Home Heating

SuperOrganiser

We live in rented accommodation with no central heating or double glazing. We have a gas fire in the living room, but the rest of the house is freeezing. We have tried an electric fire in the hall and kitchen but it is costing a fortune, any ideas?

HappyMJ

SuperOrganiser wrote: »

We live in rented accommodation with no central heating or double glazing. We have a gas fire in the living room, but the rest of the house is freeezing. We have tried an electric fire in the hall and kitchen but it is costing a fortune, any ideas?

Move to another house....

It's an option.

Anyway, you need to correctly size your heaters to the house. If the electric heating is costing a fortune then go online and compare your tariff with other suppliers and switch. Even if you are on a pay as you go meter you can get better tariffs. How much are you currently paying per unit? You can get electricity rates for around 12 pence per kWh and then each radiator would cost up to 36 pence per hour to run. 3kW is enough for almost any reasonable sized room. Keep the curtains closed. Are they thick curtains? Close the door. Put draught excluders at the bottom of the door. Turn the heating on only in the room you are occupying at the time, turn it off or right down to the minimum setting at night and turn it off whenever you leave the house and it shouldn't cost too much.

Alisha2008

I've found the oil radiators the cheapest electric heating, as the oil keeps the heat quite well and you can use them with a thermostat and/or a timer.

You can also consider portable gas heaters, I think gas is the cheapest way of heating and they are really powerful. Downside is that you can't time them to turn off/on in the morning or evenings.

rogerblack

Alisha2008 wrote: »

I've found the oil radiators the cheapest electric heating, as the oil keeps the heat quite well and you can use them with a thermostat and/or a timer.

You can also consider portable gas heaters, I think gas is the cheapest way of heating and they are really powerful. Downside is that you can't time them to turn off/on in the morning or evenings.

Oil filled heaters cost exactly the same to run as any other heater.
The oil may hold the heat for a while, but it also takes a while to heat up - these amounts of stored heat match perfectly.

Portable gas heaters are generally more expensive than electricity, and will cause massive amounts of condensation, meaning more ventilation is required, in addition to concerns about carbon monoxide and fires.

http://www.confusedaboutenergy.co.uk/index.php/domestic-fuels/fuel-prices

In answer to the OP.
Switch energy suppliers, as has been mentioned.
If you are on mains gas, try to get some sort of mains gas heating installed.
Otherwise, you're stuck, there is no magical cheap way of heating.

Draftproofing may help a lot.
Insulation too, but that would require the assistance of the landlord.

Other than that - a high power electric blanket costs around 20 pounds a year to run.
Wearing multiple layers is almost free - I'm wearing three jumpers as I write this.

Richie-from-the-Boro

SuperOrganiser wrote: »

We live in rented accommodation with no central heating or double glazing. We have a gas fire in the living room, but the rest of the house is freeezing. We have tried an electric fire in the hall and kitchen but it is costing a fortune, any ideas?

Fully thermostatic control and fully automatic control, will heat the remaining area with the doors left open, in a place as poorly insulated as you suggest - moisture will 'self vent'. Put it in the mix for consideration.

HappyMJ

Richie-from-the-Boro wrote: »

Fully thermostatic control and fully automatic control, will heat the remaining area with the doors left open, in a place as poorly insulated as you suggest - moisture will 'self vent'. Put it in the mix for consideration.

But....at £28.80 for 16 litres and 10kWh of energy per litre will cost 18 pence per kWh of heat...It's more expensive than electricity.

rogerblack

Richie-from-the-Boro wrote: »

Fully thermostatic control and fully automatic control, will heat the remaining area with the doors left open, in a place as poorly insulated as you suggest - moisture will 'self vent'. Put it in the mix for consideration.

These are expensive.
Assuming kerosene can be gotten at the heating oil prices, they may be very slightly cheaper than a good electricity rate.

The above supplier sells 16l for 28 quid.
This is about 150kWh, or 18p/kWh.
(assuming 100% efficiency)

As a check - they say 10-15 hours on 3.2kWh.
15*3.2 = 48kWh, on a 5l tank, which crosschecks well with the figure for kerosene of 9.7kWh/l I found for kerosene.

