Gas Fire vs. Central Heating - Which consumes more?

sho_me_da_money

We got a gas fireplace and radiators in the living room. Recently, I changed the way we heated our living room - Changed from using Gas Fire to Radiators.

I was wondering - Which consumes more energy?

macman

Your CH boiler (assuming it's gas) burns a lot more gas than gas fire-probably 10 times more. Look at the respective kW ratings on them.
But then the boiler produces a lot more heat, so you can't really compare the two.

whowants2brich

If you want to heat up just one room, then turn off the central heating and use the gas fire. If you want to heat up any other room in the house, then the gas fire won't do much and you'll need the central heating.

If you have TRVs and/or a good way to turn off the radiators in all other rooms in the house, except for the one in your lounge, then you can do a test - 2 hours with the gas fire on, and 2 hours with the central heating on. Just make sure that the room starts with the same temperature, and gets the lounge to the same temperature, otherwise it's not a fair comparison.

You'll probably find the central heating uses far more gas, and possibly heats the one room up slower.

But the moment you turn on any other radiator in the house, that's when the gas fire becomes a bit harder to justify...

PS We're in the same scenario as you, have the gas fire on low, the radiator in the lounge down low, and have the central heating on for the rest of the house on low, and keep a nice temp in the lounge with the fire...

sho_me_da_money

whowants2brich wrote: »

If you want to heat up just one room, then turn off the central heating and use the gas fire. If you want to heat up any other room in the house, then the gas fire won't do much and you'll need the central heating.

If you have TRVs and/or a good way to turn off the radiators in all other rooms in the house, except for the one in your lounge, then you can do a test - 2 hours with the gas fire on, and 2 hours with the central heating on. Just make sure that the room starts with the same temperature, and gets the lounge to the same temperature, otherwise it's not a fair comparison.

You'll probably find the central heating uses far more gas, and possibly heats the one room up slower.

But the moment you turn on any other radiator in the house, that's when the gas fire becomes a bit harder to justify...

PS We're in the same scenario as you, have the gas fire on low, the radiator in the lounge down low, and have the central heating on for the rest of the house on low, and keep a nice temp in the lounge with the fire...

Most of our family sit in the living room so I think I am wasting gas by having the CH on.

What I might do is turn off all the rads except my younger brothers room (he is the only one that tends to get cold) and use the gas fire to heat up the living room (where we all sit). So in total, I will have one rad ON via the CH and the gas fire going for the lounge.

Will using one rad vs. several be worth it? (in terms of saving £££'s) or will the CH still be using alot of Gas?

KimYeovil

sho_me_da_money wrote: »

Most of our family sit in the living room so I think I am wasting gas by having the CH on.

What I might do is turn off all the rads except my younger brothers room (he is the only one that tends to get cold) and use the gas fire to heat up the living room (where we all sit). So in total, I will have one rad ON via the CH and the gas fire going for the lounge.

Will using one rad vs. several be worth it? (in terms of saving £££'s) or will the CH still be using alot of Gas?

That is the worst of both worlds. Either use the two radiators in the two rooms or tell your brother to socialise. If you want one radiator and the gas fire that will (likely) be more expensive. But if that is what is required that is how you live. Do not be dictated to by a few pennies on your bill. You could also have the fire on low in addition to the radiators - probably best solution - if you are used to it and enjoy it as a focal point.

But, of course, empirical testing in situ is still needed to check that we are not talking out our theoreticals.

whowants2brich

Yes, either use two radiators in the two rooms you need, via the central heating, or turn off the central heating and just use the gas fire. If you use one or the other then you should find that it doesn't cost too much to run, and is quite efficient. But if you run both then that's probably overkill, in terms of heat and cost.

PS we've currently got our central heating off, but then we're both in the lounge, the gas fire is on and the one room we are in is lovely. The rest of the house, though, is cold, well 15C. But if we need to go out of the lounge, we'll turn off the fire, open the doors into the hall, and crank up the central heating. It won't take long for the kitchen/hall/dining room to warm up to a temp we will feel comfortable in. We hope