Noirot Evolution Series Questions & Answers

Hey Judy, it's probably a bit late to answer this for you now, but hopefully it helps others.

Don't let anyone tell you that an electric heater is more efficient than another model electric heater.

ALL electric heaters have a maximum efficiency of 1:1 heat output for energy (electricity) input. That means they basically all cost the same to run given the same power usage, so all 2000w electric heaters will effectively cost the same to run. If it has a fan to disperse the heat, the fan will add a little to the running cost but not much.

The ONLY reason a given electric heater will be cheaper to run than any other electric heater is if it doesn't draw as much electricity, which also means it won't put out as much heat. So a 400W heater will be 5 times cheaper to run than a 2000W heater, but it will produce 5 times less heat than the 2000W heater. So the efficienty is effectively the same, but the running cost is less because the 400W model draws 5 tones less electricity. But if you ran the 2000W model 1/5 of the time, it would produce just as much heat as the 400W model and use the same amount of electricity, therefore costing the same to run.

So the ONLY way to make an electric heater seem more efficient is to use less energy; either turn down the thermostat (if it has one and if it works properly) and /or use a timer to reduce the amount of time is turned on. Both of these reduce the electricity consumption, so they're cheaper to run, but they also reduce the heat output, like the example of the 2000W heater above.

Otherwise, Heat pumps, commonly known as reverse cycle AC (or occasionally split systems), are far more efficient than electric heaters (even though they run off electricity) because of the way their heat exchanger system works. If you want a heater that costs less to run, look at a heat pump. They have considerably lower running costs and are amongst the cheapest heaters to run. But they generally cost a bit more to buy (from $600ish) and more to install (changes depending on where you live).