Could Tubular Heating Save on Heating bills

Sand_Man_2

I am looking for something cheap which i can use just to warm a living room during the day

most of the electrical heating i have found is 1-3kw an hour which could work out quite expensive over the month. i have central heating put i don't want to constantly have to switch it on (there's no point heating the whole house for the sake of the living room)

i have found something called tubular heating which has a low power consumption. if i go for the 240watt model, it would only work out as £12 per month if i had it on for 12 hours a day)
(240*12hrs*30days/1000*0.14p per kwh)

This is usually used for heating garages or sheds, put do you think it would
produce enough heat to warm up a living room (10ft by 12ft). Am not expecting heat the room dramtically but i would just like the chill to be taken out of the room.

i have the gas central heating on for 2 hrs a day at the moment which is not enough as my partner is at home during the day and i am home during the night. i would still keep the central heating on for 2 hrs a day but i am hoping the tubular heating will keep this warmer in the living room for longer

I was wondoring if any other MSE had these tubular heating devices and wheather they thought they were any good

the one i have found is on amazon

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dimplex-TUBULAR-HEATER-WHITE/dp/B00067HEP6/sr=8-4/qid=1163515238/ref=sr_1_4/203-6992413-1107959?ie=UTF8&s=kitchen

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Glen-2144-Tubular-Heater-240w/dp/B0002YEXLQ/sr=8-13/qid=1163514949/ref=sr_1_13/203-6992413-1107959?ie=UTF8&s=garden

Lennylegs

Hi

I have the 120w one in my bedroom because it seems to help with condensation/mould under my window. My room is about 7' x 9' roughly. It just about takes the chill off the air but thats about all however i only havwe mine on for about 2 hours a day, maybe if it is run for 12 hours a day it would be more effective ?

HTH

Leonie

Cardew

Anything heated by electricity during daytime costs roughly 3 to 4 times as much, for a given amount of heat, as gas CH.

If it is low power consumption it has a low heat output.

If you only need heat in one room, then shut off the heat in other parts of the house, and use gas CH.

ariba10

Sand_Man wrote:

I am looking for something cheap which i can use just to warm a living room during the day

most of the electrical heating i have found is 1-3kw an hour which could work out quite expensive over the month. i have central heating put i don't want to constantly have to switch it on (there's no point heating the whole house for the sake of the living room)

i have found something called tubular heating which has a low power consumption. if i go for the 240watt model, it would only work out as £12 per month if i had it on for 12 hours a day)
(240*12hrs*30days/1000*0.14p per kwh)



http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dimplex-TUBULAR-HEATER-WHITE/dp/B00067HEP6/sr=8-4/qid=1163515238/ref=sr_1_4/203-6992413-1107959?ie=UTF8&s=kitchen

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Glen-2144-Tubular-Heater-240w/dp/B0002YEXLQ/sr=8-13/qid=1163514949/ref=sr_1_13/203-6992413-1107959?ie=UTF8&s=garden

If I am reading this right.

You are having this on 12 hrs a day at a rate of 0.14p per kwh. to give you a monthly bill of £12.00 per month

I think if you check your last Elect bill you will see the rate is more than that.

My supplier charges 9.00p per kwh.

Cardew

ariba10 wrote:

If I am reading this right.

You are having this on 12 hrs a day at a rate of 0.14p per kwh. to give you a monthly bill of £12.00 per month

I think if you check your last Elect bill you will see the rate is more than that.

My supplier charges 9.00p per kwh.

Couldn't work out what you meant for a moment!

Strange how we can read what we know he meant to say!

ariba10

The fog has lifted.

I was reading 240 v. 1000 watt.

Cardew

ariba10 wrote:

The fog has lifted.

I was reading 240 v. 1000 watt.

