Can I put a plug on a previously wall connected oil heater?

[Poita]

I would appreciate any advice on wiring a plug to a heater.

I recently moved to a new apartment and removed a storage heater and an oil heater that were wired into the wall rather than plugged in. Both had three wires intersecting with three wires from the wall that I guess were related to the economy 7 set up.
I’m not on an economy 7 and didn’t want the big heaters taking up space along the wall so I removed them and left the wall wires connected to the intersecting plates (as you can see the prior disconnection pic in the oil heater photo) then decorated over the wall space with no issues.
Now that it is getting quite cold, I want to use the oil heater for a few months but don’t want to have it screwed to the wall and permanently wired back up.

So my two questions are:


1. question is: can I just wire wall plug onto the three wires that come out of the wall heater that you can see in the picture and use it as a plug-in heater?


2. At the moment I’ve been using the kitchen heater as it’s a galley kitchen with an open doorway to the living room, but that heater has some kind of element in it as you can see in the picture and is very expensive to run for long durations.
So, my other question is: Will running the big oil heater be cheaper than the kitchen element heater? Or if it’s the same kilowatt per hour usage. And Question 2.1: Even if the oil heater will cost the same as the kitchen element heater, will it generate more heat for the energy used?

 

[Notch7]

In principle yes, just bear in mind wall mounted heaters aren’t designed / tested to be deemed safe used as a free standing heater. I believe the rules may have changed some previously sold freestanding heaters are now only available with wall brackets.

 

[JohnD]

2.1: Even if the oil heater will cost the same as the kitchen element heater, will it generate more heat for the energy used?

no, all electric heaters are equally efficient. They all turn 1kWh of electrical energy into 1kWh of heat energy.

A more powerful heater will run for less time to get your room equally warm, but will use the same energy.

An oil filled radiator has a time lag and can heat a room more evenly, but it takes time between turning on and getting fully hot, and between turning off and getting fully cold. It does not emit less or more heat per kWh.

An oil filled radiator will not start a fire if you accidentally drop a newspaper on it, or a curtain blows against it.

 

[Poita]

Apologies for the over sized pictures. I thought the site would scale them down.

 

[ericmark]

all electric heaters are equally efficient.

It depends how it is worked out, and also heat pumps and inferred can't be compared to resistive heaters.

But if heater takes 3 hours to warm up, as with a brick filled type then it needs to be turned on 3 hours in advance of using the room, but if it can heat room in ½ hour as with fan heater, then only ½ hour in advance of using the room.

So with a room used for an hour first is 25% efficient the second 66% efficient, in real terms not so cut and dried, as the hysteresis with first is a lot less than hysteresis with second, a light panel heater with a semi-conductor switching device can switch on and off many times an hour without wearing out the regulator device, but with a simple bi-metal thermostat it would quickly wear out.

So an oil filled radiator takes time to heat and cool so a simply bi-metal thermostat can heat the room with very little hysteresis, but to use a thin light panel heater it would need an expensive semi-conductor switch to have equal hysteresis to the oil filled.

So there is a trade off, and once we are using a room for 4 hours the cost difference is so small not worth worrying about.

 

[JohnW2]

It depends how it is worked out, and also heat pumps and inferred can't be compared to resistive heaters.

I'm sure that, in relation to his comments about efficiency', JohnD was talking about heating by converting electrical energy into thermal energy. Heat pumps are an entirely different kettle of fish, since most of the heat energy is not coming from conversion of electrical energy but, rather, is being extracted from the air or ground outside of the building.

Indeed, I would imagine that it would be possible to have a heat pump whose (electrical) efficiency approached being infinite - if the fans/pumps etc. were powered by, say, a water wheel (hence essentially zero electrical energy used).

But if heater takes 3 hours to warm up, as with a brick filled type then it needs to be turned on 3 hours in advance of using the room, but if it can heat room in ½ hour as with fan heater, then only ½ hour in advance of using the room.

I think there is some chalk and cheese in that comparison. If one ignores heat losses from the room, the amount of (electrical or whatever) energy required to heat a room to a given temp (from a given starting temp) will be the same whether the heating took ½ hour, 3 hours or 3 days.

Kind Regards, John

 

[ericmark]

When you work out the efficiency of a car it includes when the car is idling, which is how we can increase efficiency with stop/start engines.

We look at useful energy compared with energy used. So if a economy 7 system can store energy with little loss as with tanks of hot water, and uses it only when required, then that must be considered as more efficient to a system using bricks which releases the energy even when not required.

We all know to heat a home from cold takes a lot of time, so a compromise is called for, the Eco setting on the thermostat keeps the home warm enough so recovery to comfort setting is within a reasonable time. And to store some energy in the heater gives better hysteresis which is one reason why inferred heating is of limited use as you feel cold the second it is switched off.

But storage heaters must be about the worst electrical heating economy wise, with under floor heating a close second, we depending on insulation in floor those two could swap. However it is not quite that simple, as we feel warmer if our feet are warm.

In real terms we need a mixture, in the days of the tungsten bulb I did not use a programmable thermostat. Setting house to 18°C air temperature all day was ample as in the evening we had the inferred heat from the lights, which since it heats the body not the air, is not lost with air changes, now I need a programmable thermostat as when sitting in the evening I want 20°C. However I was forever swapping tungsten bulbs, and like the low maintenance of the LED bulb even if it means I use a bit more energy.

The idea of swapping tungsten to LED summer and winter may be energy saving, but I am lazy.

