Heat N Light Two Bar Electric Heater, 1600 -1800 W

I bought this electric fire for use in our summer house during the winter months, and wanted something that was going to be long lasting and give a good heat - this fits the bill perfectly!First off build quality - for the price its fine, at the top of the fire where the silver reflector ends, its a little "bendable" but this is not a problem - just remember to pick the fire up by its built in handle rather than the silver lip at the top. When stood the fire is safe and sturdy, and its low centre of gravity means it will not fall over easily. The fire is pleasing to the eye, and is well finished.Heat - the heat this fire gives off is, well lovely! Its called heat and light referring to the fact that this is a bar heater - so a ceramic bar has an element rapped around it that glows orange and emits the heat. This is by far my favourite form of heat since it does not tend to "dry" the air as some electric heaters do.The warm glow the heater gives off is not just for effect - that warm infrared glow really warms your body to the bone, and is great to warm stiff, aching joints and muscles in front of it. Noise wise...... its silent! No moving parts or fan means its lovely to sit and read with it on - I have had various fan heaters in the past where even though its still cold I have had to turn it off as the noise its just irritating after a while.Many people seem to ask about the most efficient way to heat using electricity - or which electric heater is the cheapest to run, well electric heaters are pretty much 99.9% efficient, so one kind of heater is no more efficient than another, its just the method used to heat and how the heat is distributed that matters. A fan heater may feel like it heats the room faster than an oil filled radiator, but its just that the heater gets hot fast, and equally gets cold just as fast when you turn it off. An oil filled radiator doesn't get hot as fast as more time needs to go into heating up the oil before it gives out its heat, but once you turn it off it will give out heat for longer as the oil cools. Its no more efficient, just one method gives heat instantly, the other takes a while to heat up, then time to cool down, both heaters will use exactly the same electricity over an hour as long as they are the same KW, e.g. both 3KW heaters.One thing that may make a heater more efficient is a thermostat that turns the heater off when the desired temperature is set so that is a consideration when buying.This heater gives out 1800w on full, and I find that is enough to heat my living room effectively, you can certainly feel the warmth from the other side of a medium sized room - the cat certainly knows when its on as likes to sit within the glow and get warm.This heater does not have a thermostat, so is always on, however you can alter the heat output to either one or two bars of heating.Safety wise the heater has a built in "tip over" switch that cuts the power an turns the heater off if it is knocked over, I tested this and it doesn't take much of an angle before it turns off, so I feel that's a great feature. Lots of people complain about the lack of a power switch on this heater, you simply plug it in and it comes on. This is also a safety feature ensuring you unplug the heater after use. This is great as I'm always confident at bed time that I have turned off the heater as I have to physically unplug it.The bars can be replaced and it explains in the instruction book (well written) how to do this, a quick search online and there are plenty of suppliers of standard pencil elements for electric fires. These elements tend to last a while though, unlike the halogen type heaters that became popular a few years ago - I found that after a few weeks / months the halogen bulb blew rendering the heater useless.The only real negative point about the heater is the power cord length - it could do with being a little longer.So all in all a great, value little electric fire that is effective in warming a standard sized living room over the winter months, has little to go wrong due to no moving parts and easily replaceable elements (if ever needed to be replaced). Also even on full its only 1800w so I am happy to have it on all evening without worrying too much about the power its using - I was always aware of the electricity meter flying round with a 3KW heater. Oh remember I said I bought this for the summer house? Well its so good we now keep it on our living room hearth in front of our log burner when we have no wood, or cannot be bothered to light it - and its on more and more now because we are so pleased with it.Lastly I was watching a BBC documentary about the queen online a few weeks ago and it was showing her in her private office, doing her duty and what heater did Her Majesty have to keep her warm? An expensive thermostatically controlled electric heater? No. She had this exact heater on her hearth glowing away as she worked!

Very pleased. It is exactly what you'd expect. It is pretty flimsy at the top where the silver inside meet the sides and could bend or dent easily. I ordered from three different suppliers and this one was the only one who sent me a fire in excellent condition, so I'm very pleased. I like that you can turn one bar off and that it doesn't heat up underneath or anything. There are some screws that are not covered at the back at the bottom and inside the fire, inside doesn't mater but it might be a good idea for the manufacturer to cover them as they're sharp. A good old fashioned immediate heat fire. My Mum loves it.

This two bar electric heater would have been allocated five stars all but for the length of flex attached to the heater. The length is far to SHORT and therefore limits where it can be placed in any room! At least twice the length of flex is required!!

Really throws out the heat which is excellent. Slightly flimsy metal, which was already bent, lost a star but probably alright.

the best fire you can buy,absolute fantastic,used these fires for years,have used every other fire not a patch on these fires,if you want a fire that keeps you warm,this is the one for you,does what as it says on the box,keeps you warm just on one bar,no need for two bars,keeping your electricity bill down,this is the top of the tree for fires.. the one to buy....Gary

Excellent, really good fire, the only trouble is, the lead is far too short, ridiculous.

Bought this fire because I was sick of halogen heaters and their bars not working. This is a great fire, just like the old fashion ones you could get years ago. Has only 2 bars but sends out loads of heat, so far I have been able to heat up the room using only one bar. Fully recommend this fire for those freezing cold winter days.

Very effective and versatile occasional heater. Quality seems good and fitted with a useful carry handle