Fan heater vs oil heater – which is cheaper?

With temperatures dropping and energy prices rising again in January, households will take extra caution when it comes to putting the heating on. Many may wonder if it’s cheaper to leave the central heating on or opt for a portable heater.

Portable heaters are a popular choice for households looking to keep warm, but is a fan heater or an oil heater more efficient? We crunch the numbers.

How much does it cost to run a fan heater?

The average price for a fan heater is anywhere between £10 and £50. They’re compact, lightweight and easy to carry, making them useful if you need to heat up a single room instead of the entire house.

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How much fan heaters cost to run can depend on several factors, such as its size, how much energy it uses, how often you use it, and how insulated your home is.

We’ve compared the costs of different-sized fan heaters if you use them every day. The calculations are based on the current Ofgem energy price cap of 24.5p per kWh.

There are a few ways to make the most of your fan heater. For instance, you can use the thermostatic control feature to regulate your electricity usage, get door draught excluders and put curtains in to minimise heat loss.

How much does it cost to run an oil heater?

Oil heaters are a bit more expensive to buy than fan heaters. They work by using an electrical element that warms the thermal oil inside the appliance. Designed like a radiator, these heaters are known for retaining heat for longer. Most modern oil heaters also come with a thermostat so you can control how warm it gets.

To give you an idea of how much it costs to run an oil heater, we’ve compared a few below. These are calculated based on the current Ofgem energy price cap of 24.5p per kWh.

Like with a fan heater, it’s good to use the thermostat control to reduce your electricity usage. However, what gives oil heaters an edge over fan heaters is that they have good heat retention. So when you switch the oil heater off, it takes a while to cool the oil down, which means that it’s still giving off heat, ultimately requiring less energy to heat up a room.

Fan heater vs oil heater: which is cheaper?

Fan heaters and oil heaters have similar running costs, but the main difference is that an oil heater is typically more expensive to buy. For instance, if we compare two Bush heaters on Argos, a 2kW fan heater costs £20 while a 2kW oil heater is more than double the price at £48.

If upfront cost isn’t an issue for you, oil heaters could work out to be cheaper in the long run. That’s because there's residual warmth from this type of heater after you switch it off, meaning you can run an oil heater for a shorter period than a fan heater. Other benefits of oil heaters are that they are safer to use and they don’t make the air dry like fan heaters.

If you have a big room or high ceilings, it will be harder to warm the room with a portable heater. If you’re trying to maintain the heat in a room for longer than a couple of hours, you might be better off turning the central heating on.