Heating one room only

snowleopard61

My house is small and at the moment the only form of heating I have is central heating. I know the obvious economy measures, e.g. switching off radiators in rooms not used for long periods, turning down room thermostats, and I'm well used to putting on lots of clothes and using a hot water bottle and a blanket. But what is the cheapest (i.e. overall cheapest, cheap to buy and cheap to run) freestanding form of heating I could use when alone at home, to heat only the room I'm in and avoid putting the central heating on altogether if possible?

I did find this thread:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/1131515
but I'm not aiming for any major changes like wood-burning stoves, and my kitchen is only just big enough to cook and wash up in, not live in.

The most appealing solution is a cheap electric oil-filled radiator because it's neat and tidy and you only have to buy the item once (I know Calor gas is effective but getting the cylinders would be a pain). But how expensive is it to run - in terms of pence per hour - and has anyone any other straightforward suggestions?

SailorSam

I've always imagined those oil filled radiators to be expensive to run, after all they are electric. If it were me and i had the GSH like you i'd use that but turn off what wasn't necessary

shebangs

I bought a low energy electric panel heater for the lounge , i got the 800w Dimplex one it doesnt make the room super hot but it makes it warms it up to a comfortable level

It takes a while longer to heat the room but its cheap to run so I have it on a timer and its set to come on an hour before I get home and its set to go off about 30 mins before bed then again in the morning an hour before I get up and off around about the time I go out

It never gets to the warmth I would get with the GCH on but it never feels cold

I have a smaller panel heater in the bedroom set to take the chill off the bedroom for half an hour before bed and half an hour before waking up in the morning

Edit - wanted to add although they cost a little more I have had mine years they have more than paid for themselves

missPinky

Hi

I used to have a Halogen heater, that would heat the room up in no time. Cheap to buy around £12 from BM but i would keep the receipt as they are prone to faults developing after a couple of months e.g. buttons stop working.

YORKSHIRELASS

Hi

I have read lots of discussion on this and to me it has got to be cheaper to just heat one room rather than a whole house, although others may disagree. We use an oil filled radiator on a thermostat in our lounge which gives a good amount of heat and is safe enough to leave unattended. They do take a while to warm up though.

The way that I understand it is that our electric costs 8.5p per kw/h. So a 2kw heater left on full for one hour will cost 17p. I am no expert and someone may be along to correct me on this.

We have oil fired heating which is expensive anyway and I know that last winter we saved money by just heating one room at certain times of the day.

JimmyTheWig

SailorSam wrote: »

I've always imagined those oil filled radiators to be expensive to run, after all they are electric. If it were me and i had the GSH like you i'd use that but turn off what wasn't necessary

I agree. The cheapest way to do it would be to turn off all the radiators individually unless you want them on. But would this be too much hassle?

snowleopard61

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

I agree. The cheapest way to do it would be to turn off all the radiators individually unless you want them on. But would this be too much hassle?

The house is really quite small and the only room which isn't used for prolonged periods (i.e. more than a couple of days at a time) is one very small bedroom, so it would be difficult to do this. The other rooms would be used intermittently at least twice a day so it isn't practical to turn the radiators off and on all the time - instead I would aim to put the heating on as seldom as possible.

Hermia

I have a Dimplex Eco Oil Free radiator. I mainly bought it because the oil free ones were considerably lighter than the oil filled ones so I could trundle it from room to room easily. I don't find it too expensive to run and it does get the run nice and warm.

pollypenny

I turn the radiator off in the only room which doesn't get used, a big bedroom, but it smells rather damp then.

The house is well-insulated, so we limit the time of the CH.

zippychick

Ive moved this over to the heating board for you as this has dropped down Old Style

Zip

Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere (please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please

Torry_Quine

I really only heat my living room to a comfortable living temperature although not yet and don't get why every room including bedrooms meeds to be so warm. My hall is low down to just keep off the chill and the bedrooms only when the outside temp is well below freezing. A wall heater in the bathroom is only on when showering/bathing and no heating in the kitchen.