Princess Smart Infrared Panel Heater, 350 W, Free App & Voice Control, Low Energy Consumption, Timer, Adjustable Thermostat, Free Standing or Wall Mounted, 01.348035.02.001, White

Product Information

Like its panel counterparts, the Kiasa works just as well for radiating heat to where it’s needed most, and for relatively little outlay.

From the app, you can set the heat mode (high or low), temperature target and toggle standby mode. The app also gives you schedules, so you can set the Princess Glass Smart Panel Heater up to work much like a smart thermostat. The majority of infrared heaters are panel-based models, and most of them are designed to be professionally installed against a wall or on a ceiling. Indeed, many homeowners these days are opting for infrared panels instead of standard radiators.To find the best electric heater, our experts start by measuring their power consumption. They run each heater for an hour on its highest and lowest setting and calculate how much it costs for that period. If you’ve ever been to the Alps in winter, you will have experienced the sudden warmth on your body when the sun peeks through the clouds. One minute it’s freezing cold, the next you’re unzipping your skiing clothes because it almost feels like a summer’s day on the Costa del Sol. That, in a nutshell, best describes how infrared heating works. As everyone’s homes and electricity usage are different, this is a hard question to answer definitively. So, we turned to Joanna O’Loan, the Energy Saving Trust’s Knowledge Manager, for an expert opinion. Safety is paramount when it comes to using heated products. All the heaters we’ve featured below either have timers or auto cut-off features, which will turn them off if they get too hot. We’ve also highlighted whether they have handles, as this impacts their portability – many don’t, meaning you'll have to wait until they’ve cooled down before you can safely move them. However, it should be noted that very few electric heating systems are capable of beating the lower running costs of heating a whole home using a gas central heating system, so we’re still quite some time away from discovering the Holy Grail. Can you really feel the warmth emitted by an infrared heater?

The heater can shut off automatically by setting time schedules in the app or using the timer function

How the electric heaters are used can also impact their safety, explains Giuseppe Capanna, Product Safety Engineer at the charity Electrical Safety First. “Some simple steps people can take to use their heaters safely are to avoid powering from an extension lead, as this can overload and cause fires, and to ensure they are at least a metre away from combustible materials such as clothes,” he says. With the power on, you have to use the standby button on the front to toggle the heat on and off. There are then controls to switch between the two heat modes, a timer and controls to set the thermostat, with the target temperature clearly displayed on the front LCD. In use this heater is true to Princess’ power rating, consuming a peak of 365W, and falling below 1W when in standby. Over 30 minutes’ continuous use it consumed 0.19kWh – less than half what I’d expect from a typical fan or convection heater on its lowest setting, and about 6.3p at the current 34p per kilowatt hour price cap.