An oil filled radiator and a fan heater are the two designs this guide sets side by side for a bedroom or living room in a North Indian flat. The comparison rests on product pages from Orient Electric, Havells, Bajaj and Usha, along with a UK magazine comparison and several safety documents.
Four oil filled models appear in the cards below, and three stand alone fan heaters from Bajaj, Orient and Havells represent the other design.
How the two designs heat a room
A fan heater pushes air over a heat source and into the room, according to a UK magazine comparison, while an oil filled radiator warms oil with an electric element and gives off heat through its fins. The magazine says both types have thermostats.
It adds that fan heaters warm a room more quickly, and that oil filled radiators take longer to warm up but spread heat more evenly. A room with a fan heater cools quickly once the unit is off, the magazine says, whereas an oil filled radiator goes on giving off heat after it is switched off.
Screwfix, a UK retailer, publishes a running cost guide that says the two heater types use a similar amount of electricity. The guide adds that oil filled radiators work best in short bursts.
The two designs also meet in single products. The Havells Hestio 9 wave fin page lists a PTC fan heater element of 2400 W in a model that Havells files under oil filled radiators, and the page gives no fin count, thermostat type, dimensions or weight.
Usha lists a model with 11 U shaped fins and a built in fan of 400 W for faster heating.
Its three modes run from 1000 W to 2300 W, according to the page on the Croma retail site.
A Havells model of 11 fins on the same retail site pairs a 400 W PTC element with three power levels. Orient, Bajaj and the Vlamo from Havells are described as oil filled radiators, and their pages mention no fan element.
What the product pages list
Orient’s Comforter Collection page lists 11 fins, three heat settings and an added thermostat control. Its weight is given as 10.6 kg, and wattage is stated in two ways, with one figure in the title and a different one in the specification table.
Havells lists the Vlamo with 10 fins and three power settings.
Its adjustable thermostat has a range of 5 to 35 °C, according to the listing.
Bajaj lists the Vienna OFR 7F with 7 fins and the lowest power settings of the four oil filled models. Its specification table labels the top setting as the highest voltage.
On the fan side, Bajaj lists the Majesty RFX 2 at 2000 W with two heat settings and an adjustable thermostat, and describes the housing as cool touch.
Orient’s Glint fan heater has two elements and runs at either 1000 W or 2000 W. The page says the lower setting suits mild weather or smaller rooms.
Havells lists the Calmy PTC fan room heater with a ceramic heating element, a range of 600 W to 1200 W and an oscillation function.
Safety features the brands list
Each brand describes its own protection, and every item below is a brand claim. Orient’s page describes a 360 degree tip over switch that shuts the heater off automatically when it is knocked over.
Bajaj lists a safety tilt switch and an automatic thermal cutout on the Vienna OFR 7F. Its page also states “BIS Certification: Yes” and “ISI Approved”. No other page among the four oil filled models names a standard.
Havells says the overheat system on the Hestio “shuts down the power supply when the internal temperature exceeded a safe value”. A tip over tilt switch is added on the same page. For the Vlamo, the listing names a tip over switch, a thermal cutout and a rear safety cover.
The fan heater pages carry their own lists. Bajaj names a safety tilt guard, an automatic thermal cutout and a thermal fuse on the Majesty RFX 2, together with a secondary cutout that resets itself.
Orient lists two thermal cutouts, an overload protector and a thermostat on the Glint, and says the heater cuts off automatically when temperatures exceed safe limits. The page does not mention tip over protection.
The Usha page lists a tip over safety switch, overheat protection, a safety grill and an IP23 rating, and the retailer says the unit is ISI marked. No thermal cutout is named. The Havells 11 fin model lists a tip over switch and overheat protection.
Standards and placement advice
The BIS safety standard for room heaters sits in Section 30 of IS 302, and BIS describes it as a safety standard that leaves performance requirements to a separate one.
It is the first revision with three amendments, and BIS gives an international equivalent in the IEC family of standards.
Aleph India, a certification consultancy, says the standard covers convector, fan, liquid filled, panel, radiant and tubular heaters. It splits them into two groups at 1000 W and is written for single phase units with rated voltages up to 250 V.
An insurer’s safety blog from ICICI Lombard advises buying a BIS certified heater and plugging it straight into a wall socket instead of an extension cord. It also says the socket should never be overloaded.
The blog warns that prolonged use in a closed room can lead to carbon monoxide poisoning, and it recommends tip over protection and a cool touch housing. It carries a disclaimer that its information may be out of date.
A UK distributed manual for a Platinum 2500 W oil filled radiator says to keep the heater at least 1 metre from walls, furniture and curtains. The manual adds that covering the heater can cause overheating and fire, and it says never to cover it.
The same manual tells owners not to use extension leads or extend the cord, and to keep the socket outlet accessible at all times. Its cord length is 150 cm.
It says the heater switches off when knocked over or at unsafe temperatures, and stops if internal overheating is detected. Owners are told to run the heater at maximum for two hours with the room ventilated before first use.
The US consumer product safety agency advises keeping a space heater at least three feet from bedding, drapes, furniture and other flammable material. It says the heater belongs on a level, hard, nonflammable surface.
Separately, the agency advises choosing a heater tested and certified by a nationally recognised testing laboratory. It says a heater should never be left running during sleep and should be turned off when the area is left.
Both sets of distances come from foreign documents, one a manual for a single model and the other a US agency release.
Warranty and room fit
Bajaj gives a warranty of three years on the Vienna OFR 7F. Havells states a warranty of 2 years against manufacturing defects on the Hestio, again as a brand claim.
Orient’s page carries no warranty, BEE or BIS information. The Vlamo listing gives no weight, warranty, BEE or BIS certification, and the Hestio page gives no certification either.
The Vienna OFR 7F suits a buyer of a smaller room who wants BIS and ISI listed on the page. A buyer who wants a thermostat range with three power settings is the one the Vlamo suits, and the Hestio suits a buyer who wants a fan element inside an oil filled body. Orient’s Comforter Collection suits a buyer who wants a larger fin count with a thermostat control.
Cord length on the Bajaj Vienna page is given as 1.5 m.
