Looking at heaters and found this unit on sale.
These units do not go on sale that often.
Also found other versions
$239 (was $299) VMH300
$179 (was $229) 683 PEDESTAL AIR CIRCULATOR FAN
$169 (Was $199) 533 WHITE AIR CIRCULATOR
$139 (was $169) VORNADO 633 LINEN
$179 (was $229) Floor Fan
$169 (was $199) 533DC AIR CIRCULATOR WHITE
$139 (was $169) VORNADO 633 BLACK
$279, really? Do your research people, this will heat just the same, cost the same to run and it costs a whole 15 bucks.
https://www.bunnings.com.au/click-2000w-upright-fan-heater_p…
The Vornado is only 1500W, so is actually less powerful than the cheapo Bunnings one.
Might have a better fan, electronics (thermostat) and aesthetic; but not sure that's worth the extra $250.
I have two of those Bunnings heaters. OK but expensive to run, don’t heat large rooms all that well (hence two).
I also have a Vornado air circulator (533DC) and it is fantastic, well worth the extra $150 or so on a $20 Bunnings fan, so it would be interesting to see how much difference there would be in a Vornado heater.
I would not make the assumption that the Bunnings heater “will heat just the same, cost the same to run”. The thing about the Vornado is it is supposed to be able to heat a large room much better than the cheapies. I would not pay RRP, but if you could get it down towards $200 I would be tempted. Very tempted.
Here is a review of the previous model in an Australian winter
http://blogofdad.com/reviews/vornado-vmh300-whole-room-heate…
Blog reads like a paid promo
For anyone interested here is choice accessment of the previous vornado, vmh300
CHOICE Expert Rating
61%
What is the CHOICE Expert Rating
Good points
• 5 yr warranty
• Small at 24 cm (back to front)
• Cord storage
• No assembly required
• Good temperature rise for energy used
• Quiet (heater with fan) at 422 dBA
Bad points
• Analogue thermostat
• Low power at 1500 W
• No fan only
• No frost watch
• Did not achieve 10 degree rise in 2 hr
I was tempted, but in the review was not recommended and did worse than some $60 fan heaters.
Thanks, forgot to check choice, and I have a digital sub!
Test last update 17 April 2020
So, basically the Vornado previous model heated poorly (50%) but cheap to run ($209 over winter)
El cheapo kambrook ($59) heats better (80%) but more expensive to run ( $351)
Top rated Dyson hot and cool AM09. $599 RRP, 81% heating score, $300 per winter running costs.
@entropysbane: It heated poorly and cost less to run purely because it was less watts, 1500W vs 2000W
If you want a cheap heater to run then go get a reverse cycle.
These run the same coils or ceramic as $20 heaters.
It's kind of ironic that your name is "entropy"sbane considering your basically denying the first law of thermodynamics: "I would not make the assumption that the Bunnings heater “will heat just the same, cost the same to run”"
Yes it will. Same Watts Same heat.
You could give all the scientists in the world all the world's GDP for a million years and they still wouldn't be able to come up with a more 'efficient' heater than the $15 bunnings one. (as long as the heater is entirely contained within the room - as in not a reverse cycle air con).
The 1st law has never been observed to be broken in any point of the universe's history.. and Vornado.. for all its slick aesthetic isn't going to do it either. All they do is convert electrical energy in Watts in to exactly.. precisely the same amount of thermal energy in Watts. No more, no less. End of story.
So all electronics are the same then, all wiring has the same conductivity, fan design etc etc. ok then.
@entropysbane: Now you're getting it. When it comes to heaters.. that is correct.
Take a light bulb for example: if we say it is 20% efficient that means it takes in say 100W of electrical energy and outputs 20W of light energy.
1st law tells us that energy is always conserved. So what happens to the remaining 80W of electrical energy?
Well the second law tells us that.. it is lost to increased entropy - disordered energy.. 80W of heat.
That's the point. You can talk about the 'efficiency' of other devices in terms of the %of the energy going in to do the useful work. But electrical heaters? They are essentially a 0% efficient device. 'Efficiency' of an electrical heater doesn't even make sense. They are all identical whether they cost $1 of $1billion trillion dollars. Electrical energy in -> same heat energy out.
In fact if you have an enclosed room you can put any collection of electrical devices in it. Heater or blender, lightbulbs or TVs or bitcoin mining PCs and as long as it isn't storing energy (like a battery charger) then as long as the room will heat up by precisely the same extent as any electrical heater that uses the same total wattage of power. The thermometer will measure the same temperature to a dozen decimal places or whatever precision you care to measure it with.
That's entropy man!
@NNOP: Yeas, that’s right, I dint understand what your issue is. The same unit of heat output is the same regardless.
but how that is distributed makes a difference. How well the heat is circulated has a lot to do with how good a heater it is. I bought the cheapies becuase I didn’t really care and I don’t live in a cold climate. But if I was unfortunate enough to live in say, Melbourne, I would want a bloody good one that heated up the whole room in a few minutes and not just three feet in front of it for the same power output, unless it is left on all day,
Personal experience (not this heater but just general about more expensive heaters):
I first had one of those cheapo $15 Kmart heaters, 2500w with a 2 stage fan. Very loud and very bad at electricity usage. It would heat up the room but it would take a long time and was very annoying.
Next winter replaced it with one of those smart ceramic inductive heaters without a fan. Smart meant I was able to program temperature curves for different times of day and it had a built in thermostat to control the heater based on temperature. Outcome was I ended up paying a lot less to more efficiently warm my room, the new heater was on 24/7 but it had less electricity usage as it was chasing a temperature. Best of all? The inductive heating meant it was quiet and was very fast to circulate cold air around in the smallish room I had … Couldn't be happier.
