Gas Heaters

Gas Heaters

A portable gas heater heats a room that the electrics cannot reach, and does it without drawing a unit of electricity. The indoor cabinet models here run from 3kW up to 4.2kW off a standard refillable butane cylinder, giving two or three heat settings on a dial and enough output to lift a cold conservatory, garage, workshop or back kitchen within minutes rather than the half hour an oil filled radiator would take. Castors on the base mean the whole unit rolls from room to room, and because output is set by the burner rather than a socket you get full heat on day one of a cold snap and through a power cut. Sizing is straightforward: 3kW suits a single room, and 4.2kW is the choice for a large, high ceilinged or poorly insulated space. Safety features are not optional on an indoor gas heater and both of the ones that matter are standard on the units stocked here. A flame failure device shuts the gas off if the flame goes out, and an oxygen depletion sensor cuts the heater when the oxygen level in the room falls. Always run one in a ventilated room with a window or trickle vent open, never in a bedroom or a bathroom, and never overnight. Check which cylinder size and regulator fitting a model takes before buying, since the cylinder and the hose are bought separately from the heater.

The range covers De Vielle at 4.2kW, Manhattan at 3.4kW, Sahara with the 3kW Provence, plus Gosystem and Dargan. For the cylinders and regulators these take see Gas Canisters & Cartridges, and for the wider range see Heating.

In a power cut a gas heater is the only heat source in most houses that does not depend on the grid. A central heating system needs a pump and a control board, so it stops with the electricity even where the boiler burns oil or gas, and an electric heater is obviously out. A butane cabinet heater keeps one room warm independently of all of that, which is what matters overnight with a family in the house. Keep a spare cylinder, site the heater in the room everyone is using rather than trying to heat the house, and keep ventilation in mind, because an outage is exactly when windows tend to stay shut. A carbon monoxide alarm belongs in the same room, and see Power Cut & Emergency Essentials for the rest.

Gas heaters are the most searched heating product in Ireland and they sell out fastest in the first genuinely cold week of the year, which is exactly when nothing is reduced. Buying at the start of the season in September or at the end of it in spring is where the saving is. Black Friday and Cyber Monday do bring cuts, though heating is discounted less deeply in November than categories with a longer clearance cycle. Prices are live all year, so see what is reduced now on heating on sale.