With three heat settings, it’s easy to maintain a comfortable temperature in the kitchen. It has a hot and warm air setting as well as a cool-fan mode. The fan setting can be used in the summer months to circulate colder air around the kitchen. Be advised, however, that most plinth heaters don’t ship with 3-pin plugs, and instead require installation via a fused spur. While this is easy enough for DIY installation, it’s a lot safer to hire a technician. (Though, it is relatively simple to swap out the lead with a pronged cable on your own.)

An electric plinth heater helps you conserve space and takes advantage of the fact that heat naturally rises.

If you’re ready to make the upgrade, you’re due for some comparison shopping. Today, we present to you the results of our own market research — the top seven plinth heaters for any home or budget. Hopefully, you’ll find the one that meets your needs and allows you to open up your floor plan and stay warm this Winter. The best plinth heater (including hydronic, electric, and dual-fuel heaters) A hydronic plinth heater has no heating element of its own, instead making use of heat that would be generated anyway from the hot water.

This kitchen plinth heater features an automatic safety shutoff function for your protection. It also has two heat settings, accessed via heat switches located right on the unit, plus a fan only setting for circulating cold air in the summer. Whether you want extra heat or cool air, this option has got you covered. Side note: if you’re looking for a plinth heater with remote control, look no further — this is the model for you). Despite the similar nomenclature to our previous entry, Smith’s SS5/Dual is a hybrid heater that uses both electricity and your central heating system to produce heat. It’s definitely a niche product with a price to match, but it may well be the perfect plinth heater for your home.The Diamond 500 Central Heating Kitchen Plinth Heater is a hydronic plinth heater that offers excellent efficiency and hassle-free heating. This plinth heater connects to your mains heating, so it only switches on when your heating does, adding an extra boost to kitchens. An additional feature, that can improve the versatility of a plinth heater, is a ‘cool fan’ mode. This option can come in useful during summer, allowing the heater to be used year round. While there’s no power indicator, there is a large on/off switch on the plate, giving you unambiguous control over when it’s in operation and not. Of course, if you’re like most people, you probably don’t want to go bending all over to fiddle with switches! In this case, rest easy knowing Winterwarm included a Bluetooth remote control, with which you can turn it on/off and adjust the thermostat settings. As with any heater, the most important consideration to make is matching output to what is required to efficiently and satisfactorily heat the room. In truth, this can be an endlessly complex matter, fraught with all sorts of variables like insulation, floor materials, latitude and climate, and of course, room size.

Once the temperature’s reached your chosen setting, the WWFH20E conscientiously shuts itself off to save on energy, rather than running dumbly until you bother to direct it otherwise. Moreover, you can programme your electric plinth heater on a 7-day schedule to truly maximise efficiency and minimise your power bills. Buy units with variable power outputs or thermostats – Many electronic plinth heaters will have some thermostatic control, so if your heater output exceeds the requirement of your kitchen space, it’s easy enough to set it to the proper temperature rather than burning you out. Hydronic heaters, on the other hand, are a little less flexible, but usually ship with some functionality to cut or boost their output via a switch on the front panel. Make sure your kitchen plinth heater offers some sort of option for managing heat!

A hydronic plinth heater needs to be connected to the central heating system in your home and a plumber will be required for this installation. Electronic plinth heaters, on the other hand, are far more flexible. Most ship with a 2m cable which needs to be wired up to the mains as a fused spur. Of course, if you need more length, it’s easy enough to extend it out to the nearest plug. Electrical heaters won’t have the sheer efficiency of their hydronic counterparts, but the difference isn’t so dire that you’d regret taking the electric alternative to frosty feet! As mentioned, this electric plinth heater comes with an integrated 7-day timer and a room thermostat. When the temperature drops below the set level, the heater will switch itself on automatically. Programming the thermostat can take a bit of getting used to, but if you don’t want to use the thermostatic controls the unit can also be run manually like a regular electric plinth heater.

There is some confusion online with outdated product listings. To clarify, this electric plinth heater does NOT have a fan-only mode like its predecessor. While pictures will not display the neon indicator light, rest assured that it is indeed there! If you’re looking for a great all-round electric plinth heater, it’s hard to do better than the Winterwarm WWFH20E. It easily slots into any available space on your property, requiring only modest DIY expertise to fit (and is a cheap job should you instead opt to hire a professional). Electric plinth heaters are cheaper to buy than hydronic plinth heaters; however, they can cost more to run. This is because they need to power a heating element as well as a fan. Hydronic plinth heaters require ready access to both the electrical mains (for the fan) and central heating. Sadly, this means you will not generally be able to use the higher-efficiently hydronic heaters in add-ons or standalone buildings divorced from the central heating system. It’s easy enough to run electrical wire to an extension of your home, but adding new plumbing is a serious undertaking.Indeed, plug-in electric space heaters abound on the market in all shapes, sizes and price points. But they all share a common inconvenience: they take up space that could otherwise be put to other (better) uses. The heater can be set to turn on automatically when it detects hot water in the pipes. It will then push the heat from the central heating system into the room via a fan.