which is more economical to keep me warm?

faerie_girl

I only work a few days a week at the moment so I am at home most of the time, mainly spending my time in the living room

I am wondering what would be more ecomical:

- heat the living room with the gas fire for most of the day
- having the gas central heating on for most of the day

It is a second floor flat. No-one lives downstairs so i can't 'steal' their heat
The flat has NO insulation bar the double glazing, concrete walls, floors etc.

As the weather is getting cold it is getting extreamly cold in here. This is the 1st winter here and our gas costs are getting higher and higher each month.


Thanks, Faerie x

benjdr

Might sounds like a stupid idea, but why not do one day of gas fire, and one day of central heating, and manually inspect how much gas your meter is indicating it's going through per hour or day?

Someone will probably come and tell you that "A" is HUGELY more efficient than "B" soon though...

Terrylw1

It may sound basic but monitoring your usage is an easy way to check.

However, you need to make sure that the test is done efficiently so be wary of any other gas appliances you may be using.

Just try 1 tomorrow, the other 1 the day after. Take the readings at the same time each day. It would also be best to take readings throughout the day if you are using other appliances as you can they account for them.

faerie_girl

thanks benjdr

I have a pre-payment meter and im not sure how to read it anyway but also it is in a dumb possition down the side of the washer. When it needs topping up - eg when no hot water comes out i realise the money has gone, i have to move the washer out to get the card in.
I will be calling the company up to see if i can switch to a regualar meter to avoid this in the future.
So I dont really fancy manually inspecting it unless i have to.

Cardew

Nobody can answer your question as it depends on the type of gas fire and CH boiler and their relative efficiencies.

As a general rule CH is considerably more efficient(and hence cheaper) at producing heat - particularly modern CH boilers - than a gas fire.

You would really need to do as suggested above and carry out a trial to know for certain

Terrylw1

Getting rid of the PP meter and going on credit should help. Remember that you can also persue duel fuel & DD discounts on credit meters or easily change Suppliers to get your bills down.

Many types of meter and how they can be read are found online or on your Supplier's site. What type is it???