greenhouse heater
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peter
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For us to give a helpful answer some idea of your intended use would be good. 
Over wintering stuff at a frost free level is different to getting Christmas cactus to flower.
Personally I use mine to get stuff going earlier than outdoors by heating a propagator in the greenhouse, I used to have it in the bottom pf a shelved grow bag mini greenhouse in my 12' x 8' aluminium greenhouse. The cover on the mini disintegrated after many years and I got a second four tray propagator.
Over wintering stuff at a frost free level is different to getting Christmas cactus to flower.
Personally I use mine to get stuff going earlier than outdoors by heating a propagator in the greenhouse, I used to have it in the bottom pf a shelved grow bag mini greenhouse in my 12' x 8' aluminium greenhouse. The cover on the mini disintegrated after many years and I got a second four tray propagator.
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Motherwoman
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When I had a greenhouse that was close to electric I used an electric fan heater with a thermostat so that it cut in and out. I made sure the greenhouse was as airtight as possible, no cracked panes of glass and plugged the gaps with newspaper then I lined it with bubble wrap. I used to start heating around mid January and used it for starting off all the young plants. I didn't know how economic it was as it couldn't be separated out from the house electric but it was clean and efficient and better than the smelly paraffin stove that I had before.
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Primrose
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I have absolutely no experience of this at all but wonder whether some heat retention mechanism could be rigged up on the lines of the old Economy 7 storage heaters whereby bricks were heated up by being covered with boiling water in a plastic box and then insulated to release their heat slowly. Awfully time consuming and messy I would think though. It is the sort of Heath Robinson idea my dad would have come up ! His genes must live on... 
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Tony Hague
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If electricity is convenient ...
A fan heater if you must heat the whole space. The air movement is useful too.
A soil warming cable in a bed of sand, with a polythene (or horticultural grade bubble wrap) tent over it, if you only need heat to get things started in spring.
Things like paraffin heaters make just too much water from the combustion. Damp and resultant moulds are a real problem at the best of times. I personally avoid heating over winter - it helps the pests to overwinter as well as the plants ! ,
A fan heater if you must heat the whole space. The air movement is useful too.
A soil warming cable in a bed of sand, with a polythene (or horticultural grade bubble wrap) tent over it, if you only need heat to get things started in spring.
Things like paraffin heaters make just too much water from the combustion. Damp and resultant moulds are a real problem at the best of times. I personally avoid heating over winter - it helps the pests to overwinter as well as the plants ! ,
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Motherwoman
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One of the Victorian methods was like a storage heater, just have a barrel of water in the greenhouse, it will retain some heat and give a bit of frost protection during the night but will not actually 'heat' the greenhouse.
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PLUMPUDDING
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I have sectioned off one third of my greenhouse and lined it with the large bubble plastic like a tent. It is 25 ft x 11ft x 10 ft, so rather large to heat all of it. I have a good quality thermostatically controlled fan heater and in very cold weather set it to just keep the tented part frost free. I didn't use it at all last year as the bubble plastic was enough to protect the plants. I over wintered lemon grass, grapefruit and geraniums etc. The olives and a fairly tender fig were OK in the cold part.
My electricity bill was about a third less than usual - but it was a mild winter.
The unheated part has bubble plastic round the sides but not the roof and I have four black plastic dustbins full of water with a sheet of plywood on the top like a bench. When it is nice and sunny the water in the bins warms up and helps keep the temperature up at night.
My electricity bill was about a third less than usual - but it was a mild winter.
The unheated part has bubble plastic round the sides but not the roof and I have four black plastic dustbins full of water with a sheet of plywood on the top like a bench. When it is nice and sunny the water in the bins warms up and helps keep the temperature up at night.