Updated September 2026.
The first cold week of every Delhi winter brings the same scene to our counter. Someone walks in with a coat still on, points at the row of heaters and asks which one's best. Then, before we've answered, they ask the question they really came with: which one won't send the electricity bill through the roof?
Those are two different questions, and the second one has a more surprising answer than most people expect. So here's the version we give in the shop. What each type of heater is good at, what it costs to run in plain units, the safety points we'd want our own families to know, and the five we'd put in your hands depending on the room you're heating.
Which room heater is best for home?
An oil-filled radiator for any room you'll sit or sleep in for hours, a fan heater for a quick warm-up, and a halogen heater for one person in one spot. There isn't a single best room heater, because the three types heat in three different ways, and the right one depends on how long you're in the room and how big it is.
People ask us which heater is best when what they mean is which heater won't disappoint them in January. The disappointments we hear about are almost always a mismatch. A small halogen bought to warm a whole drawing room. A blower run all night in a bedroom and blamed for a dry throat in the morning. A big 13 fin radiator bought for a study where somebody sits for forty minutes and then leaves. None of those is a bad heater. Each is the wrong heater for that room.
Delhi's winter is short but it bites, with temperatures regularly dropping below 10°C, as a team at AIIMS New Delhi put it in a study we'll come back to further down (Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care). Brick and concrete flats hold that chill, and a north facing bedroom can feel colder inside than the street does at noon. That's the job the heater's up against.
Halogen, fan or oil-filled: which type suits which room?
Match the heater to the time you spend in the room: minutes for a fan heater, an hour or two for a halogen, a whole evening or night for an oil-filled radiator. Here's how the three compare, the way we'd sketch it on the back of a bill book.
| Fan heater | Halogen or quartz | Oil-filled radiator | |
|---|---|---|---|
| How it heats | Blows air across a hot element | Infrared from glowing tubes, warms what it faces | Heats sealed oil, fins warm the air slowly |
| Warm in | A minute or two | Seconds, but only in front of it | Slow start, faster with a PTC fan |
| Typical wattage | 1,000 to 2,000 W | 400 to 1,200 W | 2,000 to 2,900 W |
| Noise | Fan hum | Silent | Silent on radiator mode |
| Best room | Bathroom before a bath, a quick blast in the morning | Desk, reading chair, one person | Bedroom, living room, anyone elderly or very young |
| Price band | Under Rs 2,000 | Under Rs 3,000 | High Rs 5,000s to mid Rs teens |
The old version of this page leaned on BTUs to explain heating capacity. We've dropped that, because the heaters we sell here are labelled in watts, not BTUs, and it sent people hunting for a number that isn't on the box. Watts are the number that matters, and they tell you two things at once: how much heat you get and how many units you'll pay for.
Our longer electric heater vs oil-filled heater comparison goes deeper on the two most common choices if you're torn between just those.
Which room heater consumes less electricity?
None of them, watt for watt. Every electric heater turns one unit of electricity into one unit of heat, so the one that costs less to run is the one drawing fewer watts for fewer hours. This is the answer that surprises people most at the counter, and we'd rather you heard it from us than from the meter.
A 2,000 W fan heater and a 2,000 W oil-filled radiator draw the same power and put the same heat into your room while they're running. Nothing is lost up a chimney, because there isn't one. What changes the bill is how long each one stays on, and that comes down to two features.
- A thermostat. A heater with one switches its element off once the room reaches the setting you've chosen and back on when it cools. A heater without one runs flat out until you switch it off. We'd call this the single most useful feature on the shelf.
- Heat settings. A radiator with 1,000, 1,500 and 2,500 W steps lets you run at 1,000 W on a mild evening instead of full power. You'll use the lower steps far more than the top one.
Oil-filled radiators get a reputation for being cheaper to run, and there's a reason people feel that. The oil keeps giving off heat after the thermostat cuts the element, so the room holds steady instead of swinging between too hot and too cold. It isn't more efficient per unit. It's just better at not wasting units.
There's exactly one appliance in our heating aisle that beats the one unit in, one unit out rule, and it isn't a heater at all. We'll get to the hot and cold AC below.
How much electricity does a room heater use in a month?
A 2,000 W heater running four hours a night uses about 240 units a month, which is roughly Rs 1,560 at Rs 6.50 a unit. That's the worst case, with the element never cycling off. A thermostat will bring it down, often a lot.
