Hello!

Is it safe to leave an oil heater on in my child’s bedroom in the night?  I’m worried it will get too stuffy (we have to have the door closed because of the noise of the older kids).


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  • We used them to heat up the room and turned it off in the night


  • It is not safe to leave any heater. It is not about the stuffiest but the potential of a fire hazard . Don’t do it .


  • I wouldn’t. I would use it heat the room up and turn it off when they went to bed, purely to avoid stuffiness and over heating. You could then turn it back on when everyone else is in bed, last thing at night, and then leave door open. Up to you and how cold it gets overnight


  • l would turn it on to warm up the room,then turn off going to bed.


  • yeah they are not that great at heating but anything else that has a fan to blow heat is too hot then lol


  • Nope I wouldnt, warm clothes and blankets, maybe have it on for a bit before Bub goes to bed to take the chill off.


  • I personally wouldn’t. Instead rug your child up nice and warm. Singlet, socks, pj’s and blankets.


  • 1. I don’t think oil heaters should be sold because if a fire starts from another source and reaches it there could be a huge explosion – insurance companies have grave concerns about them. 2. It would be safer to use an electric fan heater which has a safety cut out switch. If it is tilted the tiniest amount it switches itself immediately. You can plug a timer into the power point and the heater into it and control the times it is working. 3. As there is no smoke alarms in bedrooms in ducted aircondtioned houses I never close a bedroom door when anybody is in it. If a fire starts in a room with a closed door, the smoke takes too long to activate the smoke alarm. By that them the person in that room has already inhaled smoke.


  • We had the same situation. We decided not to use the oil heater( we had a large one, 11 columns I think) what size is yours? You can test it by turning it in the lowest and checking the temperature every 30-60 minutes.


  • I personally wouldn’t leave it on all night turn it on about half an hour before going to bed and turn it off once in the room.
    Best thing is to have a timer so that you can set what times it comes on.
    The best thing about these heaters is they remain warm for a period of time afterwards.
    Educate your child about the heater as well no matter the age so they are aware that it is hot and they could burn themselves even if it is off.


  • No, no and no. An extra cover on the bed will keep your child warmer, without the safety risk of leaving a heater on overnight.


  • No… The room only needs to be between 16-20 degrees and is the recommendation to lower risk of SIDS.
    I wouldn’t risk it anyway. I’d be worried about leaving it in at night.
    Use a good sleeping sack or onesie.


  • I have before but i keep checking it throughout the night


  • The dehydration that these heaters can cause is what would worry me. I would buy a good set of flannelette pyjamas and cosy bed linen rather than leave an oil heater going in the room all night.


  • Oil heaters are fantastic, but don’t leave on all night as they totally dehydrate the body and you wake up thirsty with dry throat. I use them to warm the clothes up before wearing them or for nice warm towel after shower or dry some clothes that are nor quite dry. So I suggest warm the room up at night then switch off before bed.


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