Looking for an affordable heater for our front room, approx 30m3, that would be safe for my 2 year old. Something that won’t burn her/set her on fire/get me on ACA.
Happy to fork out $200-300 but rather not go all out on it.
Thanks
Heating That’s Safe for Kids
owen-alotofmoney on 15/06/2025 - 18:11
Comments
All resistive heaters are 100 percent efficient, every watt of energy you put in always comes out as heat, since any wastage of energy always results in heat… so spending lots of money on a fancy heater (even on a $350+ Dyson AM09 Hot and Cool fan) does not improve the energy efficiency.
The only thing more efficient and safer than resistive heaters are heat pumps, more commonly known as a (reverse) split cycle air cond.
If you want something safe and is unlikely to start fires you can buy oil filled fin heaters. They will take a long time to warm a room though but the upside is that they are generally the safest of resistive heaters (still not safe to touch but probably won't light your curtains on fire).
They also stay warm for a little while after being switched off, as the oil reservoir retains heat.
If you own the home then a mini split in that room could make sense, especially if it bakes in the summer sun too. If they are renting and might need to move within 12 months, the $15 Kmart fan heater probably would be the most economical choice. Though you can get portable reverse cycle air conditioners, there is no outside unit so it creates negative pressure in the room which would just suck in cold air through the window or gaps in the wall from outside and through the hallway door, and are quite loud.
heat pump for the best efficiency, they create up to 4X as much heat as a conventional heater per unit energy
My 1.67KW Heat pump creates up to 6.8KW of heating
A conventional heater uses up to 2.4KW producing only 2.4KW of heating, there is NO difference in efficiency between an OIL / Convection Heater. The only difference between them is that the conventional heater heats the air directly, where as the oil heater heats oil, which then heats the air, (which takes longer to heat as it's heat capacity is larger, which means once the heater is switched off, the oil will slowly cool down, where as the conventional one will cool down immediately.
Happy to fork out $200-300
Some warm clothes, draught blockers, then put what is left toward the savings fund for a split system.
I suppose you mighttry to get a second-hand reverse-cycle window-mount aircon, for that money.
Other wise it gets you a $25 fan heater, and a couple hundred hours of electricity. Don't waste more on a resistive heater.Mount it out of reach, but fan heaters have safety features to cut off when tilted or over-heated.
Put in a reverse cycle split system.
Don't be cheap - you can put in a basic 3.5kW unit for the size of your room for something like $1.5k installed.
It'll be something like 5x more efficient than your resistive heater. Your standard 3.6kW (or so) resistive heater will only provide the same heat output as a ~700-800W heat pump. I have a similar sized room and my revers cycle split system draws around 700W to keep it warm.
Electricity costs ~30c / kWh approximately, assume you run the heater 12 hours per day for 100 days per year (over winter), that's 0.3 * 3.6 * 12 * 100 = ~$1,296 per year in electricity costs. With a heat pump, that'll be around like $300.
You'll literally pay for the difference within 1-2 years of usage. Either you pay upfront, or you pay it in your electricity bills for eternity.
Does she free range in that cold room very often?
A oil column heater with a fan is great for heating up a room for kids so long as they do not play with the controls. Get one with a 24 hr timer so you can set it to turn on at say 7PM and off at 7AM. Set it so that it takes the chill out of the room and so the kids still need to be under a blanket otherwise they will gt out of bed and play with the oil column heater.
Also set to the lowest power setting (usually 800watts). As such you do not need to get a 11fin heater as a smaller one will do for the kids room.
Put in a split system. Cheap to run and out of reach of children.
won’t burn her/set her on fire/get me on ACA
How else will she learn that hot=bad?
When she brings home a boyfriend with prison tatts and a motor bike who beats her if she tries to leave the kitchen?
How about some of these