondered if there’s any real need for it.
Thanks again for the advice.
Keep warm!
Jerry.
Hi Jerry.
Thanks for the feedback, its good to know that Kerosene is also working for you, and by switching from expensive Premium Paraffin to standard 28 second Kero, you will save a fortune. Its now three years since I made the switch myself, and both of my heaters still work just fine, with no ill effects to them or me, and I use them for my main heating in both a living room and bedroom.
Using a “Mr Funnel” is the most important thing, Kero can easily absorb water and tiny rust particles when stored in underground tanks at the fuel depot or brokers, both of which these heaters are very sensitive too, so its an important that the fuel is essentially de-watered and filtered via the funnel when filling the heater tank.
The ‘Exocet’ is an additive which is used to reduce soot and carbon deposits in Kero Fueled AGA’s I figured that since it was used in such an expensive piece of equipment, that it couldn’t do any harm when used in these heaters, especially if it keeps the ignitor and flame rod clear of carbon build up for a little bit longer (both of these components require a routine, basic clean every few years, which is easy to DIY). But its use is optional, as I have no way of actually seeing whether there are any actual benefits in using it or not., or at least enough to justify its expense. I tend to use it occasionally, perhaps a couple of times a year just to clean it through.
Kero Additives, just like the ones used in car fuel tanks can tread a fine line between being beneficial and snake oil so I try to be careful about what I recommend. I am testing an additive at the moment which is supposed to be better for Kero fired boilers than just raw Kerosene alone, its slightly more expensive than Exocet but its a much bigger bottle, so it works out cheaper per litre of Kero than Exocet. Ive just serviced both of my heaters, and i’m trying the new additive in one heater, and no additive in the other, then i’m going to check the internal parts to see whether the additive does make it burn cleaner and so keep the combustion components cleaner, thus extending the intervals between servicing.
You will get between 10kw and 11kw worth of heat from every litre of Kerosene burned. No additive will increase this output, despite any miracle claims which may be made by the manufacturer to the contrary, so any additive should be used with a view to keeping both the heater combustion chamber and its components cleaner between services, rather than increasing heat output!.
These heaters are already 99% efficient, with or without an additive so thats already pretty hard to improve. Thanks to the fact that they require no external flue, all of the heat goes into the room, rather than a large percentage escaping up a Chimney as is the case with a Boiler, Gasfire or woodburner.
However just like any open fire, portable gas heater or any form of heater which uses combustion, good natural room ventilation is required, so as you have found, if the room isn’t naturally drafty, or has a good level of sealed double glazing then opening a window or a vent a little bit is a good idea. These heaters do have several safety devices incorporated which cut off the heater if the room isn’t ventilated enough or the heater is too big for a room (Generally to stop people using them in a tent or similar) which make them very safe, far safer than portable gas heaters.
Hi,
Out of your remit but do you think that kero would be OK for Tilley lamps/Primus stoves/hurricane lamps, I too am hacked off with £6.50 for 4 litres paraffin at B&Q and it gets mighty cold on my wooden boat in winter.
Good link for traditional paraffin technology and spares is http://www.base-camp.co.uk/
Paul
I would be quietly confident that the Tilley Lamp would run fine on 28 second heating oil, but not so sure about the other two. Didn’t Primus make two different options / designs for their stoves?, one using Paraffin type fuel the other using White Gas spirit based design (Coleman Fuel). I think the newer Primus stoves like the Omnifuel would happily work with a wide variety of fuels, including 28 second Kero, but as for a more traditional designs, I couldn’t say for sure, too many variations and models. However if you have already tried the stove on Paraffin then it could work on 28 second heating oil, but if you do decide to try it, just use a small amount at first.
Typically I’ve done things the wrong way around, i.e. buy the heater first then do the research later having stumbled upon this useful blog hours after my heater arrived!
It’s a 3200w Japanese-made unit. I have no intention of putting anything other than kerosene in it pulled from my central heating tank. In use within moments of coming out of the box I’m impressed! Portable cheap safe heat. I’m wondering whether anyone’s looked at trying to get one to run off of a leisure battery, [without an inverter]? That would provide emergency heat during power cuts, or in a remote building, campervan etc. Of course it would mean bye bye warranty digging around in the electronics but would make them even more versatile.
Briefly talking about cheap heat I’ve also recently had a Mitsubishi air-source heat pump installed. Cost under £1K. Designed to heat a largish room it provides background heat to my 4 bed house for pennies, [and as much pure water as you could ever want]! My unit will not draw more than 1KW and can provide up to 5kw output.
Anyway, great blog, here’s to cheaper heat!
