7 degrees upstairs

Likestowrite

I'm recently widowed, retired and live alone in a 4 bedroomed semi. I'm all electric with no gas at all. (immersion heater on normal tarrif of 12.97p per kwh but it isn't used much) I have 2 living rooms with electric fires and only switch on a fire in the room I'm using.

I have one very old Heatstore storage heater (uses 1kw per hour at 4.46p per hour--set to run for 15 hours 1pm-4pm then 7.30 pm - 8am)) on the landing and an electric point for another in my bedroom (it's under the window which probably isn't the best place for a storage heater)

My bedroom is 7 degrees at the moment and very cold but as I have hotwater bottles, a 15 tog quilt and woollen blankets I find I'm warm enough in bed, so haven't bothered switching the storage heater on. I switch on a cheap fan heater for 10 minutes when I'm getting dressed.

My grown up daughter thinks my bedroom is far too cold and I'm putting my health at risk by not installing and using central heating.(I'm in my sixties with no health problems.)

As I already have a seperate meter for storage heaters, I probably wouldn't go to the expense of gas central heating (unless she's right and it would give me far more heat for my money. But the boilers only last 5-10 years and need an annual check which would add more to the costs involved)

Does anyone know if there is any health risk to sleeping in a bedroom as cold as this? (My husband had asthma so didn't want a heated bedroom and was happy with a background heat from the single storage heater.)

Will it damage the unused bedroom to have them so cold in Winter (eg mold and damp. I get a lot of condensation on the windows but wipe them each day and open a window in each bedroom to clear it. As we live near the coast we get a lot of condensation and have painted bedroom walls (steracril mold inhibiting paint) rather than wallpaper. I wouldn't have storage heaters put in the unused rooms so they'd only get heated if I installed central heating

If I decide to get more storage heaters, is it best to research them, buy online, then search the yellow pages for someone to carry them upstairs, fit them and take the old one away? Or do I ask a heating firm to supply them and fit them for me?

Any advice would be great.

Ich_2

So when I was a youngster we had no central heating, waking up to ice encrusting the inside of bedroom windows was common in the winter!
A good quilt and blankets possibly with an electric blanket is not a problem

HappyMJ

It's not unheathly sleeping in a cool room. It's not healthy to be sitting in a cold room. You should keep your living room at least 18 degrees when you are in it.

You are airing the unused rooms regularly which is much more than I'm doing. Yes there's a bit of damage but a coat of paint will fix that.

The storage heaters you have will be not much worse than newer ones. They all generate heat very efficiently. Any waste heat by not being well insulated or by having poor controls is emitted into the room which is where it's needed anyway.

snowcat53

7 degrees is pretty cold. It suggests to me that your house may be losing heat fast overnight to get so low. How well insulated is your house? Have you looked in your loft? what thickness of felt is there? Little point in spending lots on heating if it all goes straight out.

I dont know the current position but upgrading loft insulation was done for free for pensioners lately.

ladyburdy

hi, i agree with your daughter i think you are putting yourself at risk of hypothermia living in such a cold environment. Heat is a necessity, i would be very concerned if my parents were living in such cold house, so i can see her point. i am assuming it is a cost issue for you too.

you could get advice from Age UK, you might be able to tap into a grant or at least direct you elsewhere for help.

good_advice

Hello, 7C is far to cold.
I would get rid of old storage heaters along with that E7 meter.
Sounds like you need more plug in fires as you have no gas.
Have you not had the free cavity wall and loft insulation done?

Likestowrite

Thank you for the very helpful replies. It looks as though 7 degrees is too cold . My downstairs rooms are 7 degrees like the bedrooms, but quickly warm up once I switch on the electric fires.

I've had loft insulation done but advised not to have cavity wall insulation because of the condensation problem.

The choice now is between getting a storage heater in my bedroom (the existing one is on the landing) or installing gas central heating instead.