The sum is simple enough to do on your phone. Watts divided by 1,000, times hours a day, times days. A unit is one kilowatt hour. Delhi's domestic tariff climbs in slabs from Rs 3 a unit for the first 200 units to Rs 8 above 1,200, with 401 to 800 units charged at Rs 6.50 (BSES Delhi tariff schedule). Your bill also carries a power purchase surcharge on top, so check the slab you're really in.
| Heater and setting | Units a night (4 hours) | Units a month (30 nights) | Cost a month at Rs 6.50 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Halogen on 800 W | 3.2 | 96 | about Rs 620 |
| Halogen on 1,200 W | 4.8 | 144 | about Rs 940 |
| Oil-filled on 1,500 W | 6.0 | 180 | about Rs 1,170 |
| Fan heater on 2,000 W | 8.0 | 240 | about Rs 1,560 |
| Oil-filled on 2,500 W | 10.0 | 300 | about Rs 1,950 |
Here's the part worth knowing before you buy. Two hundred and forty extra units in a month can tip a household from one slab into the next, and then everything else you ran that month gets billed at the higher rate too. That's the January bill people bring in and show us. The heater didn't cost what they think it did on its own. It pushed the fridge, the geyser and the television into a dearer slab alongside it.
Does a room heater reduce oxygen in the room?
No, an electric heater doesn't burn oxygen or give off carbon monoxide, because nothing in it burns. A coal angithi or a gas heater does both, and that's the one that's dangerous in a closed room.
This question comes up every single winter, usually from someone whose parents have been warned about "heaters" without anyone saying which kind. The worry is real, it's just pointed at the wrong appliance. The AIIMS New Delhi team reviewed fifteen years of autopsy records and found 56 deaths from carbon monoxide, 95% of them in winter. The most common source was coal burning earthen or iron vessels used to heat a room, and nearly every victim was found in an enclosed space with the heating close by (AIIMS study, PMC). Carbon monoxide has no smell, which is why people asleep don't wake up.
So if there's an angithi or a gas heater still in use in your family, especially with an older relative sleeping in a small room, that's the one to replace first. An electric heater of any type takes that risk out of the room entirely. The stuffy feeling some people get with an electric heater is heat and dryness, not missing oxygen, and there's a simple fix for that below.
Why does a room heater make the air feel dry?
Because warming air lowers its relative humidity, and every heater does that by the same amount for the same rise in temperature. Warm air can hold more moisture than cold air, so the same water spread through warmer air reads as drier.
You'll hear, sometimes from us, that an oil-filled radiator doesn't dry the air. That's not quite right, and we'd rather fix it than repeat it. Heat a room from 12°C to 22°C with any heater and the relative humidity falls the same way. What an oil-filled radiator avoids is the other stuff people notice with a blower or a halogen. The fins stay far cooler than a glowing element, so there's no scorched dust smell, no blast of hot air across your face, and no infrared beaming onto your skin for hours. Those are what leave people with a tight throat in the morning.
The practical fix costs nothing. Set the thermostat a couple of degrees lower than you think you need, keep a bowl of water or a damp towel away from the heater in the room, and don't point any heater at the bed.
Is it safe to sleep with a room heater on?
The safety authorities say switch it off before you sleep, and we'd go with that: warm the room first, then let a timer turn the heater off. It's the advice that costs you a little comfort at 3 in the morning and takes the biggest risk off the table.
The US Consumer Product Safety Commission's guidance for electric heaters is clear and it matches what we tell people (CPSC safety alert):
- Keep beds, sofas, curtains, paper and clothes at least 0.9 metres from the front, sides and back. That's three feet. In a small Delhi bedroom that rules out a surprising number of corners.
- Never plug a heater into an extension cord or a power strip. Plug it straight into the wall. The big 2,900 W radiators need a 16 amp socket, and we'd rather you know that before it arrives.
- Don't leave it running unattended or while you're asleep.
- Stand it on a stable, level surface where it won't get knocked over, and never run the cord under a rug.
- If the plug, socket or cord feels hot, stop using it and get an electrician to look at the socket.
In India, look for the ISI mark. The Bureau of Indian Standards certifies room heaters against IS 302 (Part 2/Sec 30), the safety standard for this type of appliance (BIS product manual). Everything we've recommended below either carries it or is listed as certified.
And one thing we see every winter: clothes draped over a radiator to dry. Please don't. It's exactly the combustible material the guidance is about, and it blocks the thermostat from reading the room.
Which heater is safe for a baby or an elderly parent?
An oil-filled radiator with a thermostat, a tip-over switch and a timer, kept well out of reach. No exposed glowing element, no blast of hot air, and a steady temperature instead of peaks.
Two honest caveats. The fins still get hot enough to hurt a crawling baby's hand, so it goes behind a guard or out of reach, not just in the corner. And a newborn's room shouldn't be heated to what feels cosy to an adult in a sweater. Ask your paediatrician what temperature they'd like, then set the thermostat to it and let the heater hold it. For an elderly parent, a remote control is worth paying a little more for, so nobody has to bend down to the dial in the dark.
