Oil central heating versus oil fired radiator

Emcbundle

Bendy_House said:

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...

This is a brilliant informative post. Thank you!

Emcbundle

@Bendy_House
My boiler is a  Grant Combi 70 V3

FreeBear

Mistral001 said:

Perhaps the OP is referring to parafin heaters. 

There was a thread over on the energy board about paraffin heaters - https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6384253/paraffin-heater

General consensus - Horrible, smelly things, and a serious risk of carbon monoxide poisoning if used in a draught free building.

Woolsery

FreeBear said:

Mistral001 said:

Perhaps the OP is referring to parafin heaters. 

There was a thread over on the energy board about paraffin heaters - https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6384253/paraffin-heater

General consensus - Horrible, smelly things, and a serious risk of carbon monoxide poisoning if used in a draught free building.

Got me through my student days and beyond though. Lived in one room in winter and the chance of any of them being 'draught free' was zero, so I survived.  My favourite was the one with the glowing dome surrounded by a curved back of chromed steel to reflect the heat.I think it had been banned, because you could only get one in a junk shop. Despite appearances, like all paraffin heaters it produced a lot of water and the windows ran with condensation.

I guess some people will be going back to the '70s and living in one room, but it won't be the same. They'll be posting their experiences on Faceache and Whatsapping their chilblains to each other. You couldn't do that from the phone box on the corner. There's progress!

FreeBear

Woolsery said: I guess some people will be going back to the '70s and living in one room, but it won't be the same. They'll be posting their experiences on Faceache and Whatsapping their chilblains to each other. You couldn't do that from the phone box on the corner. There's progress!

Assuming they don't kill themselves in the process. Either from doing something incredibly stupid, or not having a working carbon monoxide (that is CO, without a 2) alarm.

Bendy_House

Emcbundle said:

@Bendy_House
My boiler is a  Grant Combi 70 V3

That appears to be a non-condensing type, so nothing much to be gained by lowering the boiler temp output.

In fact, the instructions say to run it at max so that your tap water is hot enough...

Just have a play, and set it lower if you can, provided it still heats your rads well enough, and ditto the tap water.

Oil-fired is still cheaper than electric heating, tho', so I'd still use the boiler. Just turn the room thermostat temp down a tad if you can, put on more clothes, and turn any rad in an unused room to frost.

FreeBear

Bendy_House said: Oil-fired is still cheaper than electric heating, tho', so I'd still use the boiler. Just turn the room thermostat temp down a tad if you can, put on more clothes, and turn any rad in an unused room to frost.

And fit a programmable thermostat so that you can set different temperatures throughout the course of the day. Potential there to save 10-15% on fuel.