Hi Haydn
Thanks for taking the time to comment. I imagine that it would be possible to run the heater directly from a 12v / 24v source, however it would require a lot of modification. The biggest problem would be the combustion chamber pre-heater element. Currently it is directly mains fed, and consumes around 540w – 800w @ 230v (depending on the heater model).
The consumption is only brief, as the heater element only serves to pre-heat the chamber, during the heater start up stage to aid ignition and start the initial combustion – and is usually energised for about 30 – 45 seconds. However it would be difficult to replicate that heat source, in such a short period of time from a low voltage supply.
There are also different voltage rails supplied to the control panel, some of them above 12v, so if you intended to use it from a 12v supply, you would need to use some kind of SMPS converter in order to boost the supply rails which are above 12v on the main control PCB.
I imagine its possible to do all of this, but a question mark would hang over the cost, and the level of experience required to modify it to this level, and it is probably beyond all but the most experienced of Electronic enthusiasts!.
It would probably be easier to run it from an Inverter, of course it would have to be adequately rated in order to supply upto 800w at 230v, which would draw 70 Amps from the battery supply during the pre-heat stage. However, as I said before, this initial current only applies for the first minute that the heater is switched on to pre-heat the chamber, beyond that the continuous Electricity consumption hovers around 20W which is less than 2A from the 12v supply and would enable a reasonable amount of use from a heavy duty leisure battery.
Yes, you’re right, an inverter and very meaty leisure battery would be the way to go unless you have an ology in Electronics. Thanks for thinking that one through!
I have used my paraffin heaters for a long time but now i’m finding that it’s costing me more and more to get the paraffin for it, when many of my colleagues and friends seem to be getting more economy out of electric heaters.
I can see this being the last year I use my trusty paraffin heater, but it has served me very well for many years.
Each situation is unique as not all properties are the same size, and require the same amount of heat. When I talk to friends who have Gas Central Heating, I find that even though they all live in similar Three Bedroom Properties and have the same number of occupants, their Direct Debits for Gas vary between £50 and £80 per month – no two cases or two utility bills are the same, and you could easily use the same philosophy towards Electric Heating, the costs for this method will vary greatly from property to property also, and just because one person professes to spend very little on their Energy bill, doesn’t mean that it will be the same for somebody else in a different property, for a start their thermostats may be set lower.
The only way you will know for sure is to go back to using Electric Heating for a season or even a month, and see how the Winter month costs compare to what you are spending on Paraffin / Kero. Electricity prices are volatile, and so far this Winter we haven’t seen the annual increases announced and eventually kick in (Yet) so that is still to come. Also bear in mind that Electricity prices are set to rise over the coming five years, in order to cover the cost of the national Smart Meter roll out. In comparison, Heating Oil Kerosene prices have remained fairly stable, i’m still paying around the same per litre as I did back in 2011 – unfortunately I can’t say the same for my Electricity tariff.
For me personally, with Economy 7 daytime peak Electricity prices hovering at just under 20p per kw/h it would never make sense to give up using an Inverter Heater on Kerosene, which still costs me roughly 7p per kw/h (based on 70p per litre). Looking at even the best Electricity standard tariffs, it still appears that Electricity on a standard single tariff is 11p – 12p per KW/h which still gives the Inverter Heater some 4p – 5p advantage over Electric Heating even if I wasn’t an Economy 7 customer, and these little differences soon add up.
I still spend around £40 – £45 a month on Heating Oil for my two inverter heaters, back in 2010 when I was “All Electric” I was using around £100 – £120 a month at this time of year using a mixture of Three storage heaters and a convector heater to top up one room, once the storage heaters had exhausted their stored heat (usually by around 6pm – 7pm). Since Electricity hasn’t reduced in price since the last time I used it to heat with, I know that unless my heating oil costs reach that same monthly level that I was paying for Electricity originally, then I know that i’m still saving money.
Of course it does all depend on your own costs, the closer you get to paying £1.10 a litre for the fuel, the closer you get to Electricity becoming the cheaper option, and once you pass £1.10 a Litre for the fuel, then Electricity, (provided you are on a very good tariff) does become cheaper
Just to update the thread that Stoddards based in Cheadle, Staffs have just dropped their Kerosene heating oil from the pump prices – now down to 70p per litre. Just turn up with your containers and self serve from their pump.
