Has anyone used one of these, thingk about getting a Delonghi, but not too sure about running costs or how good they are at heating up rooms. Any experiences?

we've got one. using at the moment while there is no heating in the kitchen. hasn;t had a significant affect on our elec bills (last year we used it to heat the bedroom for a couple of few months). it's a delonghi oil filled, thermostatic rad with a yellow dial and two red switches. technical i know, but that's what it is! heats up pretty quickly and remains at a constant heat pretty well. we've never had it on anything like it's hottest setting since buying it about 3 or 4 years ago (as a back-up for cold spells)

Yeah we bought it as a backup, though not used it yet, as not too sure how good they are.

when we used it in the bedroom a couple of times we've had to turn it down and open the door! i worried about the cost the first few times, but not having noticed an increase in my elec bills, we use it now and then when it's required

Do they leak oil by any chance?

not as far as i am aware - ours is a few years old now and no problems so far. it's seen some relatively extreme temperatures; has sat in a garage for a while (probably at below zero at some stage), in a shed (probably over 30 degrees at some stage this summer) and in the house. no problems so far

We have one in our daughters bedroom - climate control version. Means we don;t need the heating on throughout the night as we're fine under the duvet, but for her, it keeps her room (if it gets too cold) at a decent 21 degrees. The actual climate control is pants though. In order to get the room to around 21 degrees, the thermostat is set at 17 degrees, otherwise the room gets boiling before the heat reaches the sensor (which is right at the bottom of the rad). Good design!

They are class and never noticed any different in elec bills, mainly because oil keeps the heat a lot longer than water, so it's actually getting used less.

We use one all the time in the conservatory as there are no rads in there or the kitchen so its freezing and very condensed.

Was also worried about running costs at first, but it was never noticable.

Leave it on all the time now on medium anti-frost setting to try and combat the condensation/mould problems in the conservo, and it has worked to some degree.

If you whack the control up to max it gets very hot very quickly. :)

I bought one on the thinking that it would stay hot for a while after its switched off - it doesn't - maybe about 15 minutes, so don't do what I did and see them as a cheapo storage heater...

They are very good and apparently cheap to run. Most good ones have thermostat control, which will maintain x temp, switching off and on as required. Cost to run approx 5p per hour IIRC.

I used 5 of them one winter when the boiler broke....