radiators inefficient - cheap alternative?

matelodave

I don't know how small the children are but suggesting that they wear fingerless gloves and extra tights isn't really all that practical. I'm not sure my wife would be everso keen on bubble wrap over the windows either.

Moving the furniture a bit and hanging a curtain over the front door to reduce draughts is easier as would the radiator booster to help shift the warm air about.

Closing the curtains when it starts to get dark would also keep the heat in.

Robwiz

matelodave wrote: »

I don't know how small the children are but suggesting that they wear fingerless gloves and extra tights isn't really all that practical. I'm not sure my wife would be everso keen on bubble wrap over the windows either.

Moving the furniture a bit and hanging a curtain over the front door to reduce draughts is easier as would the radiator booster to help shift the warm air about.

Closing the curtains when it starts to get dark would also keep the heat in.

I took the OP's comment about needing the heating on because they work from home that the children aren't there during the day. It's obviously more efficient to heat one person than the whole living space.

I offered up the bubble wrap because it is a cheap and very effective way of reducing heat losses through old windows. In winter the curtains are drawn most of the time anyway but the OP asked for suggestions to keep the room warm, not how to make it look beautiful so let them decide.

The house architecture is unfortunate in that it's so open plan with no way of sealing off the front door and stairs.

into_purple

Thanks everyone.
The children are 9 months and 3 years so are at home at the moment with me. The 9 month old is now at crawling stage, all over the floor where it's obviously coldest. It's because of them that I have posted for advice. Before the children we made do with extra layers and blankets, but I also used to work in an office then so did not need heating all day long at home. There is no room for a radiator booster unfortunately.
I have been pulling the chest of drawers away slightly which is letting the heat into the room but I just feel the time it's taking for the whole room to get warm that this seems to be inefficient.
I keep the curtains closed until the room is warm, neighbours must think we sleep all day.
I cannot block off the stairs, the stairs are completely open. I have thought about hanging a thick curtain at the top of the stairs but the heat I have found actually stops rising at about the third step down. Upstairs is not cold as the radiators are all in good places. The heating only needs to be on low and for short times to get a good temperature up there (this is with or without the heat rising from downstairs).
I really would like to know if any type of plug in heater will heat up quicker than the radiator is without blowing the bank. if yes, which type for example oil filled plug in radiator?

Robwiz

@into-purple, thanks for clarifiying.

With the youngsters you need to be very careful about electric heaters as there's a risk they could burn themselves on the heater casing.

In general all electric heaters put out the same amount of heat - they are 100% efficient in turning electricity into heat. They just go about it in different ways. A convector blows hot straight away but you lose the effect as soon as you switch it off. An oil-filled radiator takes longer to warm up but retains its heat longer when switched off. Pretty much horses for courses.

When our heating failed I bought some oil-filled radiators from Argos and found them less effective than the Glen skirting heater, which was £30 and only 500 W, but very effective at taking the chill off a room. Argos do a decent convector heater for about £10 which blows warm air.

Infrared/halogen heaters are great for heating up whatever they are pointed at but they may not be ideal for children who are moving around.

Depending on your budget, you may want to look at a free-standing/portable heat pump. You would need a way of getting the cold air it produces out of your room (if you've got air bricks or vents they would work) but they work like a fridge in reverse and achieve good efficiencies – for every 1 kW of electricity the put out around 3 kW of heat, so your electricity goes further. But they're not cheap though.