Oil-filled radiator, 2000w - cost of running for 2 hours a day...?

Olinda99

Electricity is about 32p per kWhr, gas about 10p

Use gas heating whenever you are able

chris_n

The way I look at it is why use electricity to heat 1/3 of the space for the same cost.

lohr500

Lighthouses7 said:

Thanks for your advice folks. My problem with the heating is that radiators in 2 rooms (kitchen and hallway) have the knob jammed so I can't switch them off! Grrr, ha ha!

If you are reasonably confident at a bit of DIY, then the chances are you can free off the valves by removing the plastic caps and use an adjustable wrench on the square section of the valve shaft.

VERY carefully try to rotate the valve shaft clockwise by no more than a quarter of a turn and then back off, keep doing this but each time increase the amount of rotation until you feel resistance.

Eventually you will free off the valve and it should then be fine. Replace the plastic cap and occasionally use the valve to stop it sticking again.

Don't apply excessive force on the adjustable spanner and if a small amount of water starts leaking from the valve shaft, try tightening the gland nut on the valve slightly.

Several of my radiator valves have ended up sticking over the years through lack of use, but I have always managed to coax them back into life using the above method.

Usual caveat applies. If you try this, you do so at our own risk. Chances are, if you paid for a plumber to sort it out, they would either do the same (if they were honest), or charge you a fortune to drain down the system and replace the sticking valves.
 

thriftytracey

I can't believe that running the GCH for an hour is cheaper than an oil filled radiator, even with all but one radiator turned off.  Electric pump involved as well as the gas.

chris_n

thriftytracey said:

I can't believe that running the GCH for an hour is cheaper than an oil filled radiator, even with all but one radiator turned off.  Electric pump involved as well as the gas.

Running the gas central heating will cost more than running an oil filled radiator for an hour. That is not the comparison you should be making. If you run a 1kW oil filled radiator for one hour (ignoring thermostats and the fact the radiator is not allowed to overheat) it will use 1 kWh (unit of electricity). It will cost you appropriately 40p. For the same 40p you can have about 3.5 kWh of heat from gas, maybe 3 kWh if you allow for the electricity for the pump and fan.

xeny

thriftytracey said:

I can't believe that running the GCH for an hour is cheaper than an oil filled radiator, even with all but one radiator turned off.  Electric pump involved as well as the gas.

You can lead a horse to water...

Take some meter readings and find out.

As a rule of thumb, any electrical appliance that uses a lot of energy gets hot, and central heating pumps don't get hot (well they get warm from the hot water they are pumping but not otherwise) especially compared to an electric heater, so that isn't a signifiicant factor.

The same no of £ gets you ~3.5x as much heat from gas as it does from electricity, how can gas not cost you less?

macman

thriftytracey said:

I can't believe that running the GCH for an hour is cheaper than an oil filled radiator, even with all but one radiator turned off.  Electric pump involved as well as the gas.

If you can find an oil filled rad that will output the same amount of heat energy in an hour as a CH boiler, then you are correct. Otherwise you might want to reconsider your username...
The CH pump usage is trivial, typically around 60 watts, or about 2p per hour.

markin

I ran a heater on low 1 bar, The result was 700w for ten hrs solid 7kwh, Not the expected on/off 50% duty i thought it would be.

xeny

markin said:

I ran a heater on low 1 bar, The result was 700w for ten hrs solid 7kwh, Not the expected on/off 50% duty i thought it would be.

The duty cycle is going to depend on how cold a place it is in. Run it on low in the middle of the summer and you'll get a 0% duty cycle. In this weather it is likely to be100% unless it isn't the only source of heat.

chris_n

I have 2 oil filled radiators (run on spare solar power so not so much in December / January), one 2kW and one 800W. The 800W is permanently left on low power and never cycles because it dissipates more than the 400 W it consumes. The 2kW cycles even on it's lowest setting (900W).