Heating advice needed

coldfingers

I live in a 1-bedroomed house, where the bedroom is on a mezzanine level, hence the house is very open. For heating, I only have 2 electric storage heaters downstairs (circa late 1970s) which are very inefficient and the house is permanently cold. I don't have much spare money so unfortunately many options of heating, such as installing a central heating system, are out of the question (also my house does not have gas). Last winter I used an electric convection heater to provide additional heat, though I found this very expensive to run and it only heated up the immediate area. I am considering buying a portable gas heater as I have heard that these warm up the immediate area and also the whole room. However, my one concern is ventilation, with my bedroom being on a mezzanine floor, i.e. directly above my lounge and sharing the same ceiling, would this be unsafe? Does anyone have any suggestions for what I could do - what would be cost-efficient given my situation, and would a portable gas heater be a safe option? Many thanks in advance!

Incisor

The storage heaters might have burned out elements or defective controls preventing them accumulating heat? Portable gas heaters have a tendency to cause significant damp problems - you then need extra ventilation which makes them cost more.

27col

My recollection of using a portable gas heater was that it cost a fortune to run, that was nearly 30years ago. I doubt that it has got any cheaper. Replacing the storage heaters with a more modern and better controlled type seems to be your only realistic option. Any type of additional electric heating will cost the same to run. The are all the same for efficiency.

bockster

if you haven't allready done so, look into your insulation situation.....ooh.....i'm a poet!

....and get this up to scratch

Ladybird20

hi when i many years ago now lived in a council flat it had no heating at all except a gas fire in the front room,,i used to use a calor gas heater in other rooms but it put condensation on the walls big time,,hence it created damp and mildew on the walls ......sorry cant be much help but that was what happened to me...