Stoddards Fuel
Telephone: 01538 752253
Greenhill Garage
Leek Road
Cheadle
Staffordshire
ST10 1JF
Hi,
Just to update you, the inverter is still working well on kerosene, using an orange Mr. Funnel to filter it. I’ve had no warning codes on the display (apart from the odd E11 when I forget to open the window or leave a door open) and certainly none to indicate water in the fuel. In fact, I used the last of my ‘Premium’ paraffin a couple of weeks ago and there seemed to be more dirt and water left in the filter funnel from that than from the Kero (the premium paraffin was also from a pump). The local supplier (GBFuels in Erdington) have just reduced their price to 65p per litre- it’s a bit of a pain making the journey to fill the container, but when I’m roasting hot in the conservatory for 6.5p per KWH it’s worth it :)
Thanks again for the advice!
Hello. This foram could be very useful for me. I live in shepway, Kent. I rent a two bed detached property. It’s an upside down house, with the bedrooms downstairs. This is due to a raised entrance to the upper floor which consists of a largish lounge/ kitchen which has a high ceiling which pitches with the roof. It’s an old building.
….yes that’s right. It’s freezing right now!! There is no gas. Only electric. I am on key metre. So im paying stupid money. But the location is perfect for me and my daughter ( school/ work).
It is almost impossible to find nice affordable property around here. Now I know why it was reasonable. The heating cost!!!!
The electric heaters are not even storage. I have not dared to put them on. I use my own oil filled ones. This isn’t much better. They take ages to heat my larger room to. If at all.
Help!! My tennancy runs out in couple of months. Im thinking of moving. I would be happy to pay the costs to change from a pre payment metre if I could find a cheaper form of heating.
Someone mentioned parrafin heater to me on Monday. Now I want to get one or two. They sound great! I was hoping one in my daughter bedroom might convect heat to the upper room,through the ceiling and up the stairs.
So would you suggest the Italian one from eBay? Im also trying to source a local Fuel supplier. Oh and how long do they take to be delivered?
Many thanks. It’s fascinating reading
Hi Paul.
I feel your pain, I live in a rural area with no local mains gas supply, so I couldn’t have gas even if I wanted it (Unless I won the lottery!), even though I have Economy 7 storage heating, back in 2010 when I moved in, I was putting in between £100 and £150 a month at this time of year just to use it, and yes that was on a Prepayment Key Meter just like you have, (which works out about 1/3 more expensive than the best Direct Debit credit tariff). I hate to think what it would cost if I was running convector or oil filled radiators now.
It was my own experience, in being in pretty much the same situation as you (I still am) which gave birth to this blog, and I was so impressed with them, and the money they saved me, that I began sharing my own experiences of Paraffin Inverter Heaters, one of which is heating my Living Room, even as I type this reply, and heating now costs me a more reasonable £40 – £45 per month in Kerosene during the mid-winter months, and that’s with the heaters set at 21c and 22c.
First of all, in relation to the Oil Filled Radiators, such as those made by Delonghi, Dimplex etc. These are no more cheaper to run than the equivalent rated convector, fan heater or radiator, and a 1500w heater will consume 1500w of Electricity and cost the same to run, whether its a convector, fan heater, oil radiator or an old fashioned electric fire, and will all give out 1500w worth of heat. Oil Radiators do sometimes give the illusion that they are cheaper to run as they continue to emit heat, even when the Thermostat has clicked off, however when this happens you are just outputting heat which has already been paid for when the element was consuming power – its just that its first been transferred into oil as heat storage.
The Paraffin Inverter heaters will certainly save you money over your Electricity costs, especially when heating more than one room and replacing more than one electric heater of any kind. However they will only save you money when they are run on cheap domestic heating oil (Kerosene). The manufacturers will always dictate that you should only use odourless or C1 premium paraffin in the heaters, however in the UK, this recommended fuel costs between £1.50 and £2.00 per litre, making it more expensive than Electricity!.
However i’ve personally run two different models of these heaters on nothing but ordinary, standard, UK domestic heating oil as my main form of household heating since 2010 with no adverse effects, however you accept that do this at your own risk, but as you can read here, many others are also running inverter heaters on heating oil also, some longer than I have.
Most heating oil distributors will only bulk deliver (500+ liters) to those with oil fired heating and garden tanks, however some places have their own pumps, where a customer can dispense the kerosene from the pump into their own container(s) on a self service basis. It may be worth googling or phoning around the heating oil brokers in your area to see whether any local ones will sell you Kero from the pump. Alternatively if you know or work with anybody who uses domestic oil fired central heating, then you could arrange to buy from them at cost, and pump it from their garden storage tank into containers, this way you can take advantage of using small quantities as you require, but still get the bulk price.
Self service kerosene prices vary from area to area, however they are generally more expensive in smaller quantities, hence why its more cost effective to try and buy from somebody with oil heating (This way you can often get the oil for 50p – 55p per litre). But if not, I pay 70p per litre for my heating oil in small quantities from the pump which works out at around 7p per kw/h in actual heater running costs, compared to 16p per kw/h for heat produced from Pre-Payment tariff Electricity – still a significant saving.
