As you can probably tell from my original 2011 blog post entitled “home heating using paraffin inverter heaters”, I am a huge fan of these types of Inverter Heater, which are very popular in households in Japan, where the original design and technology originates from. They are also a very popular form of heating for those living in remote places in Spain, France and Italy and offer a much cheaper alternative to LPG. One of the most popular heaters is the Kero SRE 300, which is sold all over Europe and costs half of the price of the Japanese types such as Corona or Zibro.
The SRE300 is now known as the SRE301, same heater just some further improvements!.
Many people get confused by the brand name of these heaters, as they are marketed under different names and slight model variations. Also known as Tayosan SRE 300, Ruby SRE 300 and Kero SRE 300 or a combination of one or more of the above, the design of the heater is basically the same, as are the specifications, and we can only assume that they heater is exactly the same and is produced on the same production line in the same factory, but just contains a different badge depending on the Country / Distributor it is sold through.
Although the Kero SRE 300 is manufactured in China, you should not be put off by this as many genuine Chinese manufacturers are now trying to break into the lucrative Western market, and so they are not going to jeopardise growing this reputation in the early stages by selling badly made rubbish!. The build quality of the SRE300 is excellent, and the heat produced is remarkable, and I assume that Tayosan is the actual manufacturer who has designed and manufactured the heater. I have purchased and personally used one of these heaters myself as a sole form of domestic heating for the last four years, and it has never let me down, despite being in use several hours per day during the Winter months. So I can attest to its bulletproof reliability, despite being cheaper than most of the Japanese built products, as I also own a Corona 3016 Heater costing almost £100 more, and in my opinion, the £150 SRE300 Heater is just as good and so far, has lasted just as long.
The Kero 300 seems to run happily on domestic kerosene heating oil, although this conflicts with the manufacturer and the user manual who both specify that the inverter heater should only be used with Premium Odourless Paraffin (so you use any non recommended fuels, at your own risk), however four years down the line I have had no faults or reliability issues running the heater on what now must be thousands of litres of domestic heating oil, which currently costs me around 56p per litre, and equates to an actual running cost of around 5.6p per kw/h, so it works out far cheaper to heat my home, than expensive electric heating, LPG or large scale oil fired central heating and the heaters soon pay for themselves in the saving that they make on other bills.
The Kero SRE300 has a built in deodorant function which reduces the start up / switch off smell of the heaters, and it is very effective, you do still get a slight whiff of kerosene when the heater first switches on, and then again when it powers down but this lasts for around 20 seconds, and quickly disperses.
The heat output from the inverter heater is selectable, either 800w (eco mode) or 1900w or 3000w. At its highest setting, the heat output is similar to a large 3kw convector heater or fan heater but its running costs are upto 50% less, costing just 21p per hour when powered by domestic heating oil Kerosene, compared to around 40p per hour for the similar amount of heat produced by Electricity.
Other features of the Kero SRE300 are the built in 24 hour digital timer, so you can set it to warm up the room before you get up, and again when you arrive home in the Evenings. The SRE300 heater contains digital temperature controls, allowing you to set the desired room temperature, which when reached, will automatically reduce the power output from the heater (from 3000w to 800w), reducing the amount of fuel it is consuming and the cost of running it, whilst maintaining the room temperature at the desired level. On this lower 800w setting, the heater consumes around 300ml (0.3L) of heating oil per hour.
For those concerned about running costs, the SRE 300 Inverter Heater also has a ‘SAVE’ feature. When selected, this means that instead of lowering the heat output from the heater, when the desired room temperature is reached, it will actually power down automatically and switch itself off, until the room temperature drops by 1c – 2c, at which point it will re-ignite and begin heating the room again.
The SRE300 also has the same safety features as the more expensive models, it will turn itself off if the heater is knocked or positioned on an unsteady surface, or if the room background CO2 levels rise above normal safe levels. It will also sense combustion problems, poor quality fuel, or flame failure, making it far more safe to use than any similar form of portable gas or open flame heaters.
These heaters use fuel injection technology and a catalyst, making them not only very economical, but very reliable and meaning little annual maintenance and no wicks to replace, they require no external flue which makes them 100% efficient and are completely portable – move them from room to room, house to house, or from house to caravan or workshop, as convenient as a portable gas or Electric heater, but with the fraction of the running costs, and with no installation costs, you can heat an entire home for a fraction of the outlay compared to installing boilers, ground or air source systems or central heating.
Unfortunately the Kero-301 has now been replaced by several newer models since this article was written back in 2015, however you can see the latest Inverter Heater Models and Any Special Offers by checking out the Cheap Inverter Heater Article which is updated seasonally.
