This smart heater can help keep costs down
Aeno heater
Many of us are in for a difficult winter as a result of the prolonged conflict in Ukraine's impact on energy prices. Where it is safe and practical, the government is requesting that people lower their thermostats and think twice before using larger appliances.
Finding more ways to stay warm and comfortable has never been more important. Having more than one heating system helps to minimise costs or at least spread the cost. I use a mixture of oil-fired central heating, a solid-fuel stove and a few electric heaters.
While I find the convenience of my fan-assisted electric heater great to heat a room up quickly, it uses 3,000 watts, which equates to around €1 every 45 minutes. Over the last month, I’ve been testing a new smart heater from Aeno to see if it can help keep heating costs down. The Aeno Premium Eco Smart Heater claims to save you up to 50% on energy costs with their environmentally friendly infrared and convection heating method and low power consumption.
The Aeno heater is essentially two flat pains of hardened glass that sandwich an infrared heating element. It comes with a clever mounting system that facilitates being floor, wall or ceiling mounted — not sure why you’d want to do the latter since heat rises, but the option is there if you need it. The two mounts use four large thumb screws that make it quick and painless to install and all of the necessary hardware required are included in the box, including the silver aluminium brackets, screws and raw plugs.
The heater is available in either white or black and looks contemporary and minimalist.
On the back of the heater is a small white box containing all the electronics and a power button, which sports a trendy LED light. Press the button to manually turn the heater on and off, but if you want to use any of its smart features you’ll need to download and install the Aeno app for Android or iOS.
To use the Aeno app you’ll need to create a free account. This allows you to control the heater remotely from anywhere in the world. You can also see the room temperature, set the heating type (constant heating or smart) and set the desired room temperature.
You can set timers from 1 to 24 hours or set schedules for specific times and days of the week.
You can toggle a child lock in the app to ensure the heater isn’t turned on or off accidentally. However, the heating panel gets dangerously hot and there’s even a warning notification in the app. I measured over 120C on the panel, so it’s not safe for small children unless you put it inside a cage or mount it where it can’t be reached. You can also set the panel temperature from 60C to 120C, which is handy if you just want to heat up your hands or feet or perhaps take the dampness out of clothes.
The app displays the current usage in watts and using a separate power meter I was able to confirm the app is accurate. It is rated for 700 watts, but I saw peaks of more than 700 watts at times.
The Aeno heater has fall protection so that in the event of the heater falling over, it will switch off automatically, start alarming and send a push-up notification to your smartphone.
I put the heater into a spare room (16C) for eight hours and set the temperature to 21C on the smart setting. When the heater reaches the set temperature in smart mode, it will cut off until the temperature drops again. I calculated the cost of those eight hours to be €2.25. How cold the room is, to begin with, the type of insulation, room size and the number of people in the room will all affect the amount of heating that’s required. For comparison, a 2,000-watt heater would cost around €7.20 for the same eight hours.
Of course, a single heater will only heat one room, but this may be enough for those working from home and who don’t need to heat the entire house. The heater is suitable for room heating up to 30m2.
The Aeno Premium Eco Smart Heater is stylish and can save you money if used wisely. It offers versatile installation options and takes up little space. You do have to be careful when using it around small children, but since it doesn’t use fans, there’s no smell or dust being blown around. It’s silent and does not dry up the air or consume oxygen inside the home to ensure the humidity balance in your room is maintained. It’s not inexpensive but should last for years and is a good investment for those seeking to keep their household running costs down.
The Aeno Premium Eco Smart Heater is available for purchase from Harvey Norman for €299.
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