Suffice to say that its probably a good idea to make sure you have found a supply of kerosene available locally before buying the heater(s)!.
I use a Corona Heater, and also one of the cheap Italian ones (Delivery time from Brico Bravo in Italy is around 3 days), and to be honest both heaters are as good as each other, both producing a similar amount of heat, and the Italian one still works flawlessly after 3 years of use despite being £100 cheaper than the Corona model.
Large rooms are very difficult to heat, especially if they have a poor level of insulation and have a high ceiling. When its really cold (sub zero) outside you may need to initially heat the larger room using both heaters, and then when its warmed up, move one of the heaters to the bedroom, leaving one in the living area to maintain the heat level. It all depends on the room temperature when you return home, its possible that one may be enough but at least you will have the flexibility of using two in the large room if required, the best thing about these heaters is that they are just as portable as Electric Heaters, and can easily be moved from room to room if required.
Heat, of course does rise, and so any heat in the bedroom below the larger living room above will certainly take the chill off it, and help to build up the heat on a background level, But I think expecting one inverter heater to heat a bedroom and the upper room at this time of year would be wishful thinking, these heaters output 3kw (3000 watts) worth of heat on their maximum setting, an average Bedroom requires around 1.5kw – 2kw of heating, and a large open plan living area, could require as much as 4kw – 6kw of heating input when its cold outside hence the suggestion that both heaters may be required to initially warm up the living room quickly when its freezing outside, and I also suspect that this is why your existing oil filled heater isn’t warming that room properly, its heat output (KW) is too small for the room size, and effectively the room is losing more heat than the existing heater can produce.
So my advice would be to continue with your plan to buy two inverter heaters, one for the bedroom and one for the larger living area (with the option to temporarily use both heaters in the living area should you wish to heat it quickly when its really cold outside).
Whatever you decide to do you will notice a big improvement using these heaters, not only will you be warm, but you will also be saving as much as 40% – 50% over using the Equivalent rated electric heaters, plus you will find the heat output will be more than the oil rads, with the added advantage that once ignited the heat from these is virtually instant, and blown out by a quiet, very efficient fan – almost as effective on a room to room basis as fixed warm air central heating.
Just a final point about using these heaters in a bedroom, they are fine for heating the room prior to going to bed (I use one myself), or when using the bedroom to watch TV, kids doing homework etc, but just like any combustion heater such as Wood burners, Open Fires, Calor Gas Heaters etc, normal safety advice applies, i.e don’t run them whilst you are asleep. Electric Blankets are far more effective if being cold overnight is ever an issue, and cost very little to run.
Some other tips which may also help. I’ve no idea if the “upside down”, design has an upper loft area, but if it has then make sure its well insulated and you have at least 200mm (ideally 270mm) of loft insulation material depth. If not, then you / your landlord can often get this done free of charge by British Gas (you don’t have to be a BG customer either). Also consider putting a small curtain over external doors to block draughts
If you haven’t already done so, replace any lights with low energy ones, especially if you have any of those little ceiling recessed spotlights in halls, kitchen, bedrooms etc, as these guzzle energy. Replace with low energy CFL lamps or better still, LED types if budget allows.
If you decide to stay in the property, then you should still consider going ahead with your plans to replace the Prepayment Meter with a credit one, even if you use Paraffin Heaters for heat. Even without Electric Heating in the equation Credit Customers pay around £200 per year less for their Electricity compared to Prepayment customers, and all of the best discount deals are offered to those paying by Direct Debit. On this basis, you will recoup the £60 charge to change out the meter fairly quickly, however haggle with the energy companies, some don’t charge for meter changes and others can be haggled to do it for free in order to get you as a new customer. Just make sure you are getting a good price from whoever you change over to, otherwise it defeats the object paying to meter change!.
Hope that this info helps, let me know if you have any more questions.
Thanks so much for your advise. It’s great to know there’s genuine people willing to give time to help. Sometimes finding a way around getting ripped off by utility company’s can be quite hard work. I have a way to go but it’ll be worth it
Am I right in thinking the cheaper Italian model has a timer on it? I would like it to come on before I get home from work, so it’s already heating up.
The other advise was great too, electric blanket, light bulbs etc..
Thanks so much again. I will hopefully order these in the next couple of days. Once iv confirmed a heating oil supplier. I’ll let you know how I get on.
Sorry. Just to confirm. Your cheaper heater. Is it the same as the one linked at the top of the page. I just want to make sure I get a tried and tested model.
Regards, paul