That's now passed on to my sister and she has saved on electricity usage compared to the built in heater on the room which was one of those old school oil storage heaters with a fan.
I had those 400w one from Masters, they were perfect, less than 100bucks,paintable and don't burn your skin if you touch them
Do you have a link to an example of a heater like the one you are talking about?
I think they mean this style.
It’s really good at keeping a small room warm, without overheating the room. I use the 24 hour timer to alternate between on and off every half hour and it only uses about 400w.
Perfect for the kids room at more than half the running cost of a regular heater. Aldi sell them for $49 when they do their heater sale.
I couldn't find the exact same one (I think I bought it from one of those special sale stock sites, paid around $200) but looks like something like this:
https://www.kogan.com/au/buy/kogan-2000w-black-glass-portabl…
Again this is good for heating up small - medium sized rooms as the way it works is by moving the heat around. I suspect if you have a larger room you might need a fan to assist with air circulation initially or maybe having 2 of the heaters on each side of a bigger room?
The main selling point for me was quietness and much lower energy consumption (by using thermostat and controlling temperature across different times of day). The heater had 2 settings, high (2.2kw) and low (1kw) My plan was something like this:
5am-8:30am 22°C (high)
8:30am-4pm 18°C (low)
4pm-6:30pm 22°C (high)
6:30pm-1am 20°C (low)
1am-5am 18°C (low)
Apart from the obvious fact that I couldn't fine tune the control when I was asleep with the $15 heater (fan + element) style, it also ended up overshooting the temperature (even though it had an analogue thermostat but it didn't do much). I usually either had a noisy and hot room or cold and quiet. The trick with the heater was keeping the temperature of the room throughout the day so it doesn't drop very low. and therefore not requiring a big inrush of energy to reheat.
The quality of life improvement was that I would wake up to a comfortable temperature and get back home to a comfortable temperature (compared to wake up to freezing, and get back to freezing). And I mean I saved enough on the electricity bill that it paid off for it self in the first year of purchase (not even considering the improved quality of life).
People forget that for a fan heater the fan chews up a lot of electricity.
Hardly, it would probably use no more than 20-30w. Even a pedestal fan uses only 40w on high speed.
Deal has gone for vmh350
VMH300 is still there if you search for it.
Hope your electricity not skyrocket. That thing looks like it draw a lot of power.
Whats the Ozbargain consensus for holy grail heater these days? The above mentioned option with programmable heat curve sounds great.
Warning, using my public holiday to create walls of text. All of the below is not supported by any evidence. Take with two tonnes of salt.
You won't get a single answer. Obviously if it has a timer for different times of the day along with being able to get the room to a specific temp that is good. Downside? Apparently all that digital fancy stuff means the heater won't last as long (that is the case for nobo with some people saying lasted a few years then digital timer stopped working).
Check YouTube and Google but from my own digging around appears to be two approaches besides the above. First, if you are using a room for short periods of time, then a convection heater. By that they mean panel heater etc. Run it at highest setting to get room up to desired temp as quickly as possible. Micathermic heaters are claimed to be good at doing this. Works better in rooms that are well insulated.
The other approach is for rooms you'll be in for a long time and/or poorly insulated. Apparently oil radiators are better. While still heating the air and being a convection heater, they also give off more radiant heat than other convection heaters. They generally take longer to heat up a room but in turn take longer to cool down than panel heaters etc. They claim better in poorly insulated rooms as they give off convection and radiant heat, at least more radiant heat than panel heaters etc.
I have a micathermic heater and oil heater. The micathermic is used in a study. I'm not in there much and keep it closed at nights. The micathermic brings the room up to temp quickly and then cycles on and off.
We have an oil heater in the bedroom. Takes an hour or two to get room to desired temp and then cycles on and off. We currently run it at night.
I have to say if I'm in a room for short period if time, panel heater. if I'm going to be in a room for several hours I like oil heaters. Oil heater doesn't make the air smell like the micathermic and I guess the extra radiant heat feels good to me.
End of the day as people here always say, a 2000w heater puts out the same amount of heating regardless if it's a panel heater, oil radiators or Dyson heater. It's all about what you like and think feels better.
P.S: Yes, heat pumps are the bomb efficiency wise. But I'm just talking about standard electric heaters. I'd then have to bring wood heaters into the picture and that requires more text and salt.
Thank you for the effort!
Oil heater might be the go.
Currently have an okd kambrook standard heater but the auto on/off is a bit iffy…
Can you recommend a heater for a nursery? I would like one that can maintain a temperature (turn off when it reaches temp, turn back on when it dips to certain level), is there such a thing? Thanks
Best heater is gas heaters.
Hydronics, anytime
Direct sun light.
Hot water bottle strapped directly to torso.
@GregFiona: I'm thinking Alaska. When the day lasts all day and midnight looks like a sunrise? Time for a move perhaps?
I bought one of these heaters as I had one of their fans which I thought was great. Was expecting good things from this too especially for the price premium. Well I sent it back immediately after trying it out. It hardly blew at all - air output was very similar to all the other cheap heaters I have (or worse). The 1500w rating also meant it takes ages to heat a room (bedroom) compared to a 2400w heater. Got in touch with support as I thought maybe a fault. Nope, that’s how the work. Sent it back and purchased a Kambrook fan/heater.
Their fans on the other hand, brilliant and well worth the premium.
Looks like i am going to return this unit.
Any comment on the varnado fans though?
Fans are good. I've used it and felt it is worth it.
I have fan and it's worth that,so I thought heater gonna be working like fan but with reviews, none.
For a moment I thought it was a subwoofer.