Heating guides for Irish homes

Start with the room, not the heater. Measure length times width: a small bedroom or box-room office is often 8–12 m², while a sitting room can be 15–25 m². Draughty windows, external walls and high ceilings all need more heat than the floor area suggests. See our bedroom and home office guides for room-by-room advice.

Next, think about running cost. A heater's cost per hour is simply its power in kW times your electricity price. At €0.35/kWh a 2kW fan heater costs about €0.70 an hour, an oil radiator €0.53–€0.88, and RapidHeat €0.14–€0.28. Lower power costs less but also gives less heat, which is why small plug-in heaters suit small rooms. Our cheapest way to heat a room guide compares the options.

Then pick the type. Ceramic heaters warm up fast and are compact; oil radiators give slow, steady heat for larger rooms; fan heaters are cheap to buy but costly to run. Read fan vs ceramic and RapidHeat vs oil heater for side-by-side tables.

Finally, check safety. Look for a thermostat, overheat protection and automatic shut-off, plug directly into a wall socket rather than an extension lead, and never use a heater without an IP rating in a bathroom. If you only need to heat one small room you are sitting in, RapidHeat is built for exactly that.