As you might expect, interest in electric heaters reaches its peak in the winter months. Over the last few years they've flown off the shelves as the nights have drawn in, even after having their prices hiked up rather than cut. If you have a combi boiler, you can make money savings right now by running it more efficiently. Boilers are able to run as low temperature systems, but many are set up to run at full tilt, costing you extra money. It has two downsides. It’s pretty noisy, putting out over 50dB while it’s running, and as it can use over 2.3kW when running at full power it’s not the cheapest option for running over longer periods. However, the thermostat does a decent job of powering down once the room has warmed up and it’s very portable at under 1.5kg. It also has safety features, including a tip-over switch. Consider the brand. We’ll go into more detail in a moment about brand and whether Russell Hobbs is your best option for Heating and cooling. But the point here is just to make sure you’re factoring in brand when considering the quality of a product. Some brands will be better known for quality than others, and no doubt some of the much higher quality brands will attract a higher price for their products.

Russell Hobbs 2000W/2KW Electric Heater in Black PTC Ceramic

If you’re looking for a heater that won’t use much power and helps cut costs on energy bills, your best bet is a halogen heater, a convection heater or an oil-filled radiator, particularly if they have effective thermostat controls. The ideal is to find a heater that maintains a constant temperature without running at full tilt at all times. Fan heaters are more expensive to run but can heat up a room faster. However, if that room is poorly insulated or draughty you’ll find you’re turning on for another blast more often, driving up the running costs. Are there any other features I should look out for? Some heaters come with a timer to switch them on just for the evening, say, while others have a temperature display or a remote control. A few heaters are even introducing Wi-Fi connectivity and smart controls, so you can activate and control your heater using an app – or even Alexa voice commands. We've found some of the cheapest heaters available right now and shared some tips on what makes a heater truly good value. Once that desired temperature is reached, the heater won't run constantly anymore. It will toggle on and off sporadically to maintain that temperature. Cheap heaters usually have fewer featuresWith that in mind, you won't be surprised to hear that you'll need to run it for a bit longer than other heaters to benefit from the heat it gives out. The cheapest electric heaters we've tested all have thermostats that detect the ambient temperature and adjust the heater's output according to your preferred setting. They usually have adjustable energy settings and timers so you can turn the heat down if you want to, or limit your heater's running time. Halogen heaters: These are the descendants of the old two-bar electrics, radiating heat directly on the objects in front of the glowing element. They’re good for warming one or two people at fairly close proximity, but not so ideal for heating the whole room with an even heat. Some people may also find the amount of light given off annoying. Halogen heaters seem to be falling out of favour, with good models from major brands increasingly hard to come by. As we covered earlier choosing a brand can be really key to getting the right product in the Heating and cooling category. There are loads of great brands out there each offering great products at different levels of quality and price. If brand is important to you, we’re sure you already know that Russell Hobbs is a great choice. With 120 products available from Russell Hobbs there’s plenty of choice too.

Horizontal/Vertical Grey Fan Heater - Russell Hobbs Retro 1.8kW Horizontal/Vertical Grey Fan Heater - Russell Hobbs

Consider the price. We’ll dive into a lot more detail on the price of RUSSELL HOBBS RHCVH4002 Portable Convector Heater shortly, but in terms of quality, the obvious advice here is ‘you get what you pay for’. It’s really just being aware that if you’re buying the cheapest of the Heating and cooling from Currys PC World you might not expect the same level of quality as you’d get from a decent quality product like RUSSELL HOBBS RHCVH4002 Portable Convector Heater. The next step in the price analysis was to look at the average price you would typically expect to pay for Heating and cooling and as Currys PC World was selected for this review we’ve used them for gathering our information on the average price of Heating and cooling. The specification we have listed from Currys PC World for RUSSELL HOBBS RHCVH4002 Portable Convector Heater is:Under the current Energy Price Guarantee, electricity costs 27.35p per kilowatt hour for domestic customers on a standard variable tariff.

Russell Hobbs 650W Oil Filled Radiator, 5 Fin Portable Russell Hobbs 650W Oil Filled Radiator, 5 Fin Portable

A programmable timer, that lets you set specific times the heater will switch on. Some cheap electric heaters do have 24-hour timers that will switch the heater on at the same time every day, but some pricier heaters have digital timers that can be set to switch on at various times throughout the week.Convection (or convector) heaters: These designs channel air currents through the body of the heater and out into the room. They may take longer to warm the space, but they’re not as noisy and often provide a more even heat around the room. On average, most electric heaters run at a maximum output of 2kW. In other words: if you run your 2kW electric heater at full blast for one hour, you'll be paying around 55p. For just half an hour, it'll cost you around 27p. The thermostat is the key one, as it’s crucial for keeping the room at a decent heat – not too hot, not too cold – and saving energy (and money) by turning the heater off when that level’s reached. Frost protection can be a useful feature for conservatories or utility rooms, as it means you can use the heater there and it will run at a minimal level, dishing out just enough heat to keep the temperature north of zero.