Updated November 2026.
Every year, once the first cold mornings arrive, the same conversation starts at our counter. Somebody walks in with a list on their phone that reads heater, geyser, blanket, kettle, maybe an AC that heats, and a budget that won't stretch to all of it. What they want from us isn't a catalogue. They want to know which of these to buy first, which can wait, and what the lot will do to the electricity bill in January.
So that's what this page is. We'll take the winter appliances for home that have a real job to do, put them in the order we'd buy them, give each one a straight answer on who needs it, and then add them all up into the one number nobody else seems to work out: how many extra units a month a properly warm home actually uses. Where one of our own guides covers an appliance in more depth, we'll point you there instead of repeating it.
Which winter appliances for home are actually worth buying?
Five, in this order: a geyser, one good room heater, an electric blanket, an electric kettle, and in Delhi an air purifier. Everything else is a nice to have for particular homes, and we'll cover those further down.
The order matters more than people think. We've watched families spend on a second heater for the drawing room while the bathroom still has a geyser that can't keep up with three morning baths, and they're colder for it. Hot water first, then heat in the room you sleep in, then the cheap appliances that stretch that heat further. Here's the short version before we go through each one.
| Order | Appliance | Who needs it | Where we'd send you next |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Geyser | Every home without hot water on tap, and any home whose geyser runs out before the last bath | Our guide to the geyser in winter |
| 2 | Room heater | One for the room you sleep in. A second only if you sit somewhere else for hours | Our main room heater guide |
| 3 | Electric blanket | Anyone who's cold in bed but fine in the rest of the house | Our electric blanket and heater guide |
| 4 | Electric kettle | Every kitchen. It's the cheapest item on the list and the most used | Our pick below |
| 5 | Air purifier | Delhi NCR homes that keep the windows shut through the smog months | Our winter smog guide |
People often ask us whether they need all five. Usually they don't, because they already own two of them. What they're really asking is which one to add next, and the table answers that: go down the list and buy the first one you don't have.
Is a geyser the first winter appliance to buy?
Yes, if you don't already have one that keeps up, because cold water is the one winter problem no blanket or heater can fix. Of all the winter appliances for home, it's the one you can't work around with a sweater.
Most homes we talk to already have a geyser, so the real question is whether theirs is big enough for winter. Water comes out of the tank much colder in January than in May, everybody wants a hot bath at once, and a geyser that was fine in October starts running out before the last person's turn. If that's your house, the answer is usually a bigger tank rather than a second appliance.
We won't repeat the detail here, because we've written a whole guide on the geyser in winter. It covers why heat up takes longer, what temperature to set, how many units a geyser uses through the cold months, and whether you can run a geyser and a room heater on the same circuit. Read that last part if your trip switch goes at bath time.
Do you need a room heater, and for which room?
You need one, for the room you sleep in, and most homes are better off with one good heater than two cheap ones. A bedroom is where you spend eight hours sitting still in the coldest part of the night, so that's the room that earns a heater first.
The mistake we see most is buying for the drawing room first because that's where the family gathers. It's also the room with the most doors, the most people coming and going and the biggest floor area to heat. Put the first one in the bedroom, close the door, and the difference is immediate.
Which heater is a separate question, and it's the biggest one in this aisle. Our main guide to choosing a room heater for home takes you through halogen, fan and oil-filled types, what each costs to run, oxygen, dry air, sleeping with one on, and the five we'd recommend. If you already know the type and want the right size for your room, our room heater size guide works it out by square feet and fins. And if you're stuck between a fan heater and an oil radiator, we've put those two head to head.
One thing to correct from the old version of this page. It described a heater as having settings of "1W and 2W". Those were 1,000 W and 2,000 W, which is a thousand times more power than it said, and on a winter bill that's the difference that matters. We'd rather fix it than leave it standing.
Is an electric blanket worth buying if you already have a heater?
Often yes, because it warms the one place you're coldest for a fraction of the power, and many people find they run the heater for fewer hours once they have one. Energy supplier EDF puts most electric blankets at between 40 and 150 watts (EDF Energy). A fan heater on full draws 2,000.
Even a 150 W blanket left on all night uses less than an hour of a big heater. Plenty of people warm the bed for half an hour, switch the blanket off, and get in. The bedroom heater then only has to take the chill off rather than keep the whole room warm till morning.
Who doesn't need one: people who sleep warm already, and anyone whose room is properly heated through the night. Who does: the person in the house who's always cold in bed, and older parents who find it hard to get warm once they've lain down.
We're keeping this short on purpose, because the question of when a blanket can replace a heater, how to use the two together and what's safe has a full answer in our guide to electric blankets and heaters. One honest note from us: electric blankets aren't a category we sell online, so we haven't got a pick for you on this page. The guide will tell you what to look for wherever you buy one.
