PureMate PM866 2500W Oil Filled Radiator
A 2500W radiator with a digital screen and touch panel at a mid-range price.
Check Price on Amazon See all ten oil-filled radiatorsThe Best Electric Heaters of 2026, by Type
Our verdict: Pick the type first, then the model. Our No. 1s are the PureMate PM866 2500W Oil Filled Radiator (oil-filled) and the Dreo Solaris Slim H3 DR-HSH003 (fan).
The best of each type
Dreo Solaris Slim H3 DR-HSH003
A slim 1800W ceramic tower that Dreo rates at 34dB, quiet enough for a bedroom.
Check Price on Amazon See all ten fan heatersWhich type suits you?
Electric heaters warm a room in different ways, so we rank each type against its own kind: oil-filled radiators, fan heaters and convector heaters. Pick your type, then pick from its ten.
Oil-filled
Heats oil sealed inside its fins, which gives off steady, silent warmth that lingers after it switches off.
Best for: Heating one room for hours at a time, such as a bedroom or a home office.
The ten best oil-filled radiatorsFan
Blows air over a hot element, often ceramic, so a small space warms up within minutes.
Best for: Quick heat in a small room or under a desk, when you only need it for a short while.
The ten best fan heatersConvector
Warms air that rises out of the top and draws cooler air in at the bottom, with no fan noise.
Best for: Keeping a medium-sized room at a steady temperature, quicker off the mark than an oil-filled radiator.
Before you buy
Oil-filled, fan or convector: which electric heater should I buy?
Oil-filled radiators are the slowest to warm up but the quietest and gentlest, and they keep giving out heat after they switch off. Fan heaters are the fastest and the cheapest to buy, but they are noisy and the warmth stops when they do. Convector heaters sit between the two: quiet, quicker than oil, and good at holding a room's temperature. Choose for how long you will run it each time.
How much does an electric heater cost to run?
Multiply its power in kilowatts by your electricity price per kWh. A 2kW heater on full power for an hour uses 2kWh, so at 25p per kWh that is about 50p an hour. A thermostat cuts the cost, because the heater spends less of each hour at full power once the room is warm.
What size of heater do I need?
As a rough guide, a small bedroom needs 1 to 1.5kW, a medium room about 2kW and a large living room 2.5 to 3kW. Draughty rooms, high ceilings and outside walls push that up.
Are electric heaters safe to leave on?
Look for tip-over protection, which cuts the power if the heater falls, and overheat protection. Never cover a heater or dry clothes on it, keep it clear of curtains and bedding, and plug it straight into a wall socket rather than an extension lead.
How do you decide the rankings?
Each type has its own ranked ten, so a fan heater is only ever scored against other fan heaters. Scores come from our confidence-weighted model built on owner ratings, weighted by recency, volume and reliability. Brands can't pay for placement.
How we ranked them
Each type has its own ranking of ten, so a oil-filled radiator is only ever scored against other oil-filled radiators. Every score comes from our ranking model, not from anyone's opinion. It weighs owner ratings by how many there are, how recent they are and how reliable they look, then factors in value.
Brands can't pay to be included or to move up.
How we rank, in full