electric heating help

OliviaKS

Hello,

I've recently moved into a two bedroom terrace house with cheap rent and flexible terms while I wait for my house purchase to go through (could be a couple of months, could be never, at this rate). I was desperate so took what I could get. It turns out the house is FREEZING (massive windows, poorly insulated, no doors closing off reception area) and has only three electrical heaters installed on the walls to heat it. There is no gas to the property, and the electricity is on a key meter. I work from home and I feel the cold (combo of underactive thyroid and also being quite small) and this is adding up to about £8/day spent heating the place. This is clearly not working out the cheap option I'd hoped for.

Does anyone have any advice on cheaper ways to heat a property? What electrical options are there? Obviously I've bought slippers, hot water bottles, hoodies, and gone out jogging to warm up, but there's only so far that takes me! The shower doesn't get any hotter than lukewarm either, so that doesn't help.

Thanks for the tips.

penrhyn

You could get a halogen heater for a bit of localised heat. They are fairly cheap, trouble is you'll feel cold as soon as you move away from it. What about heated clothing?

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Richie-from-the-Boro

- don't even try, get a 2kW radiant heater, and ;
- heat the body not the space
- for the next 2 months

OliviaKS

okay,lovely. I'll give that a go. Thanks!

amtrakuk

I've also got an old house which has its fair share of cold drafts. One of the important things to find is where the cold drafts are coming from and stop them as best you can. If its a hole in the floor, put a rug over it. If its coming from around the front door, goto a charity shop and buy a heavy curtain, out up a rail and hang it over the door. If its where pipework is coming though the wall (as mine does) gets some expanding foam and seal it off). Stopping cold drafts in a cold house is half the battle. It doesn't cost the earth and is very affective.

Oh to find the drafts go around with a lit candle and see where the flame flickers

Older, solid wall houses aren't great on the green scale as energy prevention wasn't considered when they were constructed.

A friend of mine has spent a lot of time and has made a difference. Taken up the carpet and sealed the floor between the floorboards, traced and filled any cracks, put thick warmaline on the walls then papered and has kept the polystyrene tiles on the ceiling. Admittedly a lot of work but the room hardly needs heating now.

OliviaKS

I'm sat looking around the room now and can see causes of draft everywhere. If it was my house I'd rip out everything and start again - change the windows, block off the front door with a porch, rip up the crap laminate flooring and glued on skirting board. It's not worth doing anything for the length of time I'll be here though.

A friend of mine has given me the loan of a couple of portable 1kW heaters which are surrounding my armchair. That and a nice glass of red wine seems to be doing the trick.

amtrakuk

Thats "cool", but the cold drafts wont go away on their own and you'll end up burning a lot of lekky just to keep comfortable. I remember one morning a couple of winters ago I came down to find the heaters frost protection in the kitchen kicked in and the thermometer was measuring 7 degrees brrrrrrrr

macman

All electric heating is the same efficiency (100%), and none of it is cheap to run, so buy the cheapest you can.

RichPyke

It's incorrect to say all electric heating isn't cheap. I work for a plumbing, heating & electrical company, we install many electric systems, they are as efficient as their gas counterparts if set up correctly.

Whichever way you go, heating a building with poor insulation is going to be expensive.

penrhyn

No, electricity is the most efficient form of heating, Gas at best is only 90% with a modern boiler.

BUT, Electricity costs four times more for a Kwh than Gas does.

macman

So, do tell us which sort of electric heating is cheap (compared to other fuels, including gas)?