Working from home - how to avoid excessive gas bill this winter?

TheAble

Are these oil-filled rads expensive to run? Looking at a few on Argos and the usual wattage seems to be around 2kw which feels high - but do they use that constantly or just flick on and off dependent on selected room temperature?

QrizB

TheAble said:

Are these oil-filled rads expensive to run? Looking at a few on Argos and the usual wattage seems to be around 2kw which feels high - but do they use that constantly or just flick on and off dependent on selected room temperature?

They will all have thermostats and will switch on and off to maintain a relatively constant temperature.

Personally, I'd rather have a convector heater (something like this) than an oil-filled rad unless I was planning on running it in an unoccupied room. I find convectors are quicker to heat a room up than oil-filled ones. The drawback is that, if covered with eg. a coat or a curtain, they pose a fire risk (which is why I don't like running them unattended).

Mrs QrizB has a convector heater in her art cabin.

markin

An air con mini split system is the best way if you have the money, At a cop of 3 to 4 it could match Gas, A Cop of 3 means 3 kwh of heat output per 1 kwh of input, And a bonus you get AC in heatwaves.

Mister_G

I've has the Drayton Wiser system for about a year now and have been very pleased with it.

My only issue was changing out the standard Drayton TRV heads for the Wiser ones.  The adaptor they supply is OK for the later Mk4 Drayton TRVs, but not with the earlier TRVs.  Luckily, there are third party adaptors available that will allow you to fit the Wiser head to these earlier models. 

I can also confirm that installing TRVs is not a 10 minute job!

BUFF

kingkano said:

BUFF said:

kingkano said:

Many systems exist - tado, Drayton wiser, Evohome. Varying costs and abilities. I'm going for Drayton wiser because it still works if internet is down, no monthly fee, reasonable price to get setup, and lots of extra bits available should I want them (control for UF or electric heaters for example)

tbh this is also true of Tado ( & no doubt some others). Tado only has monthly subscriptions for automating a couple of functions (without subscription it will push notify you but not actually actuate the function itself) which I would say are debatable if most people actually need automated. 
https://support.tado.com/en/articles/3387221-what-is-auto-assist

It's true tado sub isn't necessary. It can make things easy for some people who go out of the house lots.  But if your internet goes offline the tado completely breaks from what I read.  All of your programs and settings are stored in their servers and that's what triggers the boiler etc.  I still very much like it and considered it though.

Tado will work from the devices (i.e. manually) without internet but yes, I believe that you are right that if your internet is disconnected they won't work to schedule until internet is restored (& obviously you would not be able to control the devices via smartphone etc. whilst away from the house). 

I like Wiser too though.

Marvel1

Hooded blankets or oddies as they call them.