Is a hot and cold AC better than an oil heater?
For running cost, yes, often by a wide margin, because a hot and cold AC moves heat in from outside instead of making it. For upfront cost, no. It's the one heating appliance we sell that beats one unit in, one unit out.
A hot and cold AC is a heat pump. In heating mode it pulls warmth out of the outdoor air, even cold air, and pumps it indoors. Natural Resources Canada puts air source heat pump efficiency at a coefficient of performance of 2.0 to 5.4 when it's 8°C outside, which means 2 to 5.4 units of heat for every unit of electricity. At minus 8°C that range falls to 1.1 to 3.7 (NRCan). A Delhi winter night sits much nearer the first figure than the second.
If you already have an AC due for replacement in a bedroom you heat every winter, this is the upgrade we'd push you towards. The Daikin FTHT35XV16 hot and cold AC, in the mid Rs 30,000s, is a 1 ton unit from a range Daikin rates to heat with outdoor temperatures down to minus 10°C (Daikin India). It won't make sense as a heater alone. As a summer AC that also heats, it saves you units every January.
Which 5 room heaters do we recommend for home?
These five, one for each kind of room we're asked about most, from a quick bathroom warm-up to a big drawing room. Prices move through the year, so we've given the band each one sits in rather than a number that'll be wrong by the time you read it.
Glen HA7020 Fan Room Heater
The one we hand people who say "I just need the bathroom warm before my bath." Under Rs 2,000. It runs at 1,000 or 2,000 W, and the reason we pick it over other fan heaters at this price is the adjustable thermostat, so it holds a temperature instead of running flat out. Oscillation, a front grill, a thermal cut-out and an ISI mark round it off. Fifteen minutes in the morning, then off. That's how a fan heater should be used, and used that way it's the cheapest heat in the house.
Havells Inclino Halogen Heater
For one person in one chair. Under Rs 3,000. Three halogen tubes give you 400, 800 or 1,200 W, it oscillates to sweep a seating area, and it has a tip-over switch and a two year warranty. We suggest it to people working from a desk in a cold room, or an older parent who reads in the same armchair every evening. It warms you in seconds and costs little on 400 or 800 W. It won't warm a whole room, and we'll tell you that if that's what you're after.
Morphy Richards OFR 9F Wave Fin
The sensible bedroom radiator. Under Rs 8,000. Nine wave fins and 2,400 W of oil-filled heat, plus a 400 W PTC fan that takes the chill off in the first few minutes while the oil comes up to temperature. ISI certified and silent on radiator mode. For a normal sized bedroom this is plenty, and it's the one we steer people towards when they've walked in asking for the biggest radiator we have and the room turns out to be 10 by 12.
Glen HA7013DOR Digital Oil Filled Radiator
The one for anyone who wants to set it and forget it. Under Rs 10,000. Eleven fins, 2,900 W total with a 400 W PTC fan, three heat levels, and the two features we'd pay extra for: a programmable thermostat and a 24 hour timer, both on a remote. Glen lists it for rooms up to 250 sq ft. Warm the bedroom for an hour before bed, let the timer switch it off after you're asleep, and you've followed the safety advice without waking up cold. It needs a 16 amp socket.
Havells Hestio 15 Wave Fin OFR
For the big drawing room, or a ground floor that never sees the sun. Under Rs 15,000. Fifteen wave fins, the most surface area in the Hestio range, with a 2,500 W radiator and a 400 W PTC fan on top. The heat steps at 1,000, 1,500 and 2,500 W are the thing to love here, because you'll live on 1,000 or 1,500 most evenings and save the top step for the worst nights. IS 302-2-30 certified, tip-over switch, overheat protection and a two year warranty. It needs a 16 amp socket too.
Where can I buy a room heater online in Delhi NCR?
You can buy a room heater online from us with delivery across Delhi NCR, or come into the showroom and stand next to them running. The full range sits in our heaters collection, from small halogens to 15 fin radiators.
Our advice before you spend anything, and it costs us nothing to give it: know three things when you come in. The size of the room, how many hours a day you'll be in it, and whether there's a 16 amp socket where you want the heater. With those, we can tell you in two minutes which type suits you and, just as often, that a smaller and cheaper one will do the job. We've been an appliance retailer in this city since 1981. The best room heater is the one sized for the room you have, set on a thermostat, and switched off by a timer before you're asleep. Get those three right and whichever badge you pick, you'll be warm and your bill won't frighten you.
More room heater guides
- How to choose a room heater, the step by step buying checklist.
- Electric heater vs oil-filled heater, the head to head.
- Geysers and heaters for winter, the wider winter appliance picture.