Oil central heating versus oil fired radiator

Emcbundle

Is it cheaper to use oil fired radiators to heat individual rooms. I am a single mum with an 11 year old boy in a rickety old victorian cottage. My boiler has recently been serviced and I have been told its quite efficient.

Ebe_Scrooge

You mean your central heating is oil-fired, and you're thinking about an electric oil-filled radiator as an alternative?  As far as it goes, using the central heating will be cheaper - oil is far cheaper than electricity as a form of heating.

There is an argument to say that you could turn off the central heating, close all the doors, then use an electric heater (whether oil-filled, fan heater, convector, whatever, it makes no difference) to heat just one room.  This might be cheaper overall - but even then, if you wanted to do that it's still probably cheaper to use the central heating and just turn off the radiators in the rooms you're not using.

Just bear in mind, it's not a good idea to leave the whole house constantly cold for long periods, this can cause problems with damp/condensation.

But in simple terms, electricity is the most expensive form of heating there is.

grumbler

I've never heard of 'oil FIRED radiators'. Do you meant electric oil-filled?

Mistral001

Perhaps the OP is referring to parafin heaters. 

Emcbundle

Mistral001 said:

Perhaps the OP is referring to parafin heaters. 

Yes that's the ones

Emcbundle

I'm referring to electric portable radiators that have oil.inside them

Bendy_House

You are referring to everything!

I presume you mean the latter - these are portable electric heaters which have oil inside them? This makes them more even in their output - they stay better at their set temp, without the large fluctuations you often get with electric 'element' heaters. That's all the 'oil' does - keeps the radiator temperature more stable.

As for the most cost-effective way to heat your house, as said above, oil is still cheaper than electricity. So, for the same amount of heat being given out, using your oil boiler should be noticeably cheaper.

The fact the service fellow said it was 'quite efficient' would suggest it's a condensing boiler - do you know? (Make and model, please?)

Ways to improve the efficiency further would be to try and turn the boiler's temp output down as far as possible - the colder the flow, the colder the return, and - assuming it is 'condensing - a colder return means more efficiency (it grabs more heat from the burnt flue gases).

And the other way to save energy is to not heat any room that doesn't require it. So, can you and 11-year old make a pact that allows you to share the main living space, or does one of you still want their 'own' room - say, a bedroom - in the evenings? If you can shut off the bedrooms for all but the most essential times, then you'll save a very noticeable amount. But, if you need to keep it warm all evening, you'll have to be ready to pay the cost.

So, any room you do not NEED to use, turn the rads in there to 'frost', crack open the windows to 'vent', and shut the door - they will not come to any harm. They will not go mouldy or damp - at least they shouldn't. Why? Becuase they are being ventilated.

If you two are brave enough to manage without any heating even in your own bedrooms at night, then great - treat yourselves to nice leccy blankets, even ones that can be run all night (at their lowest setting) if needed. But, really, a good duvet should be enough once you are in bed. Turn on the blanket a half-hour before bedtime, turn it off and dive under.

If you 'must' - and it's crazy to be saying such things when we have all be so used to expecting it! Lawd, how times have changed... - then by all means turn on the bedroom rads a half-hour before bed, but then off again overnight. They can be set to come on again a half-hour before wake up time - 'cos that can be miserable.

Overnight, vent the rooms to prevent condensation on the panes.

And try and reduce draughts as much as possible - excluders on doors, and plastic film on windows if they are old and leaky.

Even in the rooms you need to use, try and keep the temp low - say 18oC-ish - and dress to compensate. Snuggle blankets. Electric over-blankets. Even these chair blankets you sit on - these things are really effective, and should be cheap to run.

Just don't heat anything you don't need to...

Bigphil1474

Oil filled electric radiators are safer than fan heaters and similar, hence why they are becoming more common, but I've no idea how the costs compare. Bendy has it all covered.

macman

How are they safer?
The're both mains electrical devices, with heating elements and a 13A fuse. 

onomatopoeia99

macman said:

How are they safer?
The're both mains electrical devices, with heating elements and a 13A fuse. 

Your cleaner can't turn an oil filled radiator over so it's blowing heated air directly at the carpet, causing it to melt, which they can do with a fan heater.

This actually happened in my workplace.  Don't ask me what the cleaner was thinking!

Ebe_Scrooge

Bigphil1474 said:

Oil filled electric radiators are safer than fan heaters and similar, hence why they are becoming more common, but I've no idea how the costs compare. Bendy has it all covered.

There's no difference in running costs for any electrical heater - a cheap 2KW fan heater from Argos will cost the same to run as a super-dooper diamond-encrusted 2KW oil-filled rad from Harrods.  The only difference is in how they deliver the heat.  A fan heater will kick out heat pretty much the moment you switch it on, and stop giving heat as soon as you switch it off (give or take a few seconds).  An oil-filled rad will take a while to get going, but will carry on giving some heat for a few minutes after it's switched off.  But in terms of "electricity in" vs "heat out", no difference whatsoever.  Obviously a 3KW heater will give more heat than a 1KW heater, but will consume 3 times the electricity.