Working from home, trying to save of electricty bill, economical room heater?

mickym

I was given he option to work at home to save on traveling approx 70miles a day.

A few months later our offices were sold, so my home working became permanent.

Having a say a small fan heater in the room on a low setting, would that be cheaper than kicking in the electric central heating for the whole house?

We have had very cheap summer quarterly bills (one £88 and one £95) so i dont mind putting the heating on at some point, rahter than wear gloves!

Oldernotwiser

Personally I find a fan heater very drying and the noise would drive me mad over a long period. Why not think of an oil filled radiator; they're quiet and you can sit very close to them without any problems.

mickym

ive got an oil filled radiator at my parents place, always considered them quite costly to run...or am i mistaken?

I suppose if i already have one, it will save me buying another!

Mistymaid

If you are working in a small room I'd go for a halogen heater that provides direct heat and gives off that bright light to keep you going in the dull days. If it's a larger room I'd go for an oil fired heater. I wouldn't use the tiny 1kw ones because you seem to need to have the little so and so's on quite high, try a 2kw one, but have it on the first setting (they usually have three) and then just running between 3-5 on the dial depending on the weather.
These are the only things I have to heat my home and my bills vary from between £60 in summer to a max of £200 in winter (per quarter)
Oh, and I'm in the north of Scotland.

infraNOMIC_2

Forget 2kw - Forget 1kw - How about 580watts!! Cheap to run & very very warm
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Give us a call and be cosy this winter

Idiophreak

Spam reported

mickym

Mistymaid wrote: »

If you are working in a small room I'd go for a halogen heater that provides direct heat and gives off that bright light to keep you going in the dull days. If it's a larger room I'd go for an oil fired heater. I wouldn't use the tiny 1kw ones because you seem to need to have the little so and so's on quite high, try a 2kw one, but have it on the first setting (they usually have three) and then just running between 3-5 on the dial depending on the weather.
These are the only things I have to heat my home and my bills vary from between £60 in summer to a max of £200 in winter (per quarter)
Oh, and I'm in the north of Scotland.

Thanks for that.

Once my girlfriend comes back from work in the evening im ok with putting the heating on as there are 2 of use going around the house.

Im just looking to save for the daytime hours for when im at hoe alone and normally just in one room.

Or.... if i end up heating the house up in the eveing does it come back to the old question of if its more economical for a house heated most of the time or only when needed? dunno if im going to open that topic here!

Mistymaid

It's a difficult one, a bit like the thing with the little 1kw heaters. You'd think they'd be cheaper to run but I found they didn't kick in until you'd got them turned up quite high and hence you ended up using nearly 1kw of electricity.
With the bigger ones, if you are only having them on the first setting and then the dial being around the 4 mark, they are using a lot less - but I don't know how much only that my meter flashes slower!

I don't 'do' central heating any more and doubt I will in the future unless it's linked to a solid fuel system and I can get a lot of wood for free.
It's just too easy to 'leave it on,' when you don't mean to or need to - the temptation is just too great!

James123_2

Cavity wall insulation (if you don't have this already) is a great way of retaining heat. However, remember to finish the job by adding loft insulation too. I'm at home all day too and am amazed at the difference these two measures make. Loads of grants out there for these.
As to heat, I have a 500w heater (roughly 4p an hour) which keeps the temperature at around 18 degrees in the room. If you can get used to working in a relatively modest temperature such as this then I think you'll save £££. I have to say that I find other houses way too warm as most people seem to want to heat to about 23 degrees. I'm not sure I'd go as far as gloves and hats ....
As to BG and their standard tariff, you'll definitely be paying over the odds for this. Look at their online offerings - much cheaper!
Personally, I'd definitely NOT leave my heating on 24/7 We pay about £850 a year for gas and electric combined with four beds and constant occupation.
Best Wishes!
James.

mickym

We currently rent, and as so, im not too keen on insulating the loft out of my own pocket for us to then leave in a year or so.

As for wall cavity insulating, as we both work and are without kids (although we are trying for a family!) we dont seem to qualify for any of the grants.

Personally i think the loft could be better insulated, but ive got a feeling the landlord wouldnt see this as an essential fix for him to undertake.