Student house - buying heaters

ShaneCullen

In a student house our central heating does not work so we are forced to buy heaters, we will only be heating our 4 bedrooms - nowhere else

Will this be much more expensive than central heating? Could somebody please give me some information? Maybe show which electric heaters to buy? Budget of around £50 per heater, thanks

Carrot007

All electric heating is the same cost.

The only difference is how it dissapates the heat.

Fan heater or convector will give instant heat.

Oil filled radioators will give less heat while warming up but give out heat after switching off.

They all cost around 3 times that of gas.

Yes that means just go out and buy a £10 one.

ShaneCullen

Carrot007 wrote: »

All electric heating is the same cost.

The only difference is how it dissapates the heat.

Fan heater or convector will give instant heat.

Oil filled radioators will give less heat while warming up but give out heat after switching off.

They all cost around 3 times that of gas.

Yes that means just go out and buy a £10 one.

Doesn't the whole KWH mean anything? I thought different ones will cost more or less ebergy

Cardew

Welcome to the forum.

Electrical heating will be much more expensive than gas/oil CH. Electricity is presently over 3 times more expensive than gas, although the lower efficiency of a gas boiler can reduce that advantage down to make electricity only twice as expensive as gas CH.

Don't forget you will also have to use electricity for heating water for baths/showers/washing up etc.

There are loads of electrical heaters from under £10 in places like Argos. Nearly all will have a thermostat. Probably the best bet is a plug in oil filled radiator.

It is important to appreciate that ALL electrical heaters are 100% efficient, so regardless of spending £10 or £1,000 on a heater, you will get exactly the same heat for the same running cost.

You need to ensure that the house electricity wiring and consumer unit(fuse box) are capable of dealing with 4 bedrooms with 4 electrical heaters, plus TV's, plus computers etc.

Carrot007

ShaneCullen wrote: »

Doesn't the whole KWH mean anything? I thought different ones will cost more or less ebergy

With electric heating less KW(H) means less heat, that is all.

Cardew

ShaneCullen wrote: »

Doesn't the whole KWH mean anything? I thought different ones will cost more or less ebergy

Heaters are rated in watts or kilowatts(kW). A 1kW heater running continually for an hour will use 1kWh.

You can get heaters rated at 0.4kW to 3kW. The heat they give out is directly proportionate to their rating. i.e. a 3kW heater will produce 7.5 times as much heat as a 0.4kW heater and cost 7.5 times more to run. Although in practice the 3kW heater will probably not be running all the time as the thermostat will be turning it on and off.

matelodave

Whatever you get should be big enough to actually heat the room otherwise it will run all the time and you'll still be cold.

For a quick boost a fan heater is ideal, for longer term heating an oil filled rad will do the business. As said, most heaters will have a thermostat and will switch on & off to maintain the desired temperature so a 2kw unit will probably be more than sufficient.

The main thing is to only use it when you need it and don't forget to switch it off when you don't need it on.

The alternative is to get the central heating fixed or all sit in the same room most of the time so you only have to heat one room then a fan heater in the bedroom for 10 mins when you get up or go to bed should be sufficient with a big duvet to keep you warm and cosy when snuggled up asleep

Owain_Moneysaver

Presumably you are renting.

tell your landlord to fix the central heating and if he doesn't contact your local council (either Private Sector Housing Support or Environmental Health)

footyguy

ShaneCullen wrote: »

In a student house our central heating does not work so we are forced to buy heaters, we will only be heating our 4 bedrooms - nowhere else

Will this be much more expensive than central heating? Could somebody please give me some information? Maybe show which electric heaters to buy? Budget of around £50 per heater, thanks

Have you spoken to your landlord/agent about this?

If so, and had no success, speak to your uni housing officer.

If you are paying rent, then you expect the services included to work;it's the landlord's responsibilty to ensure they are (when advised of a fault)

Is it gas? If so, do you have a copy of the landlord's gas safety certificate?

adom_thomas

As I am using Optimus H-1322, I would recommend you to use the same!

Cardew

adom_thomas wrote: »

As I am using Optimus H-1322, I would recommend you to use the same!

It appears to be a USA model fan heater. Available on Ebay(UK) for a reasonable £17.75 but costing an unreasonable extra £33.21 for postage!! The spec doesn't even say it is 240 volts.

The are scores of similar fan heaters for £10 upwards.