Why is an electric kettle on a winter list?
Because it's the quickest way to hot water that isn't in the bathroom, and in winter a house needs a lot of that. Tea and coffee all day, warm water for an elderly parent to drink, hot water for washing up when the kitchen tap runs icy, a top up for a bucket bath when the geyser's running low. It's the cheapest of the winter appliances for home on this list and probably the one you'll use most.
It also uses less electricity than people expect, and the arithmetic is easy. Water needs about 4.18 kilojoules to warm one kilogram by one degree (Engineering ToolBox). Take a full 1.5 litre kettle from a winter tap at 15°C to boiling and that's about 0.15 units. A 1,350 W kettle gets there in roughly seven minutes, a little longer in practice because some heat escapes. Four full boils a day comes to about 18 units a month.
The practical aside nobody mentions: boil what you need. Most people fill the kettle to the top for two cups of tea. Half the water means half the units and half the wait, which in a cold kitchen at seven in the morning is the part you'll notice.
Every home needs one. Spend a little more for auto cut off and a cool touch handle, because a kettle that switches itself off is the one that doesn't boil dry when the doorbell goes.
Does a Delhi home need an air purifier in winter too?
If you live in Delhi NCR, yes, because the way you keep a home warm in winter is by shutting the windows, and in the smog months that traps whatever's already inside. It won't make you warmer, just better off breathing.
This is the appliance customers are surprised to see on a winter list, and it's the one we'd argue for hardest in this city. The worst air of the year usually lands in the same weeks as the cold, roughly from late October to the end of January. A heated bedroom with the door shut all night is exactly where a purifier does its best work, because no fresh smog is leaking in.
It's also cheap to run. Sharp publishes its FP-J80M-H at 48 W on maximum, 28 W on medium and 1.3 W on low (Sharp India). Twelve hours a day on maximum is about 17 units a month. On medium it's about 10. We've covered the whole smog season case, from when to switch on to how big a machine you need, in our guide to air purifiers for winter smog.
Who doesn't need one: homes outside the NCR's bad air belt, and anyone who sleeps with a window open. Who does: anyone in Delhi with a child, an elderly parent or someone with asthma in a bedroom that stays shut all winter.
How many units do winter appliances for home add to a monthly bill?
A home running all five of these the way most families do adds roughly 390 units a month, and about 240 of those are the room heater. That's the number we wish everyone saw before they bought, because it shows where the money goes and where it doesn't.
We've built it up appliance by appliance from published wattages, using the same sum you can do on your phone: watts divided by 1,000, times hours a day, times 30 days. One unit is one kilowatt hour, the same unit printed on your bill.
| Appliance | How we've assumed you use it | Units a month |
|---|---|---|
| Room heater | 2,000 W fan heater, 4 hours a night, element never cycling off | about 240 |
| Geyser | 45 litres of hot water a day, plus a 25 litre tank's standing loss | about 90 |
| Electric blanket | 100 W, left on for 8 hours a night | about 24 |
| Electric kettle | Four full 1.5 litre boils a day | about 18 |
| Air purifier | 48 W on maximum, 12 hours a day | about 17 |
| Total | about 390 |
Where the figures come from. The heater line is the worst case from our main room heater guide, and a thermostat brings it down, often by a lot. The geyser line uses the rule from our geyser guide of about 24 units a month for every 15 litres of hot water drawn a day in winter, which gives about 72 for 45 litres, plus up to about 21 units of standing loss for a five star 25 litre tank under BEE's star plan (BEE star rating plan, via NZEB). The blanket uses a middle figure from EDF's 40 to 150 W range. The kettle and purifier are worked out above.
Now put that on a Delhi bill. Delhi's domestic tariff climbs in slabs, with 401 to 800 units a month charged at Rs 6.50 a unit (BSES Delhi tariff schedule). At that rate, 390 extra units is roughly Rs 2,500 a month. The bigger catch is the slab itself. Add 390 units to a home that was using 300 and the whole bill moves up a slab, so the fridge, the lights and the television get billed at the dearer rate too. That's the January bill people show us, worried something's broken. Usually nothing is. The winter load just pushed the whole house into the next band.
The chart also tells you something more useful. The other four appliances together come to about 150 units. The heater on its own is 240. If the bill worries you, the blanket, the kettle and the purifier aren't the problem. The hours the heater runs are.
Which winter appliance should you cut back first if the bill is too high?
Cut heater hours first, never the blanket or the kettle, because the heater is where nearly two thirds of the winter units go. Shaving an hour a night off a 2,000 W heater saves about 60 units a month, more than the kettle and the purifier use together.
