Heat yourself, not entire house

pothole50

Like wise you cant function normally (whatever that means) if you are too hot. I would sooner be cold and get myself to a comfortable level of warmth, than to be hot and try to cool myself down. In the UK we are used to warming ourselves up a bit, as opposed to cooling ourselves down in the summers that we occasionally have.

londonTiger

there needs to be proper study done on this. Iwork from home and the central heating is right next to my desk (can't move the desk, it's in a small flat), so the central heating is unberable,so I keep it off, and have my halogen heater running.

I used to have a 400w oiled filled heater which was useless, now I use a 400w halogen heater and it's a lot more warmer, and I can get the heat instantly, as opposed to waiting one hour for the oil filled heater to run.

But an oil filled radiator stays hot for a long longer, ou can turn the plug off and still get good heat for 5 mins or so. I'm gussing the more efficient oil filled heaters will cycle the electricity on high-low or even on off so they may not be constantly using electricity, but a halogen heater has to use electricity throughout.

So we really need studies done that compare like for like, two rooms in one house, exact same insulation, exact same size, exact same day as well. Task is to heat the room up to a certain temperate and keep it at the same temperatore for 2-3 hours. Whilst keeping a tab on the electricity used of course, and then see which heater uses less energy.

rogerblack

londonTiger wrote: »

there needs to be proper study done on this. Iwork from home and the central heating is right next to my desk (can't move the desk, it's in a small flat), so the central heating is unberable,so I keep it off, and have my halogen heater running.

The easy way round this would be to place a barrier between you and the heater, and place a fan to blow the air around.

As to 'heating yourself, not the room' - yes - this works to a limited degree.
If you're right in front of the heater, and intercepting a good amount of its output, then yes, you will feel warmer than the room temperature might suggest.
But, there are other ways you can do this, perhaps cheaper too.
A nice fluffy bathrobe or similar.
A blanket.
A heating pad on your seat.

In my experience, if your body core is warm enough, your fingers will be warm enough - at least at modest temperatures.
I'm at the moment at 12C, and not really noticing the cold on my fingers at all, as my core is warm due to a couple of layers.

Cardew

londonTiger wrote: »

there needs to be proper study done on this. Iwork from home and the central heating is right next to my desk (can't move the desk, it's in a small flat), so the central heating is unberable,so I keep it off, and have my halogen heater running.

I used to have a 400w oiled filled heater which was useless, now I use a 400w halogen heater and it's a lot more warmer, and I can get the heat instantly, as opposed to waiting one hour for the oil filled heater to run.

But an oil filled radiator stays hot for a long longer, ou can turn the plug off and still get good heat for 5 mins or so. I'm gussing the more efficient oil filled heaters will cycle the electricity on high-low or even on off so they may not be constantly using electricity, but a halogen heater has to use electricity throughout.

So we really need studies done that compare like for like, two rooms in one house, exact same insulation, exact same size, exact same day as well. Task is to heat the room up to a certain temperate and keep it at the same temperatore for 2-3 hours. Whilst keeping a tab on the electricity used of course, and then see which heater uses less energy.

We really don't need any study, your suggested experiment has been proven by the Laws of Physics. Any 400 watt heater/device/light produces exactly the same amount of heat.

So to keep a room at the same temperature four 100 watt light bulbs will keep it as warm as a 400 watt halogen heater or a 400 watt oil filled radiator and use the same energy.

You are absolute correct that you will feel the benefit from a Halogen heater 'instantly. Provided you are the only person in the room, and the heat is directed toward you, it is ceratinly a better option than an oil filled radiator - but it doesnt produce any more heat and the room will be no warmer.

Using a halogen heater is rather like having a reading lamp on a desk. For one person to see to read, a 40 watt bulb in a reading lamp will suffice as it directs a beam of light toward a point.

Empty_pockets

If you have cenral heating and you are turning all the radiators bar one off....surely the boiler is still using as much gas as it would anyway as it's heating and running water through the system.

