What's cheaper? One radiator on or one electric fan heater?

Willeh

What would be cheaper, having the central heating on but only turning the one radiator on (in the room I'll be in) or having an electric fan heater for only ~20 minutes to heat the room up (& turning it on for 10 minutes every hour to just ''top the heat up'')

Thanks

grizzly1911

Willeh wrote: »

What would be cheaper, having the central heating on but only turning the one radiator on (in the room I'll be in) or having an electric fan heater for only ~20 minutes to heat the room up (& turning it on for 10 minutes every hour to just ''top the heat up'')

Thanks

Depends on many things.

Price you pay for gas/electric. Electric is usually 3-4 times that off gas but for every KWh of electric you input into your local heater you will get near 100% out. With gas depends on type of boiler and design of heating system and controls.

Size of room. Whether you have the doors shut or expect some heat around the house. If you leave room one and then go to room 2 & 3 and proceed to heat them later then central heating may be better. Where is the room located? How much heat loss into the rest of house if it isn't heated?

Whether you want some water for a bath or shower too, utilising the hot water as a by product of the heating process.

The common opinion on here is that gas central heating, properly controlled, is usually the cheapest method. For just a single room I would guess it swings in favour of the heater but without the other benefits I have questioned above.

We even have a 26" LCD TV in our small bedroom, fully insulated & DG with only an 8' outside wall and small window, that is lovely and cosy with no additional heat so far:cool: Won't last.

rnuggy

hey Willeh,

we have this type of problem in our house just storage heaters, and they are useless!! we have recently purchased a super ser or a calor gas heater, and its been the best thing, it heats the room instantly and can move it from room to room, and the gas bottle seems to have lasted quite some time. if you can find a gas supplier near you, they will usually sell them for £100 but that also includes your gas bottle filled.

mattm4

I have a tenement house with large rooms. The radiators have to run for a good three quarters before the room even warms up when its too cold outside. Could be due to the thick walls these old builds have that feel ice cold in winter. I use an electic heater for 10 minutes and that does the job. This year, I started buring coal fires. Looking good for now. Lets see how well I can hold on.

spinningsheep

hey mattm4, we used to have the same problem, our radiators used to take about half an hour to heat up at least but after we had a new boiler fitted they heat up in literally 2 mins, we had a flush done as part of the install and the c*ap that came out of the pipes in the water was amazing, so it may be worth asking a local plumber for a quote (ours was a chemical flush not a power one, as the radiators are quite old and there was a risk they may not take the pressure, plus it was cheaper). Could be you are heating a whole load of sludge before the heat even begins to heat the metal.