The Best Convector and Panel Heater (UK, 2026)

They cost the same to run at the same wattage, so choose by how the heat behaves, not by any efficiency claim.

• Convector and panel heaters (this guide): heat the air fast and spread warmth evenly through a room, are light and often wall-mountable, and frequently have the best digital controls and timers. The catch is they hold no heat: switch one off and the room cools quickly. Best for fast, even warmth and rooms used in scheduled bursts.
• Oil-filled radiators (see our oil-filled radiator guide): warm up slowly then radiate gentle heat and keep giving warmth after they switch off. Silent, heavier, no wall mounting. Best for a room you sit in for hours.

So: a lounge you settle into all evening suits an oil-filled radiator; a hallway, home office or bedroom you want warm quickly and on a timer suits a convector or panel heater. And if it is really just you who is cold, neither beats an electric blanket for cost.

They are the same family, heat the air by convection, in different bodies and with different controls.

• Basic portable convector (BLACK+DECKER, Dimplex HeatLite): a freestanding box with a dial thermostat. Cheapest, does the core job, no scheduling.
• Smart glass or metal panel (Devola, and many TCP, Russell Hobbs, Ballu units): a slim wall-mountable panel with a digital thermostat, usually a 7-day timer and often wifi. Costs more, looks far better and gives you the scheduling that actually saves money.
• Premium convector (De'Longhi HSX): a well-built freestanding unit with a precise digital thermostat, for people who want accuracy and brand without the wall-mount panel look.

If the heater is going in a room you use on a routine, a panel with a 7-day timer pays for itself in control. If it is for occasional, grab-it-when-cold use, a basic convector is the sensible spend.

Convectors are sold by wattage, and you pay for every watt, so match it to the room:

• 1000 to 1500W: a small bedroom, study or hallway.
• 2000W: an average bedroom, office or small lounge. Most of our picks sit here.
• 2200 to 2400W: an average-to-large room, or a colder one.
• 3000W: large, open or cold rooms only, with the socket caveat below.

Two rules, the same as any electric heater. Undersizing is a false economy: a small heater run flat out to warm a big room costs more and works worse than the right-sized unit that reaches temperature and cycles off. And any 3000W model must go straight into its own wall socket, never a multi-way extension lead, because 3kW is at the limit of a 13A circuit and overloaded leads are a fire risk.

Running cost is wattage times the rate, so you can work it out exactly. At the current Ofgem price-cap rate of 26.32p per kWh (Direct Debit, October to December 2026), full-power costs are:

*At the Ofgem cap rate of 26.32p/kWh (Oct to Dec 2026). These are full-power figures. A thermostat cycles the heater off once the room is warm, and a timer stops it heating an empty room, so real running costs are lower, often much lower.

The timer is where a panel heater earns back its higher price. A basic convector you forget to switch off runs for hours it did not need to; a 7-day schedule simply does not let that happen. Controls, not the badge, decide your bill.

This category is where the "energy-saving heater" marketing is thickest, so it bears repeating. Every mains electric heater is about 100% efficient at the point of use. A 2000W glass panel, a 2000W convector box and a 2000W oil-filled radiator all emit 2000W of heat and cost the same per hour at the same rate. The Energy Saving Trust is clear on this. A sleek "German-engineered low-energy" panel does not produce more heat per pound than a plain one of the same wattage.

So ignore any listing that claims its heater "uses less electricity" or is "more efficient" at a given wattage. It cannot be true. What is true is that better controls, an accurate thermostat and a 7-day timer, cut the hours the element actually runs, and that is a real saving. That is the entire case for paying more for a smart panel over a dumb box: not cheaper watts, but fewer wasted ones.

• Not for bathrooms unless it is designed for one. A standard plug-in convector is not safe in a bathroom. Bathroom heating must have a suitable IP rating and be installed to the bathroom zone rules by an electrician. Do not take a portable heater into a wet room.
• Straight into a wall socket. 2000W to 3000W is a heavy sustained load. Never run a convector through a multi-way extension lead or travel adaptor, and a 3000W model needs its own socket.
• Keep it clear. Convectors draw air in low and push warm air out the top, so keep both vents clear of furniture and never drape clothes over one; covering the outlet is a fire risk and traps the heat.
• Wall-mount properly. If you mount a panel heater, use the supplied bracket and fixings for your wall type, and keep the clearances the manual specifies above and around it.
• Do not leave a basic one running unattended for days. A timer or a model with a thermostat and tip-over or overheat cut-off is far more suitable for routine use.

Since you cannot buy cheaper watts, the savings come from running fewer of them:

• Use the timer. A 7-day schedule, or a cheap plug-in timer on a basic unit, means the heater never warms an empty room. This is the single biggest saving.
• Use the thermostat, not the on switch. Set a temperature and let it cycle. Running flat out and opening a window is money burned.
• Heat one zone. Warm the room you are in with the door closed while the boiler stays off, rather than heating the house for one person.
• Drop the target a degree, and stop the draughts first with a £10 excluder so the fast warmth a convector gives you does not leak straight out.
• If it is only you who is cold, an electric blanket at 2 to 3p an hour will often do the job the heater does not need to.

• "This panel heater is energy-saving or low-energy." Not at the same wattage. Same watts, same heat, same cost. Only the controls change your bill.
• "Glass panel heaters heat better than cheap convectors." They heat the same for the same wattage. You are paying for looks, wall-mounting and much better controls, which is a fair thing to pay for, just not for more heat.
• "A convector keeps the room warm after it switches off." No, that is an oil-filled radiator. Convectors have no thermal mass, so the room cools quickly once off. That is why a timer that heats just before you need it matters more here.
• "I can put a panel heater in the bathroom." Only a properly IP-rated, correctly installed bathroom heater. A standard plug-in convector in a bathroom is dangerous.
• "Higher wattage is always better." Only for bigger rooms. In a small room a 3000W heater just costs more to reach the same temperature a 1500W to 2000W unit would hold.