HappyMJ

Storage heating in bedrooms are pointless. You would want heat late in the evening and overnight. Storage heaters are designed to store heat at night and release heat during the day. A convector or fan heater for some instant heat before you get into bed will be fine and an small oil filled radiator for some low level background heat overnight. As you are on E7 you will get the heat cheaply anyway so it does not need to be an expensive storage heater.

Richie-from-the-Boro

Likestowrite wrote: »

Thank you for the very helpful replies. It looks as though 7 degrees is too cold . One of my downstairs rooms is 7 degrees like the bedrooms, when the fire isn't on. And the kitchen is pretty cold too.

I've had loft insulation done but advised not to have cavity wall because of condensation problem.
The choice now is between getting more storage heaters or dispensing with them altogether and having gas central heating with radiators in every room.
My main living room gets nice and warm with the electric fire, but probably a gas central heating radiator wouldn't cost as much to run.

- read this thread all the way through

- 90% of your problems are poor insulation and poor use of E10 leading to insufficient stored heat
- "not to have cavity wall because of condensation problem", more bad advice - get it done
- HappyMJ, has given you good advice, pay attention to the good advice

Change your tariff from E10 to E7. Your supplier from whoever to Scottish Power. Your account to an e-account with direct debit / supply your meter readings monthly / get the cheapest over 60's tariff. Get registered as a vulnerable person. Get something more done with free insulation. Get a full size 3.4kW modern duo night storage heater in the room you live in. Then either :

- leave the landing storage alone and get a panel heater such as this, plug into a 13a socket in your bedroom and switch it on an hour before you go to bed.
- leave the landing storage alone and get a panel heater such as this, get a sparky to wire it into the 20a night ring in the bedroom and run it all night with the door open on half price leccy

Learn how to use night storage heat and night stored hot water effectively.

You may have forgotten to mention you get 365 days a year of stored piping hot water at less than half the normal rate .. .. do you ? You have stated that you have only 1 heater that stores cheap night time electricity converted to heat on the landing .. .. but .. .. you have a 40a ring main providing night time electricity in your bedroom which is not connected to anything at the moment .. .. do you ?

Read this thread all the way through then come back here with your questions.

fed_up_and_stressed

Suggest you read this report from the bbc about health and temperature it states 18c is ambient bedroom temperatures

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/5372296.stm

Likestowrite

I've read the other thread --very helpful, thank you.
#
Thank you for the link to that report--exactly what I needed to know. -- my bedroom needs to be 18 degrees and the living areas 21 degrees.
#
.You may have forgotten to mention you get 365 days a year of stored piping hot water at less than half the normal rate .. .. do you ?
No. My immersion heater isn't linked to the cheaper meter. It’s charged at the full rate whenever I have it switched on.

You have stated that you have only 1 heater that stores cheap night time electricity converted to heat on the landing .. .. but .. .. you have a 40a ring main providing night time electricity in your bedroom which is not connected to anything at the moment .. .. do you ?

In the bedroom I have a point for an electric storage heater but it's not connected to anything. It’s not a normal electric point, however --whatever I ran off it would have to be wired in by an electrician. I have a similar unused one in my living room, and another at the bottom of the stairs

I don’t think my tariff is E7 or even E10. It was already set up when we moved to the house 25 years ago (3 storage heaters then --one in bedroom and bottom of stairs, too) and Utilty warehouse let us continue with it when we switched to them about 5 years ago. It doesn’t seem to have a name. It costs £4.46 per kw hour and is set for 15 and a half hours a day. I phone my meter readings in each month. On my bill next to tariff it just says standard user (and the same for the higher rate meter --that says standard user too.)

I think I should probably get rid of the storage heater and invest in gas central heating (with instant hot water in the taps) Then I'd have to start off being economical with the heating until I got an idea of how much the bills were. No idea how to predict the GCH costs except by trial and error. I'd like the whole house to be generally much warmer than it is now. Is it advisable to have background heat in unused bedrooms for part of the day?

Would I have to have a rewiring to get rid of the storage heater meter?