So, purchasing fuel from the above supplier will approach double the rate of a competitive electricity tariff.
If you can get it from a heating oil supplier (who will require it to be delivered into a bulk tank likely), it might work out 10-20% cheaper than a good electricity tariff.

I question if in most circumstances it beats a 20 quid heater from Lidl.

If you can get no mains gas, and are locked into a very high electricity rate, for some reason, perhaps.

Richie-from-the-Boro

HappyMJ wrote: »

But....at £28.80 for 16 litres and 10kWh of energy per litre will cost 18 pence per kWh of heat...It's more expensive than electricity.

Agreed MJ, that's why I said in the mix, unlike other forms such as 13a plug rad's / convection etc, in this case it will take the whole flat sq area to comfortable from zero in 5 minutes. Then the stat & Eco setting kicks in. It might cost the same or even more, but it does more and is instant space heating without the ugly in a domestic setting. In short if I was in their situation and worked during the day, I'd choose the inverter over other forms for its responsiveness and speed. If the O/P is permanent stay~at~home all day, then perhaps another option.

In a rented setting their limitations are cathedral sized. Their best instant but ugly insulating solution is bubble wrap the windows.

rogerblack

Richie-from-the-Boro wrote: »

Agreed MJ, that's why I said in the mix, unlike other forms such as 13a plug rad's / convection etc, in this case it will take the whole flat sq area to comfortable from zero in 5 minutes. Then the stat & Eco setting kicks in. It might cost the same or even more, but it does more and is instant space heating without the ugly in a domestic setting. In short if I was in their situation and worked during the day, I'd choose the inverter over other forms for its responsiveness and speed. If the O/P is permanent stay~at~home all day, then perhaps another option.

In a rented setting their limitations are cathedral sized. Their best instant but ugly insulating solution is bubble wrap the windows.

Umm...
It's a 3.2kW heater, for 250 quid.

There are many, many reasonably attractive 3kW electric fan heaters available for much less than this, which have exactly the same heat output, and will heat a room just as fast.

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/4152978.htm - for example, http://www.tesco.com/direct/delongi-hcs2053t-convector-heater-3kw-timer/696-1436.prd?pageLevel=&skuId=696-1436 http://www.tesco.com/direct/bionaire-bch920-iuk-ceramic-heater/208-4781.prd?pageLevel=&skuId=208-4781

(the last admittedly is a 2kW heater - get two!

Something like http://www.tesco.com/direct/glen-gf30tsn-3kw-flat-fan-heater/206-2754.prd?pageLevel=&skuId=206-2754 would be quite suitable if looks are unimportant, for 20, not over 200 quid?

It would seem almost as logical to suggest the silly Dyson heater http://www.tesco.com/direct/dyson-am04-hot-air-multiplier-fan-heater/213-5029.prd?skuId=213-5029&pageLevel=sku&_requestid=1009183# as economical heating.

toolmaker54

We have lived like this in our house for years all we have is a gas fire in the living room and nothing in the rest, solid walls but we do have double glazing and oil filled and convector heaters.
It is instant heat we use, if we are out we just leave coats on until the fires heat the rooms we use. If you have a powerful convector heater its surprising how quickly the room heat up, the fabric of the room is not hot just the air.

Ok so we dont follow the government guidelines on idea temps to ward off disease as read in another thread on here, but the instant heat keeps us alive and well.

Best gadget we bought last year was a dehumidifier the whole house feels different and believe it or not warmer.

Alisha2008

My parents's house in Spain doesn't have central heating either and they've used electic and gas portable heaters, last ones have always been more economical. Never had issues with ventilation, carbon monoxide or fires, in fact almost everyone uses them and they are ok, that's why I suggested them...

I also have a small flat in Spain with no heating and I use the oil radiators as I like to use timers and have the house warm in the morning & when I arrive at night, again they are not that expensive, but I'm only there for a few weeks in winter.