Additional Electric Heating Options for Your Home

Lots of people choose to use electric heaters in addition to another heating system. This is often a good idea if you want to keep one room of your house warm and the rest of it cool or get a small amount of hot water on demand.

There are several ways to create extra heat in your home using electricity. We’ve come up with a list of some popular ways to use electricity to boost your home and water temperature.

Underfloor heating

Underfloor heating usually comes in the form of mats or tubes of heated water that are installed under flooring. They can be a good way to heat large rooms. However, they also can be expensive to run as the heat needs to travel through your flooring to reach the room. When installing underfloor heating, it’s important to make sure that the area beneath the mat is well insulated to prevent heat loss.

Fan heaters

Fan heaters are small, portable heaters that can warm up a room quickly. They’re usually lightweight and good for creating short-term heat. However, they tend to create patches of warm air rather than achieving an even level of heat throughout a room. They can also be noisy and rarely have thermostats and timers.

Convection heaters

Convection heaters contain a heating element that warms air that comes into contact with it. This air then warms the rest of the room through convection. Some convection heaters include a fan that increases the amount of air that comes into contact with the heating element and so heats up the room quicker.

You can get portable and wall-mounted convection heaters to suit your needs. They can also come with a timer and climate control, which reduces heat wastage and makes them easier to use.

Convection heaters are good for heating rooms over fairly long periods of time. They take longer to heat a room initially than fan heaters but then are good at providing a steady, even level of heat.

Immersion heaters

An immersion heater is an electric water heater that sits inside a hot water cylinder. It’s a good way to heat water quickly if you’ve run out or need some at short notice.

Immersion heaters can easily be switched on and off as and when you need them. They contain a thermostat so you can control the temperature of the hot water it produces. People often get an immersion heater in addition to a boiler so they can get extra hot water when they need it and to ensure they still have hot water if their boiler breaks down.

So you have quite a few options if you want to use electricity to create extra heat in your home. However, if you’re looking for a way to use electricity to heat your whole home, take a look at our information on fan-assisted and high heat retention storage heaters. Using the heaters in this article to heat your whole home instead of just supply additional heat is not your best option as it will be significantly expensive.

Price

From approx. £25

Prices vary depending on type and size of heating

Installation time

2-4 days

To fit underfloor heating

Installation time

1 day

To install an immersion heater


Advantages and disadvantages
  • Easy way to boost your home or water temperature
  • Warms up certain areas without heating your whole home
  • Provides backup if your main heating system breaks
  • Unsuitable for heating your whole home
  • Can be more expensive than gas heating