??

Cardew

Empty_pockets wrote: »

If you have cenral heating and you are turning all the radiators bar one off....surely the boiler is still using as much gas as it would anyway as it's heating and running water through the system.

??

Unfortunately it doesn't work like that!

The more radiators switched on - the more gas is being used!

Radiators dissipate heat just like an electric heater i.e. a small radiator might use 1 kW and a larger radiator, say, 2 kW.

If you have one small radiator on full for an hour you will use 1kWh. If you have 5 small radiators and 5 larger radiators all on full for 1 hour they will use 15kWh i.e. 15 times as much gas.*

Just for illustrative purposes!

You don't get owt for nowt!

Empty_pockets

Hmm, don't know tat much about boilers but still a little confused.

I would guess it's the hot water dissipates the heat and it circulates round the system.
Does the water then return to the boiler to be heated to a certain temprature again?

I always figured a boiler burner lit for 1 hour, servicing 1 radiator would use the same gas as a boiler burner lit for one hour, servicing 5. I've seen it lit and it seems to be a case of on or off, the flame isn't regulated depending on flow rate as far as i can see. the only adjustment i have on mine is temprature setting for water outputs for both tap and radiatiors.

Should clarify - the 'central' heating is on, regardless of how many radiators it's servicing.

londonTiger

Cardew wrote: »

We really don't need any study, your suggested experiment has been proven by the Laws of Physics. Any 400 watt heater/device/light produces exactly the same amount of heat.

So to keep a room at the same temperature four 100 watt light bulbs will keep it as warm as a 400 watt halogen heater or a 400 watt oil filled radiator and use the same energy.

You are absolute correct that you will feel the benefit from a Halogen heater 'instantly. Provided you are the only person in the room, and the heat is directed toward you, it is ceratinly a better option than an oil filled radiator - but it doesnt produce any more heat and the room will be no warmer.

Using a halogen heater is rather like having a reading lamp on a desk. For one person to see to read, a 40 watt bulb in a reading lamp will suffice as it directs a beam of light toward a point.

you talk like you know so much but you are so wrong. A oil filled radiator heats up the oil inside the heating element, this makes the outer shell (radiator) hot which then heats up the air. BUT the transfer of heat from the metal into air is not efficient.

The halogen heater is much better at transferring heat from the bulbs into air. So wattage for wattage you can feel a much more stronger heat than an oil filled radiator.

Secondly, the halogen heater doesn't just heat up what it's facing directly, it does heat up the room as well, but the main focus is obviously where the heat is directed it.

How do I know? well i just heat up one room in my house, sometimes i pop out to the kitchen or bathroom and walk back in again, and the room is noticably much warmer than the cold corridor I just walked in from.

londonTiger

Cardew wrote: »

We really don't need any study, your suggested experiment has been proven by the Laws of Physics. Any 400 watt heater/device/light produces exactly the same amount of heat.

So to keep a room at the same temperature four 100 watt light bulbs will keep it as warm as a 400 watt halogen heater or a 400 watt oil filled radiator and use the same energy.

You are absolute correct that you will feel the benefit from a Halogen heater 'instantly. Provided you are the only person in the room, and the heat is directed toward you, it is ceratinly a better option than an oil filled radiator - but it doesnt produce any more heat and the room will be no warmer.

Using a halogen heater is rather like having a reading lamp on a desk. For one person to see to read, a 40 watt bulb in a reading lamp will suffice as it directs a beam of light toward a point.

I suppose according to your theory an incandescent light build and an energy saving light bulb produce the same amount of light watt for watt.

grahamc2003

Looks like you've got your work cut out today Cardew!

EP - The more heat loss from the water, the more heating from the burner, achieved by having the burner burning less time at the same rate.

LT - Nope, you have it completely wrong in both posts as I'm sure Cardew will patiently explain (for about the millionth time!).