oil versus electric oil

mumsandra

I have a holiday cottage which is vacant during the winter months. I have oil central heating, through a Vokera combi boiler which I leave on constantly, with the room thermostat at 5 degrees. This seems to use very little energy, but someone said a 500watt De Longhi oil filled radiator may be more economical still. What does anyone else think....advice please.

macman

You cannot possibly compare the heat produced by an oil CH system with a 0.5kW oil filled rad! That oil-filled rad is the equivalent of 5 light bubs, how will that stop the house from freezing?
With your CH set down to 5C it's just acting as a frost 'stat (which should be installed anyway) and is only coming on in the coldest of conditions, which is why it's not costing you much.

Cardew

IMO you could even afford to drop the temperature to, say, 3C because, as stated above, it is just acting as a Frost stat.

I have a detached annex with non-cavity walls and have a thermometer, which I monitor carefully, in the coldest part of the building. I have not needed to put on the central heating this year(except when occupied) and the lowest temperature reached has been 2.1C

paceinternet

I would look carefully at where your pipework is most likely to freeze, including hot and cold domestic HW. One room stat set at 3 deg C may not mean that all your pipework is at that temperature.
However, running the central heating system, and the circulating pump in particular, will distribute any temperature/heat around the pipework, so more likely to provide some protection than a single heater in one room.
You can get frost stats that fix to the pipework, so that in some situations, additional control from a minimum pipework temperature can be beneficial.

Andy_WSM

mumsandra wrote: »

This seems to use very little energy, but someone said a 500watt De Longhi oil filled radiator may be more economical still.

The reality is that your tried and tested method of frost protection is costing you very little. The cost of repairs in the event that it all froze would far outweigh anything you are trying to save here. It is highly unlikely that one 500W Delonghi rad will protect the whole house, whereas a few £s worth of diesel and a few pennies worth of electricity to keep the system on standby will.

Stick with what you have, it works. It may well be a false economy trying anything else.