If you do find a cheaper source of a similar inverter heater, then please let us know using the comments feature below.
Hi. Like many others including the original writer, i cant say enough abouth these great heaters. All my family own them ( after some persuasion ) and it has made the difference for me, between me heating my home or sitting with loads of jumpers on. The only sad fact is that altough the suppliers are willing to sometimes help there are no forums with more technical help and spare parts are non existant.
These are quite inexpensive until something goes wrong with them and when it renders them useless to pay out for another heater. I have the SRE 300 which has a fan sign coming up when its on minimum running. I have stripped and cleaned everything i can but the supplier has not responded to my questions either and so i have to either run it flat out ar just leave it off.
Any ideas would be very helpful. Maybe it is time for a forum in the UK and maybe getting together to get a load of simple spares??
Cheers,
David
Hi David. Spare parts are available, but unfortunately they seem to be rarely, if ever, actively advertised and made obvious on the distributor website(s). I can only assume that spare parts are not more openly advertised, largely because there is probably more profit to be made from the consumer buying a brand new heater, rather than promoting the spare parts to encourage customers to repair their existing heaters and so replacement parts are sold only when they are directly requested by phone or email, rather than the usual click and checkout process available for the appliances themselves.
Its a shame that distributors seem to take this approach, and don’t opt to display individual spares on their websites however that is their choice and ultimately their prerogative.
In relation to a forum, I don’t think that this would work at this time. Although popularity of Inverter Heaters is increasing on a yearly basis, Inverter Heaters are still largely unknown and underused in the UK for domestic space heating compared to the rest of Europe (which probably also explains the scarcity and expense of the premium fuel here to power them!). I suspect that as Electricity Costs increase sharply in relation to the Electricity Market Reforms expected to be rolled out in the next twelve months, that they will rapidly become more popular from next Winter, as more Electric Heating customers desperately search for a cheaper, portable alternative to their ever increasing energy bills.
The other problem with making a successful forum, is that you need a growing number of active members, all posting on a regular basis. Sadly most visitors will tend to “ask and run”. In other words, they ask a question, get it answered and then when their problem is solved, never comment or follow up again, i’m not sure how that would grow a forum and get it off the ground – a lengthy process which needs many people posting new information and participating on a daily basis.
At the moment i’m more than happy for visitors to ask questions, and share information on the comment section here. If it does reach the stage where there are several new comments appearing every day then i’ll be happy to add a dedicated forum to this website, however at the moment participation, although on the up, is still random and rather ad-hoc, especially during the summer months.
In respect of your own problem, I suspect the speed of the fan is Electronically controlled – (similar to how a dimmer switch controls voltage to a bulb) but based on either the room temp or the mode selected on the control panel, and so the problem could be caused by a failed voltage dropper resistor or a more complex motor speed controller ic. Unless you have a multimeter and are experienced in Electronic fault finding down to circuit board level, the best solution would probably to replace the control circuit board in the heater which probably won’t be economically viable.
Sadly in a lot of appliances electrical problems and failures can occur and these cannot be repaired by cleaning or even be predicted. I know people who have had component failures in appliances ranging from Washing Machines to Central heating boilers, and replacement circuit or control boards are often close to the cost of a new appliance, even when they are sourced.
If you want to link to a couple of close up images of your control circuit board layout, where the fan connector is located then I would be happy to take a look and make suggestions of what may have failed, however you will need some Electrical Repair knowledge to attempt removing and replacing individual components where / if required.
Not been here for a few years…….sorry.
Have been experimenting with all sorts of waste oil burning systems to heat both my home and my kids swimming pool :)
I still have a Corona and the Tayosan. I wrote a whole load of stuff on one of the other forums here about my journey with the Tayosan, servicing, fault finding etc however never really got to the bottom of it. If left to run on max was always good but as soon as it was left on minimum it would conk out after only a couple of minutes.
I am moving house and will be in need of them again so as i run my car on a blended fuel mix with a cetane booster ( 2-EHN ) i am wondering if its worth a drop on the kerosene to assist with effective clean burn which may help.
Hi David, hope you are well, a few months ago i purchased a Tayosan 363 radiant paraffin heater. All has been well until this week when the heater now switches off after only a few minutes. I use Baranteen premium pre packed paraffin, changed the batteries at the back, looked at the wick which has no tar on it and looks clean. The heater is on a level surface and cant be knocked. I have noticed on the plinth at the bottom of the heater there is a little yellow light that flashes on/off just before the heater switches off, you can see the reflection of the light off the metal lip on the outside of the heater base. Any ideas what has gone wrong. Regards Lee Harvey.
Anybody help please I have a Kero SRE4600 heater keeps coming up with E6 error