Econo-Heat Panel Heaters
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Category: General Chat
Forum Name: General Chat
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URL: https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=33541
Printed Date: 15 May 2025 at 9:06am
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Topic: Econo-Heat Panel Heaters
Posted By: Kristy82
Subject: Econo-Heat Panel Heaters
Date Posted: 20 May 2010 at 9:27pm
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Just wondering if anyone has these and what are your thoughts.
We built our house and moved in about two months ago. We live in Rolleston (just out of CHCH) and it can get really cold during winter, well most of it. 
Anyway, when we were building we were originally going to go with a big heat pump which would cover the main living areas and a heat pump in the hallway which would cover the bedrooms and remainder of the house. Our electrician and several other people told us we were mad and wasting our money on the Heat pump down the hall as we also had a HRV being installed. So we ditched the heat pump down the hall. Its now coming into the cooler months and although our main heat pump does not warm the bedrooms its not totally warm in the rooms... Just wondering if a Econo-Heat panel heater would be an ideal soloution for the kids bedrooms anyway!? ------------- 
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Replies:
Posted By: fattartsrock
Date Posted: 20 May 2010 at 10:11pm
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They are super good in bedrooms. You can leave them on all the time, but we don't. I just go in and turn it on about 4pm and turn it off when I go to bed, or when they go to bed if its warm enough. You could put them on timers I guess, but I jsut do it that way. Love them and totally reccomend them. ------------- The Honest Un PC Parent of 2, usually stuck in the naughty corner! :P |
Posted By: HuntersMama
Date Posted: 21 May 2010 at 7:12am
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Weve got one in DS room and one in ours and they are great! ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: palomino
Date Posted: 21 May 2010 at 7:46am
We do this too, i know they say you can leave them on all the time, but we dont need too. Highly recommended here too |
fattartsrock wrote:Posted By: caliandjack
Date Posted: 21 May 2010 at 7:52am
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We've got one in our room they are great, they don't put out a fierce heat but they do take the chill off the air - we're in the Manawatu and it does get cold.
We got one put in our hallway too which we hardly ever use. ------------- http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow">   [/url] Angel June 2012 |
Posted By: bopmum
Date Posted: 21 May 2010 at 8:23am
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Those of you with the econo heaters, how has it affected your power bill? We were looking at getting one, but DP did the math as what was on their website and didn't think it was worth it? ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: High9
Date Posted: 21 May 2010 at 9:13am
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Yeah we looked into it but d=our exterior walls and even our interior walls aren't insulated (yes it's freezing) so we were told not to get it as obviously the heat would just go through the wall to outside. I'm sure as your house is new that shouldn't be a problem.
Lisette we did the maths before we found out we couldn't get one anyway and didn't think it was worth it either. Why were you told not to get another heat pump? DP Gma has one in the main living area and one in the hallway for the bedrooms, FIL installs them and he had no problem with doing it. ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: RedHeadDuck
Date Posted: 21 May 2010 at 9:48am
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Our IL's have not long built a new house. They have a heat pump in the living area, and a heat pump in the hallway and it works brilliantly.
I think they keep their hallway heat pump on the lowest setting (16 degrees?) and only put it up to 18degrees when it gets really cold (and hey, we live in southland!). It works real well as they have it on "quiet" mode all the time and it just potters along keeping the cold out, but not warming it as such... |
Posted By: kebakat
Date Posted: 21 May 2010 at 10:09am
| We have them in our bedrooms but we don't use them all the time. I use to when I was studying in my bedroom and I honestly didn't even notice any change in our power bill at the time. |
Posted By: Peanut
Date Posted: 21 May 2010 at 10:21am
| We had them in our last house and they were awesome. We had a 100 year old cottage in ChCh so not exactly warm with only open fires for heating. The bedrooms stayed really warm but we left ours on the whole time. We noticed no difference in our power bill at all and would have as it was the only thing added on in winter. |
Posted By: palomino
Date Posted: 21 May 2010 at 11:20am
| We were using an oil colomn heater and had that going for similar period of time, sometimes over night so have noticed a drop compared to when we had that cranking. |
Posted By: caliandjack
Date Posted: 21 May 2010 at 11:26am
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I only put the econo heater on for about 1 hour before we go to bed, I shut the bedroom door to keep the warmth in, and turn it off when I go to bed its warm enough. Don't need it on all night yet. ------------- http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow"> [/url] Angel June 2012 |
Posted By: flakesitchyfeet
Date Posted: 21 May 2010 at 1:23pm
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We use them in our house for the kids rooms, ones a double and one is a single, both are kept warm brilliantly. Our heat pump heats the core of our house and our place is a year old, although built in maxim panel, not normal insulation.
Shop around, mitre 10 mega in hornby was by far the cheapest we found by a good $30  -------------  http://lilypie.com"> |
Posted By: fattartsrock
Date Posted: 21 May 2010 at 1:48pm
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Yeah mitre 10 mega is the cheapest, and we haven't noticed a change the power bill and we had it last winter, the coldest winter in ages. ------------- The Honest Un PC Parent of 2, usually stuck in the naughty corner! :P |
Posted By: emachan
Date Posted: 21 May 2010 at 1:54pm
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My friend is actually going to sell me hers for half price as she got the smaller one - and should've gotten a bigger one (she has an old house with high ceilings) so just make sure you get the right sized one (or even go bigger).
