De'Longhi 500W Oil Filled Radiator Review
“The De’Longhi 500W Oil Filled Radiator is perfect to take the edge off one room without turning on the central heating. It’s also a perfect backup option to heat a room using a 600W solar generator.”
Rating: 5 / 5
Pros
Light and easy to move around, even when hot
Stays hot for ages after being turned off
Frost prevention feature
Quality construction
Simple controls
Cheap to buy
Compact
Silent
Cons
500W passive heating will never deliver the instant heat from a similar level of fan heater
Takes a long time to get up to temperature
The power lead is only 1.3 metres long
What Is The De'Longhi Oil Filled Radiator?
A heating element in the top of the unit uses electricity to warm up the oil in the central fins. These fins then slowly radiate the heat into the room.
On the control panel is a simple on / off switch and a dial to control how hot the radiator gets. It even has a frost prevention level.
The plastic side panels stay cool to the touch when it’s on and have handles to easily move it around.
Specs
Width: 39 cm (15.4”)
Height: 34 cm (13.4”)
Depth: 17 cm (6.7”)
Weight: 5.5 kg (2.2 lbs)
Power Rating: 500W
How Much Does The De'Longhi Oil Filled Radiator Cost?
The RRP of the De'Longhi Oil Filled Radiator is £83 ($105). Check the current price on Amazon.
How Does The De'Longhi Oil Filled Radiator Work?
Simply plug it in, flip the power switch and select your desired heat setting.
Our favourite heat setting to slowly warm up a medium sized room is setting 3.
How Long Does The De'Longhi Oil Filled Radiator Take To Reach Heat Setting 3?
We tested this in a 20 °C (68 °F) room and timed the warm up period on heat setting 3.
It took 52 minutes to reach maximum temperature and was radiating heat at 80 °C (176 °F).
For reference a standard gas boiler powered UK radiator is usually running at 60 °C (140 °F) to 70 °C (158°F).
52 minutes sounds like a long time but you can feel the heat radiating from it after just 10 - 15 minutes and it heats slowly for maximum efficiency.
Perfect for stretching power from a solar generator as far as possible. It could safely heat up a microclimate, such as a tent setup indoors, in no time.
This radiator is small, but mighty.
Is The De'Longhi Oil Filled Radiator Any Good?
Yes. It’s an awesome bit of kit if you want to keep one room warm without putting the central heating on or if you want to heat a small space using an entry level 600W solar generator.
There is no initial power spike like you usually see with a fan heater, so as long as your solar generator can output 600W without using a power boost feature then it’s a great pairing.
It heats up slowly, is super efficient, silent and the oil continues to radiate heat for a surprisingly long time once it is switched off.
This extends the run time when using a solar generator because, once up to temperature, it sips power every now and again rather than a constant drain like a fan heater.
If you want instant heat, directed at say a person, then check out the AUOKAI 1000W fan heater review.
Or you can place a small USB fan behind a radiator like this to aim the heat into the room.
Verdict: The De’Longhi 500W Oil Filled Radiator is perfect to take the edge off one room without turning on the central heating. It’s also a perfect backup option to heat a room using a 600W solar generator.
Banana For Scale
Which Solar Generators Does The De'Longhi Oil Filled Radiator Work With?
The radiator’s rated power is described as 500W so we hooked it up to the Bluetti AC180 1800W 1152Wh solar generator to see what it was actually drawing on start-up and when up to temperature on the low and high settings.
On all settings, while the heating element is getting up to temperature, it draws 438W.
There is no initial power spike when first turned on, so it will work with 600W power stations without a power boost feature.
It would be brilliant paired with the awesome Bluetti 600W AC60 solar generator.