electric heaters vs gas vs missus

fishnchipsngravy

Hi

Me and my family live in a 3 bed (partially double glazed) council rented home. I've started working from home in the main living room, the house is heated with a gas condensing boiler.

The missus moans about the gas bill for heating the house and she usually turns it off at the thermostat. But in the living room where I work (single glazed room) it's freezing. Rochdale council won't replace the single glazed windows unless they're broken.

I was thinking of purchasing one oil filled thermostat radiator and putting it in the room I work in and a flat panel wall heater ( space is at a minimum) and putting it in the dinning room.

As we don't use the bedrooms in the morning I was considering adjusting the boiler thermostat timer to say 9.00-15.00 off and then switching it back on when the kids are back from school.

I'm trying to work out if it would be cheaper getting the electric thermostat radiators in lieu of having the gas burners constantly running and powering the whole house when only two rooms are in use. We currently have it on at 7:00-23:00.

My current energy prices are

Forecasted Electricity usage
4,476 kWh
2 Your current Electricity prices
First 900 kWh each year 19.46p each
Next kWh 10.58p each

Forecasted Gas usage
20,156 kWh
4 Your current Gas prices
First 2,680 kWh each year 6.214p each
Next kWh 3.008p each

thanks

macman

Turn off the rads in the rooms not in use during the day (though admittedly a pain having to do that twice a day)?
If you owned the property, the way around this would be to install a zonal CH system.
Install your own secondary double glazing in the home office room?

victor2

I'd go for the secondary double glazing in the office room too.
Heating is expensive, no matter how you do it. Gas is cheaper than electricity, but it does seem pointless heating the whole house unnecessarily. Buy a cheap (less than a tenner) 1 or 2KW fan heater with a thermostat control and try it. When running at 1KW, it will cost you whatever your hourly kWh rate is for every hour it runs.

gambit27

I personally wouldn't pay for double glazing in a rented house, unless I planned to buy it at some point of course. I used oil heaters in my first flat as we had no heating in the bathroom or kitchen, they heat the room up well, and are very cheap to run, I still have one I use as a top up when it's really cold as my living room can be freezing in winter, and hardly notice the cost. We also use oil heaters in work, they are fantastic, I'd recommend one

fishnchipsngravy

thanks

I was googling on how to calculate how much energy each radiator uses ( with search term: gas energy usage radiator)

when I came across this chaps page (fourth result)

gare.co.uk/gas.htm

Halfway down the page are these ertv radiator control thermostats, it sounds like it could be what I need, has anyone ever used one?

cheers

spadoosh

Id gor for chucking a brick through the window and telling the council to replace it as its broken!

HappyMJ

spadoosh wrote: »

Id gor for chucking a brick through the window and telling the council to replace it as its broken!

same here but they'll just replace the glass won't they.

ic

fishnchipsngravy wrote: »

thanks

I was googling on how to calculate how much energy each radiator uses ( with search term: gas energy usage radiator)

when I came across this chaps page (fourth result)

gare.co.uk/gas.htm

Halfway down the page are these ertv radiator control thermostats, it sounds like it could be what I need, has anyone ever used one?

cheers

Screwfix stock something similar, and cheaper. I keep mulling it over so that rooms don't get unnecessarily heated in the morning before I go to work, or before I come home in the evening.

http://www.screwfix.com/prods/71054/Plumbing/Radiator-Valves/Terrier-i-temp-i30-Programmable-Thermostatic-Radiator-Valve

Available elsewhere cheaper:

http://www.gasproducts.co.uk/cgi-bin/sh000001.pl?WD=i30&PN=Terrier_i-temp_i30_.html%23a635001#a635001

fishnchipsngravy

thanks ic

I just read some of the product review comments on the first link you posted, I think I'll buy some of the trvs.

moonrakerz

The main problem you have is that comparing your gas and electricity prices, per kWh, is meaningless. A 2kW electric heater, of any type, will put 2kW of heat into the room. 2Kw of gas usage will put ?????kW into your room. You need to know the efficiency of your heating system, NOT just the boiler - almost impossible to get !

samtheman1k

HappyMJ wrote: »

same here but they'll just replace the glass won't they.

Not sure they'd be allowed to (unless it's listed), as it won't comply with building regs...