Efficient single room heating

bill_the_bus

Looking to winter... We recently moved in a detached 3 bedroom rented bungalow with a full length conservatory. We are both retired and most of the day and evening we are in the living room, about 20 sq mtrs. Keep being told it's cheaper to heat whole bungalow with central heating but the system and boiler are many years old so probably not the most efficient. Looking to just heat the room we use, not soft but want to be comfortable. We already have a combined convector and blown air heater. Heard so much about the ceramic panel heaters but would cost around £200 initial outlay. Suggestions as to most cost effective way of heating please?

ArbitraryRandom

If you're talking electric heating then 1 unit of heat is one unit of power - a 1kWh heater will put 1kWh of heat into a room. No type of electrical heating is more 'efficient' than others, but some direct the heat differently (halogen) or have other features that will use some of the power (fan heaters). Others can take advantage of 'cheaper' electricity (night storage heaters), if you are on a time of use tariff. 

Electricity costs (roughly) 3 times more than gas, so even if your gas system isn't the most efficient there's a good chance it is cheaper. You can turn off or down radiators in rooms that you're not using to concentrate the heat in the rooms you are to improve efficiency. 

Another thing you might want to consider is heat loss from the room - stoping the heat escaping (while also ensuring appropriate ventilation to prevent mold etc) is the best way to save money. Draft proofing, replacing curtains and considering things like heated throws (which you can sometimes get for free from your energy company) or rugs on cold floors can help. 

There's a long running thread on the old style board about preparing for winter that might have some useful tips: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5122360/preparing-for-winter-v/p1

CliveOfIndia

As above, really.

An electric heater is certainly one option - although electricity is far more expensive than gas or oil, there's an argument to say it can work out cheaper overall if you only want to heat a small space.  But in terms of what type of heater, it makes no difference - 1 KWh of electricity in equals 1 KWh of heat out, whether it's a £10 fan heater from Argos or a £5000 diamond-encrusted gem filled with magic pixie-dust.

The only practical difference is the way the heat is emitted.  A fan heater will give you heat near enough instantly and will stop emitting heat the moment you switch it off.  An oil-filled rad (and, to a lesser extent, a panel radiator) will take a little while to warm up, but will continue emitting some heat for a while after it's switched off.  And if whatever heater you have has a thermostat, then it won't be consuming electricity constantly - it'll switch itself on an off to maintain the temperature you select.

An infra-red heater may be suitable - these heat the person rather than the whole room.  Handy if you're sat still in front of the TV for instance, perhaps not so practical if you're up and about.

The only way any one form of electrical heating can be cheaper than another is if you're able to make use of cheaper off-peak electricity (storage heaters).  Probably not financially viable if you don't already have a twin-tariff meter installed.

The other option is to run the central heating but turn off the rads in the rooms you don't use.  Yes, there will be some losses from the system in general (hot water running through the pipework, for instance), but it's probably still the cheaper option overall.

You may want to consider whether damp/condensation could become an issue if a room is left totally unheated for any length of time, though.

Scot_39

If you don't already have them in unused rooms - you might want to look at getting TRV fitted to radiators and turn them down to around say 2  - so get enough heat to keep dampness at bay etc (many guides suggest 14C to avoid black mould).

Their not that expensive - and likely to pay for itself over short time.

SR electric is currently c27p - gas is c7p/kWh  - but allowing for gas boiler etc losses - probably as above around 3x cheaper.

That means 3x more heat output for the same price.

So you can in all probability heat whole house - especially if largely unused rooms het to a lower temp -  than will cost for electric in just the one room.

And your living room will loose heat to other rooms - even if door closed - and certainly every time you enter / leave room.

As tennants though your options are limitted - any major work would be by - or need approval - of landlord - who isnt paying the energy bills.  And you have no guarantee of being their long enough to pay for larger improvements to get payback via reduced bills. 

You may - however - as tennants - still qualify for the Great British insulation scheme - see

https://www.gov.uk/apply-great-british-insulation-scheme

And if elderly (state pension age) as say retired - are you on suppliers priority service register - if so your supplier may have additional help available, as might your council etc

Edit : and although their are minor differences in how different electric heaters work - essentially over time - 1kWh heat energy  is 1kWh on bills - unless looking at an ashp or e7 nsh.  I wouldn't waste money on an expensive ceramic panel myself.  A cheap halogen heater radiating heat a few feet away from you or a fan heater might make you feel warmer for a lot less cash.

Stubod

..just turn all the "redundant" radiators off surely???.....(and as above make sure the one heated room is well "insulated").

Keep_pedalling

Rather than heat the room get an electrical throw and cuddle up under it. 

MultiFuelBurner

What is the driver behind this? Is it the costs?

The cheapest way would be to heat the house above mould growing temperatures and heat the person not the home with electric throws. Because you are considering just heating one room you obviously don't mind the cold feel for the toilet/kitchen and to the bedroom. Again a heated blanket for the bed. All very cheap compared to any heater but I would consider this taking things too far for most.

Gerry1

Don't even think of expensive panel heaters...

...especially these !  (And why do you think so many comments in this thread have had to be redacted?)

matelodave

if you've already got an electric heater then even the newest, bestest, shiniest, magic dust ceramic, fairy oil etc heater wont be any more efficient than the one you've got, so use it if you feel you are going to save money. However do some sanity checking first.

If you really want to work it out then the only way is to spend a week or so with the central heating on (taking into account the advice from above about turning down radiators in unused rooms etc) and reading the gas meter every day to work out how many kwh hour a day you use (taking into account any cooking or hot water). Also read your leccy meters every day so you can get a baseline for your electricity consumption.

Then shut down your heating and use the electric heater as you would normally for a week or so, again taking daily readings of the gas and leccy meters.

You can then compare the difference in consumption between the fuels although you do need to take into account the whether its colder or warmer outside and only heat for the same amount of time etc so you are doing a like for like heating comparison.  I'm guessing that you can probably heat the whole place with gas for less than the cost of heating one room with an electric heater unless you are very frugal.

Bear in mind that being in a detached bungalow you are exposed on all sides and the roof space is usually twice the size of a normal house. You dont get the benefit of heat rising to warm upstairs so your living room ceiling is heating the loft. You'd be better off spending money to ensure that your loft insulation is as good as you can get it - you should be aiming for at least 300mm in a bungalow.

MultiFuelBurner

Oh and another thing is your conservatory south or west facing. You can on sunny days use this as a heat box for the house open all blinds and let it heat up then release the heat into the house late afternoon (maybe it attaches to your lounge? 

Sadly it won't work on cloudy days that well.

QrizB

bill_the_bus said:

Keep being told it's cheaper to heat whole bungalow with central heating but the system and boiler are many years old so probably not the most efficient. Looking to just heat the room we use, not soft but want to be comfortable. We already have a combined convector and blown air heater. Heard so much about the ceramic panel heaters but would cost around £200 initial outlay. Suggestions as to most cost effective way of heating please?

Are you interested in "efficient" or "cost effective"? Those are two different questions.

Electric heaters are 100% efficient, more efficient than gas, LPG or oil boilers which are usually 80-90% efficient. However gas, LPG or oil are about 1/3rd the price of electricity for a given amount of energy.

Assuming it's fired by gas, LPG or oil, the most cost-effective way is likely to be to run your central heating system, as everyone keeps saying.