It's so lovely to have high ceilings, bare floorboards, two wide fireplaces, and original Victorian glass garden doors in our living room. In the summer these things are delightful. In the winter the room is riddled with icy drafts coming down the chimney, up the floor from the cellar, and in through the gaps in the beautiful doors. As the colder months march relentlessly on, the four of us have been huddled together for warmth on the sofa, covered in blankets and spare duvets. Guests who had to sleep in here woke up blue. There have been moments of frost bite induced madness where I'd happily box the empty fireplace in, doubleglaze the windows and put down about three layers of carpet. Sod the architectual glory of the moulded ceiling, put a nice heat trapping falsey in.

The Dragon was dropped off by our landlord in a thick cardboard covering, and immediately unwrapped and examined. Nestled inside the polystyrene was a grey ridged box, modelled on the old radiator style, with gaps right through the elements, rather than the flat modern kind. Two metal plates and four plastic feet were stuck on the side with tape. The plates were easily screwed into the bottom with the four eye bolts provided, and the roller ball feet click into the ends of each plate, sticking out from the main unit a couple of inches to keep it balanced. These are supposed to make moving it easier, but actually I just pick the thing up and plonk it where I want it. The rollers aren't that stable even on our hard wood floors, so I'd be very suspect of them on carpet, pushing The Dragon is an effort, despite the moulded 'handle' at one end.

The Dragon is an oil filled electric heater. It has three energy levels set with chunky flip buttons on one end, and a dial with six heat settings. We pushed all the buttons and wound him up to level 6. It stands at about 70cm high, maybe 50 across and just 20 or so deep. Which isn't a huge size, but the problem is you have to keep it at least 50cm away from furniture etc on all sides. This results in it sitting infront of the inactive fireplace since anywhere else would leave it too close to sofas, bookcases etc. It looks hideous, it doesn't go with the 'decor' at all. But will it keep us warm?

All the heat that the dragon makes comes out of the top in a breezy column. If you stand directly over it it's actually very hot, but even a foot away from it you can't feel any warmth on your legs. The heat just doesn't seem to move any further into the room, it's being blown up to the celing. Maybe Housematey has a really warm bedroom floor now.
On it's own, even at full blast, it's no solution to our chills. I'm trying to convince myself that at least it must be blocking the breeze from the chimney. Now of an evening we have the dragon on at the back, two radiators and the gas fire at the front end of the room going. Our bills this winter will be huge, but at least by the time we go to bed the downstairs is feeling quite cosy. The Dragon uses a fair whack of electricty to get going. Once the oil is hot the idea is that it takes less energy to keep it so. But I can't help feeling we chose the wrong option and we're going to regret it when the electricity bill drops through the door. Frankly as a housemate The Dragon just does not pull his weight.

On the upside, if you didn't have the high ceilings and gaps seeping cold air then this might warm you up a treat. Although if you didn't have those things you might not need an extra heater anyway... Now where are my gloves? It's proper nipply in here...