Heating one room cheaply

franco10

Hi guys

Just discovered this forum. Looks like there is lots of good advice available from knowledgeable people. I'm sure my question will be relevant to a lot of people. Apologies if it has been answered before, but I couldn't find any FAQs.

We have a draughty 50's, three-bed semi. Four big and very leaky windows and an ill-fitting back door are to be replaced in the spring, but we have decided against cavity wall insulation after reading a few horror stories about outbreaks of damp. The loft however is insulated.

We've calculated that the central heating, using an old floor-standing boiler, with no room thermostats or TRVs is costing over £1 an hour. In this sort of weather that could cost over £5 a day in gas consumption.

I've had my eye on these Dimplex Eco Cadiz heaters, which get rave reviews on Amazon. Technology seems to have moved on a bit since the three bar electric fires of my youth. They are rated at 2KW or 3KW and most people say that they never use maximum power.

With electricity at about 15p per kilowatt hour, wouldn't it make sense for us, and a lot of people, to use one of these to heat the room we are occupying at a cost of, maybe, 30p an hour? Unheated rooms would be cold of course, but they are cold an hour after the central heating is switched off anyway.

I accept that gas, being much cheaper per kilowatt hour, is more economical to keep a whole house at a steady temperature when it is controlled by thermostats, but I reckon that a portable electric fire might work out cheaper to give a blast of heat to a single room.

Anyone have any views on this.

Premier_2

franco10 wrote: »

Hi guys

Just discovered this forum. Looks like there is lots of good advice available from knowledgeable people. I'm sure my question will be relevant to a lot of people. Apologies if it has been answered before, but I couldn't find any FAQs.

We have a draughty 50's, three-bed semi. Four big and very leaky windows and an ill-fitting back door are to be replaced in the spring, but we have decided against cavity wall insulation after reading a few horror stories about outbreaks of damp. The loft however is insulated.

We've calculated that the central heating, using an old floor-standing boiler, with no room thermostats or TRVs is costing over £1 an hour. In this sort of weather that could cost over £5 a day in gas consumption.

I've had my eye on these Dimplex Eco Cadiz heaters, which get rave reviews on Amazon. Technology seems to have moved on a bit since the three bar electric fires of my youth. They are rated at 2KW or 3KW and most people say that they never use maximum power.

With electricity at about 15p per kilowatt hour, wouldn't it make sense for us, and a lot of people, to use one of these to heat the room we are occupying at a cost of, maybe, 30p an hour? Unheated rooms would be cold of course, but they are cold an hour after the central heating is switched off anyway.

I accept that gas, being much cheaper per kilowatt hour, is more economical to keep a whole house at a steady temperature when it is controlled by thermostats, but I reckon that a portable electric fire might work out cheaper to give a blast of heat to a single room.

Anyone have any views on this.

If your boiler is costing you about £1 per hour, that means it is burning about 25 kW every hour (assuming worst case of 4p per kWh)

Bearing in mind it's old, and gas boilers are never 100% efficient, even if we consider it say 60% efficient, then it is still chucking 15Kw of heat into the house every hour.

An electric 2kW heater will only provide just over 10% of that heat!

So the options are:
1. Turn off the radiators in the other rooms
and/or
2. Turn down the heating so that the boiler isn't running continuously

or

3. Buy some thick woolly jumpers. You be needing them if you only put 10% of the heat into the house you currently do!

aelitaman

Put temporary double glazing (cling film basically) over the windows to stop the draughts.

It is 5quid a pack from B&Q and this is the first year I have used it and it has made a big difference to my house and gas consumption.

financequest

2 or 3 tube Halogen oscillating heater. Each tube rated at 400watts. So if you use a single tube for 5 hours, that's 5*400 = 2kilowatt hrs. These heaters radiate heat directionally, so tend to heat whatever is in front of them the most. ie. heat you and not necessarily the whole room. You can buy 2 or 3 tube Halogen heaters for less than £20

pothole50

As everyone knows who follows this forum gas is cheaper than electricity, but its also surprising that most also seem to be buying electric heaters to top up the central heating. If you want to live in one room then the 3kw once up to the set temp will cost you if you are paying 15p a kwh, less then 15p an hour to run, I should work for one of these electric snake oil radiator sites :-)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=dimplex+ecc&x=15&y=16

Item 1 and 2 good, Item 3 Ok Item 4 Rubbish

HappyMJ

pothole50 wrote: »

I should work for one of these electric snake oil radiator sites :-)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=dimplex+ecc&x=15&y=16

Item 1 and 2 good, Item 3 Ok Item 4 Rubbish

You should...it's just a convector heater but the one you recommend costs £160. A convector heater can cost as little as £10 but it's not branded dimplex.

pothole50

franco10 wrote: »

Hi guys

I've had my eye on these Dimplex Eco Cadiz heaters, which get rave reviews on Amazon. Technology seems to have moved on a bit since the three bar electric fires of my youth. They are rated at 2KW or 3KW and most people say that they never use maximum power.

Just offering advice to the OP who has his eye on a Dimplex ECO heater, I don't think any recommendation was implied, or can I recommend something that someones already considering.

Cardew

franco10 wrote: »

Technology seems to have moved on a bit since the three bar electric fires of my youth.

The 1/2/3 bar fires of your youth were 100% efficient - as is all electrical heating.

Without question, the 1/2/3 bar electrical heaters of your youth produce EXACTLY the same amount of heat, for the same running cost, as any other electrical heater - regardles of it costing £10 or £1,000.

There are scores of electrical systems marketed that either state, or imply, that they produce heat cheaper and they don't - no 'ifs or buts' - they don't!

Ther other point from the posts above that is quite incorrect is to state that a 2kW, 3kW, 0.5kW etc is cheaper to run! If, say, 2kW, is required to keep the room at the desired temperature. It costs exactly the same if you have a 2kW heater, a 3 kW heater or 25 x 3kW heaters.

A 2kW heater will run continuously and use 2kWh an hour.

A 3kW heater will run for 66.67% of the time and use 2kWh an hour.

25 x 3kWh heaters will run for 2.67% of the time and use 2kWh per hour!

EnglishMohican

If the OP does not have room thermostats or TRVs and an old boiler that will not be efficient when cycling on and off due to its water temperature 'stat, then running the boiler to heat just the main room may not make much sense. At best, the OP will spend their time running to the boiler to turn it off when the room gets too hot and back shortly later to turn it on again when the temperature drops.

In those circumstances, it may be cheaper to buy a "£10" electric heater to use in the room and to turn it on and off as necessary without leaving the room.

Spending £100 on a fancy electric heater that turns itself on and off sounds to be more about convenience than money saving.

LisaW123

Sit under a duvet.

macman

Switch off the rads in the rooms you don't want to heat and use the rads in the rooms you do.
Installing TRV's and a proper digital programmer will not be that expensive, and give you far more control.