Heating an attic beadroom.

Dandy_Dan

Can any one advise how to heat an attic bedroom cheaply?

The rest of the house has GCH but the system cannot be extended up there (I asked a qualifed tradesman and he confirmed what my Dad said).

I need something cheap to install/buy and to run. In the dead of winter in North Yorkshire, the room needs to be heated for sleeping, dressing etc but not during the day.

I can't work out the most efficient way to do this. Are those Halogen-type lamps any good or are oil-filled radiators better? Am I right thinking that the abbreviation Kwh means kilowat per hour and is this a measure of consumption or output? And can anything be deduced about the output from the kwh rating?

TIA

Dan

YorkshireBoy

Dandy_Dan wrote:

Am I right thinking that the abbreviation Kwh means kilowat per hour and is this a measure of consumption or output? And can anything be deduced about the output from the kwh rating?

If an electric heater is rated at 1KW, then this is the "output" it will produce, or "give out".

If you leave this heater on for one hour it will "consume" 1 KWh of electricity. If a unit (KWh) of electricity costs 10p, then the cost of running the heater will be 10p per hour. If the heater has a built-in (or otherwise) thermostat controlling it, then the consumption (and obviously running costs) will be reduced.

Your main choices for the room will be convector or oil filled radiator types. However, I would have thought your main criteria (along with purchase price and running costs) would be design & aesthetics, ie it wants to look nice in itself, and also blend in well with the room by being wall mounted perhaps at radiator height?

There are many manufacturers you could consider such as dimplex, claudgen, etc. I use a wholesaler https://www.neweyandeyre.co.uk and they have a very good searchable product catalogue online which should give you some ideas.

Just one final thing - I appreciate it's probably your only option, but heating a room with electricity is very expensive. Buy a selectable 1/2/3KW type and keep your eye on it's use and thermostat setting.

And just to close on a safety point - if it's a kids bedroom, and you choose a convector type, make sure they don't cover the heater up with clothes etc.

ka7e

As YorkshireBoy has said, heating the room with an electric heater can be expensive. More expensive to buy and install, but with cheaper running costs would be a wall-mounted gas heater. It needs to be vented through an outside wall and obviously is connected to the household gas supply. It might be worth considering as a long term investment, especially if you are a home-owner.

YorkshireBoy

Just to add to my earlier post (and so I learn something as well ), perhaps the OP or one of our resident plumbers could give some reasons as to why the existing GCH system couldn't be extended.

I can think of a some possibles...

1. No of rads would exceed BTU rating of boiler
2. System couldn't be "balanced" properly
3. Pump not powerful enough (could another, perhaps larger & externally sited, unit be fitted?)

Have I "grasped" plumbing or is it more technical than this?

owey

We have an oil filled rad in are loft bedroom, works a treat I think its a 2 KW and in the summer we just store it in the eves.

Dandy_Dan

I can't get the GCH up there because (a) it's too damn old to extend and (b) the header tank is on the floor below and there's no way to get a new tank up there without ripping the place apart.

One day I'll refit the lot but I can't afford to do that now.

As for the gas fire - last time I looked into this, I was told I couldn't get gas pumped up to a third floor.

thanks for info to date

Dan