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Renting a room with a convector heater - what can I do to keep costs down?
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povertytrap
Posts: 16 Forumite
I am thinking of renting a bedroom but I have Economy 7 heating and in the bedrooms there are convector heaters which can be very expensive to run. I'm pretty careful with managing my energy bills because I'm on a low income and I'm worried that a lodger could run up a big bill and am trying to think of a workable solution.
I wondered if either there was a device that I could put on the heater so that it was metered separately, or else whether it would be worth actually putting in a proper storage heater to the bedroom. (I was previously advised that I've got the right number of storage heaters to my flat but if I had one in the bedroom at least it might provide a limit on the output).
Does anyone have any experience or knowledge about this? Thanks.
I wondered if either there was a device that I could put on the heater so that it was metered separately, or else whether it would be worth actually putting in a proper storage heater to the bedroom. (I was previously advised that I've got the right number of storage heaters to my flat but if I had one in the bedroom at least it might provide a limit on the output).
Does anyone have any experience or knowledge about this? Thanks.
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Comments
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An interesting question.
In my opinion, the current set-up with a convector heater on your bill would be dangerous from a financial point of view. Not advised.
How much would it cost to have another Economy 7 unit fitted in the bedroom? If reasonable consider this.
If there is sufficient heat in the house from the existing Economy 7 set-up, have you considered a calor gas heater withe tenant paying for refills
(subject obviously to ventalation etc)?
No doubt other MSE posters will offer their thoughts."If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools"
Extract from "If" by Rudyard Kipling0 -
I'd be wary of calor gas.
* A lot of condensation,sopotential for damp
* CO risk (OK get a CO alarm, but still)
* fire risk
Don't see how you can put a seperate meter on the convector.
You could write something into the contract?
* that the lodger must not install/use any (electric) heater in the room? (bit harsh come winter!)
* that the Units of electricity used over the last 2 years averaged out at xxx in summer & yyy in winter, so if a) the lodger ahd an electric heater AND b) the units used increased then an additional heating charge could be imposed
But it's clumsy and open to all sorts of arguments I fear.
Or a more vague "reasonable use of heater permitted" clause. If it got out of hand, you'd have to a) discuss 'reasonable' and hope lodger responded or b) evict (which of course is easy with a lodger!)
Anotheroption would be to give them a convector heater, assume they will run it full blast, and set the rent at a level to cover this cost. You could tell the lodger that if the electric bills remain at same level as before he moved in, you'd give him a discretionary refund as a 'thank you' for being sensible with the heater. That way it's more in your control!0 -
An interesting question.
In my opinion, the current set-up with a convector heater on your bill would be dangerous from a financial point of view. Not advised.
How much would it cost to have another Economy 7 unit fitted in the bedroom? If reasonable consider this.
If there is sufficient heat in the house from the existing Economy 7 set-up, have you considered a calor gas heater withe tenant paying for refills
(subject obviously to ventalation etc)?
No doubt other MSE posters will offer their thoughts.
Thanks for your reply. I just googled Calor gas heaters as I hadn't thought of them, but there was a note on the Calor website saying that flueless heaters aren't suitable for bedrooms. I did also see a post on another webpage where a tenant had been told by her landlady to keep her window open a bit - so it sounds like it wouldn't work which is a shame, unless I've overlooked something.
I've yet to find out the cost of installing another storage heater, but I guess that's my next task. I'm not sure though if there's a limit to how many storage heaters you can have on a circuit.0 -
povertytrap wrote: »Thanks for your reply. I just googled Calor gas heaters as I hadn't thought of them, but there was a note on the Calor website saying that flueless heaters aren't suitable for bedrooms. I did also see a post on another webpage where a tenant had been told by her landlady to keep her window open a bit - so it sounds like it wouldn't work which is a shame, unless I've overlooked something.
I've yet to find out the cost of installing another storage heater, but I guess that's my next task. I'm not sure though if there's a limit to how many storage heaters you can have on a circuit.
The calor gas idea was just a suggestion but GM thinks not and his views trump mine.
bw"If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools"
Extract from "If" by Rudyard Kipling0 -
Storage heaters aren't usually used for bedrooms - they can make the bedroom too hot when charging up at night, and it's assumed that bedrooms won't be used much during the day.
When the bedroom is heated overnight it's cheap rate electricity anyway.
Wiring in an impulse timer so that the heater can't be left on continuously is probably about the best you can do.A kind word lasts a minute, a skelped erse is sair for a day.0 -
Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »Storage heaters aren't usually used for bedrooms - they can make the bedroom too hot when charging up at night, and it's assumed that bedrooms won't be used much during the day.
When the bedroom is heated overnight it's cheap rate electricity anyway.
Wiring in an impulse timer so that the heater can't be left on continuously is probably about the best you can do.
Thanks Owain - I hadn't heard of an impulse timer - I will look it up to see how it works.0 -
I would take the convection heater out and replace it with a free standing electric oil filled radiator. They are rated in kilo watts per hour I believe, you can then call your electricity company and find out what the maximum hourly rate will be.
Much cheaper than the wall heaters.0 -
ruggedtoast wrote: »I would take the convection heater out and replace it with a free standing electric oil filled radiator. They are rated in kilo watts per hour I believe, you can then call your electricity company and find out what the maximum hourly rate will be.
Much cheaper than the wall heaters.
While I also prefer oil filled radiators to convection heaters, all electric heaters produce the same amount of heat for a given electric input. (That's how I understand the physics of it, anyway). So they will cost the same in running costs to achieve a certain level of heat.
Personally I think you will have to set the rent you charge your lodger to account for increased heating costs. No lodger will be happy to be stuck in a cold room. When I had economy 7 in the past I used to put the convection heater in the bedroom on a timer in winter, to only come on for short intervals during the night to keep the temperature at an acceptable level.0 -
Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »Storage heaters aren't usually used for bedrooms - they can make the bedroom too hot when charging up at night, and it's assumed that bedrooms won't be used much during the day.
Never heard of that... I've lived in two places with storage heaters, both had one in the bedroom.
So long as you're not mis-using the storge heater (leaving the heat-release dial open and putting the overnight charge one up too high), it shouldn't be chucking out too much heat overnight.
Jx2024 wins: *must start comping again!*0 -
You're going to have to set the rent to account for the cost of either;
1. Installing a storage heater in the room (costly I would expect) and then running this on E7 rates. Also consider in this scenario, that even good storage heaters lose heat all day and so may not store enough heat. Your lodger might need a convector heater to supplement the SH anyway - especially if they are out through the day.
2. Running a convector heater, which will be very much dependent on how often your lodger turns it on.
I would suggest that an electric heater is your best option, because SH needs planning, and isn't very good in a room that is only used in the evenings, or which is used at irregular times. Convectors will provide a boost of heat more rapidly, which is likely to be what your lodger will appreciate more. A good heater with a timer switch (so they can set it to come on in the morning automatically). I'm sure there would be a way to fit an energy monitor to the room's ring-mains (how many sockets does the room have?) so you can just track what they use. The discretionary refund of rent based on actual energy consumption is a good idea, particularly if you can track just that room's usage separately.Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience.- Mark TwainArguing with idiots is like playing chess with a pigeon: no matter how good you are at chess, its just going to knock over the pieces and strut around like its victorious.0
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