I thought you were referring to the mistake of quoting a tariff of 0.14p kWh instead of £0.14!! or 14p

Sand_Man_2

Sand_Man wrote:

I am looking for something cheap which i can use just to warm a living room during the day

most of the electrical heating i have found is 1-3kw an hour which could work out quite expensive over the month. i have central heating put i don't want to constantly have to switch it on (there's no point heating the whole house for the sake of the living room)

i have found something called tubular heating which has a low power consumption. if i go for the 240watt model, it would only work out as £12 per month if i had it on for 12 hours a day)
(240*12hrs*30days/1000*0.14p per kwh)

This is usually used for heating garages or sheds, put do you think it would
produce enough heat to warm up a living room (10ft by 12ft). Am not expecting heat the room dramtically but i would just like the chill to be taken out of the room.

i have the gas central heating on for 2 hrs a day at the moment which is not enough as my partner is at home during the day and i am home during the night. i would still keep the central heating on for 2 hrs a day but i am hoping the tubular heating will keep this warmer in the living room for longer

I was wondoring if any other MSE had these tubular heating devices and wheather they thought they were any good

the one i have found is on amazon

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dimplex-TUBULAR-HEATER-WHITE/dp/B00067HEP6/sr=8-4/qid=1163515238/ref=sr_1_4/203-6992413-1107959?ie=UTF8&s=kitchen

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Glen-2144-Tubular-Heater-240w/dp/B0002YEXLQ/sr=8-13/qid=1163514949/ref=sr_1_13/203-6992413-1107959?ie=UTF8&s=garden

its just a typo

in my calculations, i used 14p per kwh

if you look at the calculations, 0.14 represents 14p as 0.14 is 14p out of 1

TimBuckTeeth

I would definitely not bother with a tubular heater to try and heat a room. They might be OK for a small toilet room, but for any average size room they are much too low power. It would take a long time to have much effect on the temperature of the room and only raise the temperature slightly unless the room is very well insulated.

If you want an electric heater then get a 3kW one, it will heat the room up much quicker and if the thermostat is set low enough then it will be off for a lot of the time. So a 3kW heater would not use 3kWh every hour.

Eg. if a 1kW heater takes 30 minutes to raise the room temperature to 18C (set on the thermostat), then a 3kW heater will only take 10 minutes, so the cost will be the same. However this will depend if the thermostat can control the temperature accurately (an electronic one is best), a cheap mechanical thermostat takes longer to respond and is not as sensitive so the temperature can overshoot (rise higher than needed) and cost more to run.

I would recommend using the gas central heating though instead as it should be cheaper. Switch off the radiators in other rooms, if the central heating thermostat is not in the lounge then it will need to be set to a lower temperature or the radiator left on in that room also.
It will use less gas if you have thermostatic radiator valves and an electronic programmable thermostat. I would also consider improving insulation (loft and cavity wall) if possible.

Sand_Man_2

TimBuckTeeth wrote:

I would definitely not bother with a tubular heater to try and heat a room. They might be OK for a small toilet room, but for any average size room they are much too low power. It would take a long time to have much effect on the temperature of the room and only raise the temperature slightly unless the room is very well insulated.

If you want an electric heater then get a 3kW one, it will heat the room up much quicker and if the thermostat is set low enough then it will be off for a lot of the time. So a 3kW heater would not use 3kWh every hour.

Eg. if a 1kW heater takes 30 minutes to raise the room temperature to 18C (set on the thermostat), then a 3kW heater will only take 10 minutes, so the cost will be the same. However this will depend if the thermostat can control the temperature accurately (an electronic one is best), a cheap mechanical thermostat takes longer to respond and is not as sensitive so the temperature can overshoot (rise higher than needed) and cost more to run.

I would recommend using the gas central heating though instead as it should be cheaper. Switch off the radiators in other rooms, if the central heating thermostat is not in the lounge then it will need to be set to a lower temperature or the radiator left on in that room also.
It will use less gas if you have thermostatic radiator valves and an electronic programmable thermostat. I would also consider improving insulation (loft and cavity wall) if possible.

Thanks

i won't bother with tubular heating. i might get a 2WH one and use it in short manual bursts