Here's the order we'd suggest when somebody tells us their bill has jumped:
- Warm the bed, not the whole night. Twenty minutes of electric blanket before you get in, then the heater on its lowest setting or off.
- Use the thermostat. A heater set to a comfortable temperature switches itself off once the room gets there. One left on full runs flat out until morning. Our main heater guide explains why we rate it the most useful feature on the shelf.
- Check the geyser habit. How long the tank stays on matters more than its star rating, and our geyser in winter guide works through whether to leave it on all day.
- Check how close you are to the next slab. If you're just over a boundary, a few units saved can pull the whole bill back into a cheaper band.
What we'd never tell you to cut is the purifier in a Delhi bedroom. At 10 to 17 units a month, it's the best value appliance on the list.
Is a hot and cold AC worth it as a winter appliance?
Only if you're replacing a bedroom AC anyway, in which case it can roughly halve what that room costs to heat. It isn't worth buying as a heater on its own, but it's the upgrade we push people towards when their old AC is due.
The numbers show why. Daikin's page for its 1 ton hot and cold range lists a rated heating capacity of 3.52 kW and an operating current of 4.26 amps on heating (Daikin India). At 230 volts that's roughly 1,000 watts drawn to put 3,520 watts of heat into the room. Four hours a night comes to about 118 units a month, against about 240 for a fan heater running the same hours. The heater puts out 2,000 watts of heat for 2,000 watts in. The AC puts out three and a half times what it draws.
Current times voltage slightly overstates the real watts, so treat 118 as the high end. We've gone into how a heat pump does this, and how it compares with an oil heater on a cold Delhi night, in our main room heater guide, so we'll leave that question there.
Which winter extras are only worth it for some homes?
A clothes dryer for families who can't get washing dry, a hair dryer for anyone who washes their hair in the morning, and that's about it. Plenty of things get sold as winter appliances for home that don't earn the name.
- Clothes dryer. On foggy, damp weeks, washing can hang for two days and still smell of the rack. For a big family, a flat with no sunny balcony or a house with school uniforms to turn round overnight, a dryer earns its place. For everyone else it's a luxury. You can see the range in our dryer collection.
- Hair dryer. Going out into a cold morning with wet hair is miserable, and a hair dryer takes two minutes to fix it. It's a small, sensible buy, not a must have.
- Toaster and air fryer. The old version of this page listed both as appliances to keep you warm. They're good kitchen appliances, but neither warms a home or a person. We've taken them off the list because a winter page should be about winter.
Which winter appliances do we hand people at the counter?
For heaters and geysers we'll send you to the guides that compare them properly, and for the rest, these three are the ones we'd put in your hands. Each covers a job on this list, and every figure comes from what the manufacturer publishes.
Prestige PKOSS 1.5 L Electric Kettle
The one we suggest when somebody just wants a kettle that works and won't think about it again, under Rs 2,000. TTK Prestige publishes a 1.5 litre stainless steel body, a 1,350 W element, automatic cut off, a cool touch handle and lid, and single touch lid locking.
Sharp FP-J80M-H Air Purifier
Our pick for a Delhi bedroom that stays shut all winter, in the high Rs twenties. Sharp publishes 480 m³/h of air flow on maximum, a washable PM10 pre filter ahead of the HEPA and carbon filters, 15 dB on low, 48 W on maximum and 1.3 W on low, and a filter life of up to two years. It's the machine we suggest when somebody says the words light sleeper, and the low power figures are why it costs so little to leave on all night.
Daikin FTHT35XV16 1 Ton Hot and Cold AC
For the home that's replacing a bedroom AC and wants it to heat too, in the mid Rs 30,000s. Daikin's 1 ton hot and cold page lists 3.52 kW of rated heating capacity, a 4.26 amp heating current and heating operation down to minus 10°C outside (Daikin India). As a summer AC that also heats, it's the appliance that does most to lower a winter bill.
For room heaters, the five we'd recommend room by room are in our main heater guide. For geysers, our geyser in winter guide has the picks sized for a cold January, and both are linked above.
Where can I buy winter appliances for home online in Delhi NCR?
You can buy any of these online from us with delivery across Delhi NCR, or come into the showroom and we'll go through your list with you. Our room heater collection, geyser collection, kettles and air purifiers are the places to start.
Our advice before you spend, and it costs us nothing to give it: work out what you already have, then buy the first thing on the list you're missing. If the geyser runs out every morning, that comes before any heater. If the bedroom's warm but the bed isn't, a blanket comes before a second heater. And if you're worried about the bill, look at the heater's hours, not the kettle. Getting winter appliances for home right is less about how many you own and more about buying them in the right order, and we'd much rather sell you the one you need than all five.