 

[winston1]

Setting house to 18°C air temperature all day was ample as in the evening we had the inferred heat from the lights, which since it heats the body not the air, is not lost with air changes, now I need a programmable thermostat as when sitting in the evening I want 20°C.

I think that is probably more to do with your age than tungsten lamps.

In my 20s I was quite happy working in my bedroom at 15C, in 40s I wanted 18C, in my 60s I wanted 20C, now I seem to require 21/22C.

 

[ericmark]

Back in the 70's when we first got central heating my house it was only heating, a new built, but parents house it was on a timer, they called it a programmer, but nothing more than simple time clock, and it was used to get a little heat in the house before you got up, helped getting draft to light fire. And also in the evening, but during the day, it was simply switched off.

Over the years we have had homes built without any option for heating without electric, that house in the 70's was one, when we moved our main thing was a house with alternative heating, we had lived through the "Winter of discontent" and never again did we want to rely on electric for heating, be it a gas fire, or open hearth wood burner, we wanted an alternative form of heating. We have never lit a fire in this house, we have a panel over the flue to stop drafts and to allow the AC to vent up it, but it would not take long to remove it and light a fire.

With reports of 5 days to restore power in Wales after Saturday's light wind, it was only 81 MPH, Falklands where I have lived 100 MPH was normal and known to hit 140 MPH is not really a strong wind, but 5 days without power is not funny, clearly all freezer contents gone, but also no heating for many, and no way to charge EV's.

I have not seen an oil heater in years. The gas version seemed to have replaced them, I remember Esso Blue and smoke gets in your eyes with cheaper grades I tried. Also seeing my school friends walking down to the local store to get bottle filled. It seems you can still get them however in both cases they fill the home with moisture, OK for an emergency, but any flue-less heater makes the home damp.

I do heat my house with an oil heater but it has a flue, in fact a balanced flue, seems odd name, it means it draws combustion air from outside so does not cause drafts. But one of these I am sure is not what is mean by a

big oil heater

although clearly it is a big oil heater.

The oil filled radiator stores the energy so switching on/off it never gets cold so removes the hysteresis. But as to economy the position is important. This is clearly old before the days of double glazing, but the circulation is still important, I see this with my hall, and wonder what was in the mind of the builder to wire a wall thermostat in the hall opposite end to front door and radiator, how did he expect this would give a general reflection of the rooms heat?

This is likely the most economic type of heating, the more bars the better, as when you turn off a inferred heater the heat stops, so selecting 1 to 4 bars is only real control, air thermostats don't work. So some thing like this will likely be cheapest method, as long as not aimed at windows, inferred will pass through glass, but there is clearly a fire danger, and also does not really look very good.

So as with all central heating we compromise, and the oil filled radiator is a good compromise, I have one on stand-by in the winter should my oil heating fail.

 

[JP_]

When I was in my first flat I had an oil filled electric radiator mounted on the wall in the living room/kitchen on a timer. Also had a freestanding one in the bathroom ... but best not mention that.

 

[Mottie]

Did nobody have a paraffin heater? We did in the late seventies and I remember the Esso Blue man coming round the streets to sell paraffin. Mrs Mottie didn't. In fact, when we moved into our first house in 1984, the paraffin man knocked on the door, she opened it and he said "Parrafin, luv". She didn't know what he was talking about and said she'd just moved in and didn't know any of the neighbours names!

 

[Mottie]

Whilst searching for the Esso advert I came across this. A nice bit of racial stereotyping...not!

 

[JohnW2]

When you work out the efficiency of a car it includes when the car is idling, which is how we can increase efficiency with stop/start engines. .... We look at useful energy compared with energy used. ...

There's obviously a whole spectrum of 'efficiencies' one can define, depending upon their 'scope'.

For a car driver, the "efficiency" you describe is probably amongst the most useful. However, for those interested in 'the planet', a much wider definition would be more appropriate - including the energy utilised is every stage of the process - from extraction of the oil to it's refining, transport, storage, distribution and sale (including such banal things as the lighting and heating of the petrol station from which oine buys one's fuel. Such an 'efficiency' would presumably be far lower than that considered by the car driver - who is only interested in 'efficiency' of converting chenmical energy of the fuel in their car's tank to useful mechanical energy (moving the car).

This leads to the figures quoted for the 'efficiency' (and, indeed, also 'environmental impact') of EVs - since its scope is only a small fraction of the overall process - i.e. the efficiency in converting electricity present at the charging point into useful mechanical energy. In other words, it ignores all the energy (and 'environmental impact') involved in sourcing and processing the primary fuel, using it to generate electricity and then distributing that electricity.

In real terms we need a mixture, in the days of the tungsten bulb I did not use a programmable thermostat. Setting house to 18°C air temperature all day was ample as in the evening we had the inferred heat from the lights, which since it heats the body not the air, is not lost with air changes ...

You often say that, but I'm surprised that is what you found. Back in those days, I doubt that I often had a total of more than a couple of hundred watts or so of incandescent lighting 'switch on' in my house at any one time, and I would not expect that to have had much impact on the temperature of the house in Winter. AS for infra-red radiation from incandescent bulbs, maybe you had very low ceilings, but I have to say that I don't recall having felt 'heat on my head' when standing or sitting below one!

Kind Regards, John

 

[Sureitsoff?]

this thread, although veering off topic, just reminded me I have one of these in the garage

 

[JP_]

what, a broken photo?