They are way cheaper to run than oil column heaters - and safe to touch for wee ones (my DD almost pulled the oil heater on her as she was learning to pull herself up on things last winter - eeek!) ------------- http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow">  DD#1 Sept 08 DD#2 Oct 09 |
Posted By: Kristy82
Date Posted: 21 May 2010 at 2:16pm
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Thanks for your reply, its not that they would not install the second heat pump in the hall way just that we were 'wasting our money as such'.
The main heatpump does heat the core of our house but the rooms are a little cooler then the main area's as they are on the south side. We like our house to be warm in all areas (we lived in Australia for 5 years and got used to warm nights.) and I think it would be alot cheaper to install econo heaters in all the bedroooms as opposed to a heat pump which may do the same thing. -------------
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Posted By: RBsMama
Date Posted: 01 June 2010 at 9:06pm
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We're looking at these panels too, but does anyone know what temp it will actually heat a room to? My ds has wheezing/breathing issues during the winter and we're concerned that it wouldn't keep the room warm enough.
TIA |
Posted By: Renee & Lauren
Date Posted: 01 June 2010 at 9:23pm
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we have one in Jayden's room and it seems to work really well!! We have it on a timer - goes on at 5pm and switches off at 7:30am. ------------- http://lilyslim.com">  http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: clover
Date Posted: 02 June 2010 at 8:23am
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We've got a heatpump in our hallway as well, it is smaller than the one in the main living but does a good job. ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: Richie
Date Posted: 02 June 2010 at 8:40am
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We are also looking at getting one of these installed - in Isla's room. We are renting from my BIL and he got a massive heatpump put in our lounge (we were going to get small one in lounge and small one down hallway but were told one big one would be enough - it's not - our bedroom and Isla's room are still FREEZING! - our walls aren't insulated, brrrrrrr!) anyway...... I rung the Econoheat place the other day and told him our scenario and he said it would work perfectly. Just one in each bedroom. He said they use half the electricity an oil column uses (about the same as 2 lightbulbs I think he said, so very efficient) and they heat the room to about 5 degrees more than what temp would be without it. In our case, it will put Isla's room to at least 20 degrees (gets ReALLY cold in there!). They have 2 sizes. one to suit a 9sqm room and one to suit 12sqm. Glad there are so many good comments about them on here, looks like they are the way to go.
Also, thanks for mentioning Mitre 10 Mega, the hornby one is just down the road from us so very handy Might go have a look today. -------------  
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Posted By: LG
Date Posted: 10 June 2010 at 1:36pm
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Its so great to read everyones opinions on these,after our 3rd oil heater stopped working i didnt want to get another one and the econoheaters look perfect. Thanks for the good idea! -------------  Angel Baby Aug '12, Feb '13 |
Posted By: WRXnKids
Date Posted: 10 June 2010 at 2:33pm
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just brought a dimplex water column heater at mitre 10 mega on the weekend and i asked the sales assistant about the econo heaters and she said they are only good for taking the chill off and heat the equivalent of 4 lightbulbs going in the room which seemed pointless to me hence the dimplex purchase. What do people think of the econo heaters in the colder areas of NZ ie southland and otago? Cos although i havent purchased one this time as i was looking for heating a babies room i want to make sure is warmer i might look at them again when the kids are older and dont need their rooms quite as warm during the night (josh is a blanket kicker so while young i like his room at a nice temp so he sleeps better) -------------   
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Posted By: flakesitchyfeet
Date Posted: 10 June 2010 at 3:24pm
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Haha WRX thats exactly what I was expecting....and ended up taking blankets off DD's bed it was so warm in there! And its just a wee one. We live not that far out of Chch though.
How do you find the dimplex heater? Was it similar costwise to purchase? Because we are considering one of those for our room, don't really want to fork out for another pannel ------------- http://lilypie.com"> |
Posted By: MamaMore
Date Posted: 10 June 2010 at 4:19pm
| We have 2 econo heaters and they were a waste of money. We have very tall ceilings and they just don't pump out enough heat to warm the bedrooms. |
Posted By: Richie
Date Posted: 10 June 2010 at 4:19pm
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We just installed our Econo Heater a few days ago in Isla's room. Our house has next to no insulation. There is some under the floor of Isla's room but none in walls or ceiling and it is a 1970's concrete block house so gets VERY cold in winter (we are in CHCH). Anyway, we leave it on 24/7 and it has been sitting at an average of 17degrees in her room. (we can get it up to 20+ degrees in there if we crank the heat pump in the lounge up to 26 degrees) The coldest it has got down to is 14 degrees but that was when there was a chilly frost outside! Without the heater it would be down around 10-11 degrees on a cold day... would hate to imagine how cold it would get during a frost without the heater! I rung the Econo Heat company before buying and he said they don't kick out huge amounts of heat but will warm the room to around 5 degrees more than what it would be without the heater. I've been pretty impressed with it so far! Easy to install too! If my DF can do it, anyone can! lol -------------
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Posted By: Kristy82
Date Posted: 10 June 2010 at 7:01pm
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We ended up buying two units, the larger ones as they were not much dearer then the smaller one, we paid $169 each from Placemakers.
We turn them on at about 5pm and off again first thing in the morn when the kids wake up. They work well in our situation as we have the heat pump on 19 degrees 24/7 and that heats the core of the house. All we needed was a boost in the bedrooms where the heat pump was struggling to reach. -------------
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