HELP!! Efficent and cost effective heating options??????

CEKB

Being from Oz, I dont know much about all this heating stuff, so I need some help. I live on a private estate (not a housing estate, but with an georgian manor house and grounds-I dont live in the manor house btw!!!) and I have oil central heating. I dont have any choice in this, and whatever I use the estate bills me for. I cant afford this heating. I have 2 kiddies and so far have been able to not use the heating except for extreme cold. We use lots of layers, have electric blankets and hot water bottles. The house also has no double glazing or secondry glazing as it is listed, and being rented I cannot pay for it anyway. I also, cannot turn off the heaters in the rooms I am not using which annoys me no end, but they are very old and the owner tells me that they cannot be turned off (and a few people have tried!)
What I needed to know is...I want to buy a heater or 2 so I can heat a room or 2 that is needed, rather than turning on the central heating and wasting heat in warming up rooms that is not needed. I have searched for 2 days and asked loads of people but no one can seem to agree what is the cheapest most efficent way. My husband thinks the calor gas heaters with the bottled would be the best, oil filled heaters, and electric and fan heaters seem to not to be a good idea as I keep hearing the electricity costs are more than oil???? Or in the long run is it cheaper to have on the CH? Grr....the house is freezing anyway, and I think we have done well not the use the CH until now, but at the moment it is too cold to sit in the living room!

Any advice would be very appreciated.

CEKB

I have also put in blackout curtains in all the rooms to stop the cold and husband is going to put some pvc on the windows.

rogerblack

Price/kWh is important.
Firstly - switch electric suppliers - if you haven't done this.

Secondly - what per kWh are you charged for oil?

It is likely that oil is half the price of electricity.

Broadly, all electric heaters that will heat the rooms to the same temperature will use the same the same amount of electricity.

Calor gas is as expensive as electricity, and will require additional ventilation.
http://www.nottenergy.com/energy_cost_comparison

penrhyn

CEKB wrote: »

I have also put in blackout curtains in all the rooms to stop the cold and husband is going to put some pvc on the windows.

Just been doing the very same thing, got mine from Wickes, I assume you are getting the same, stick it on with double sided tape, then shrink with a hair dryer to give a neat finish.

CEKB

I cant remember what I pay for oil, but after I got first bill (and nearly had a heart attack) I checked that the estate was charging me correctly, and they are. They pay to get the oil in and charge me for what I use. The same with the electric, I cannot change suppliers because the supplier is my landlord. It is the estate that charges me for what I use, not a supplier.

CEKB

penrhyn wrote: »

Just been doing the very same thing, got mine from Wickes, I assume you are getting the same, stick it on with double sided tape, then shrink with a hair dryer to give a neat finish.

thanks for this. I dont know if we have a Wickes around here, but will look into it. sounds good :T

penrhyn

Any diy store should sell it, try b&q. Its called double glazing film.

rogerblack

Double glazing film (or indeed double glazing) will have unfortunately limited effects.
It may knock a couple of percent off bills, but basically, the windows (in most houses) are a small percentage of the whole area.
In an uninsulated old house, the windows may lose as much heat as 3 times their area of wall.

In most cases, the walls will dramatically dominate.

penrhyn

I don't dispute this, however OP is renting so their options are limited, every little helps!