Heat yourself, not entire house

Layo909

See here for an interesting take on money saving: http://lifehacker.com/5861103/heat-yourself-instead-of-the-entire-room-to-save-on-your-heating-bill

Basically, the person saved money on gas & elec by using eg radiant heaters to heat himself, instead of putting on central heating to heat entire house.

Anybody else saved money this way? Suppose it depends on size of house, insulation etc.

Cardew

This debate comes up many times in this forum; usually the merits of heating one room all day with(expensive) electrical heating rather than have cheaper gas Central heating for the whole house - apparently it is too much effort for many to switch off radiators in rooms not in use!

There is no doubt that a halogen radiant heater is a cheap solution for one person sitting in the same position - say someone working from home. These heaters 'beam' heat towards a person rather than heating the room.

Layo909

Using a 300 watt heater for 5hrs vs switching central heating on for 5hrs - would using the heater come out cheapest?

Cardew

Impossible to say.

Even assuming that every other radiator in the house was turned off, it would depend on the size of your room, how warm you wanted the room etc.

Very probably the 300 watt heater - 15p to 20p for 5 hours - would be cheaper; but 300 watts not very powerful for a heater.

grahamc2003

Layo909 wrote: »

Using a 300 watt heater for 5hrs vs switching central heating on for 5hrs - would using the heater come out cheapest?

That's a meaningless comparison. I could just as well ask you whether putting on a 100W heater is cheaper than putting on a 300W heater, or even asking if having no heaters on is cheaper than having a 100W heater on.

You have to consider the comfort too. Are you comfortable at -5C? if so you can spend zero on heating. 10C? Then you can spend very little. 15C, you need to spend even more, but most think it's a worthwhile cost, the gain in the quality of life being a bigger benefit than the loss of a few quid.

Yes, it's likely to be cheaper to have a 300W heater on than the central heating - but it really means nothing. Depending on many factors, you and your family/guests are likely to be comfortable with the CH on, but unlikely to be comfortable with only a 300W heater on.

pothole50

Layo909 wrote: »

Using a 300 watt heater for 5hrs vs switching central heating on for 5hrs - would using the heater come out cheapest?

Yes it probably would but then again this guy claims to have saved 87% off his electricity, but in the article he was on his own. I am sure many people could save on gas and electricity if they lived alone. I could happily sit at home in all my layers with little or no heating on.

Lovelyjoolz

We've just moved into a house built in 1937 and we've had to turn the heating off. The walls are a foot thick and the house is just too warm. Having a fire in the lounge is quite enough to keep us warm in the evening and I'm one of those people who is cold on holiday in 90 degree heat.

It's taking quite some getting used to - I'm finding it quite bizarre to not need to swaddle up in blankets and hug the radiator!

Sorry. This post is of absolutely no use to anyone, I just had to share!

:rotfl:

pothole50

Your just showing off!!!:rotfl:

rogerblack

Lovelyjoolz wrote: »

We've just moved into a house built in 1937 and we've had to turn the heating off. The walls are a foot thick and the house is just too warm.

This is almost certainly due to cavities, which have been insulated.
Stone is a crap insulator, as is brick, and similar materials.

A foot of brick will conduct about 3W/m^2/C

For a house 15C above ambient temperature, this is 45W/m^2.
Assuming it's a fairly small house, with about 120m^2 of external wall, this is 5.4kW.
And this neglects heat through the floor, which is quite substantial for a (for example) raised uninsulated floor.

Alisha2008

Before moving to the UK I used to spend winters like that, and my life was absolutely miserable. What about going to the toilet, kitchen, having a shower, getting up in the morning, etc etc, WITHOUT central heating? I wouldn't change central heating for anything in the world (i'd rather spend less on other things), whoever thinks that using a single radiator is comparable is fooling himself/herself!!

VfM4meplse

I agree, you can't function normally if you're conscious of being cold all the time.

Another one envious of you, LovleyJoolz!