heating dilemma!?!

sunflower1_3

Hi,

We are living in a rented 2 bedroom bungalow (well insulated etc.). The central heating is run by an oil fired rayburn with wick burners, therefore unless we constantly turn off and relight the boiler it is burning constantly. We work full time so relighting the Raybun every evening is not practical. Last winter we kept the boiler on the lowest setting at all times but still used A LOT OF OIL! With the rising oil prices we are concered about the price of heating this winter (as is everybody else).

When he Rayburn is turned off water is heated by immersion heater and can cook on an electric cooker.

Can anyody shed any light on what would be the cheapest heating method in our home? i.e. using oil filled radiators on a timer, electric heaters, installing a electric boiler etc. etc.

Cardew

Oil fired Rayburns do use a lot of oil.

It really is not possible to answer your question accurately unless the efficiency of the Rayburn is known and how much heating you want/need.

I suspect that it would be cheaper to have the Rayburn off for the April to Oct period and use electricity for HW and the limited heating you need during that period.

For the winter months there probably will not be a great deal in it.

ianjoe

You should look into economy 10 tariff and energy efficient electric radiators

Cardew

ianjoe wrote: »

You should look into economy 10 tariff and energy efficient electric radiators

There is no such thing as 'energy efficient' electric radiators as the manufacturers would like you to believe.

Well actually they are very efficient at 100%, but then so is any other form of electrical heating - including(as has been said many times) Grandma's 1/2/3 bar electric fire.

All forms electrical heating produce exactly the same amount of heat per ££

Lotus-eater

Cardew wrote: »

T

All forms electrical heating produce exactly the same amount of heat per ££

What do you think about the fan heaters? Having lived in a caravan over a winter with a oil filled non fan heater (free electric) it took a long time to warm up, with a fan heater it was alot quicker, nothing to do with efficiency of course, but a more efficient way of moving the heat around the air. Meaning, you should be able to have the fan heater on less.

Lotus-eater

Sunflower, we had an oil rayburn, as you say it used an awful lot of oil and after freezing our behinds off the first winter, we sold it and went to an oil boiler.
It immediately was much warmer and cheaper to run.

Cardew

Lotus-eater wrote: »

What do you think about the fan heaters? Having lived in a caravan over a winter with a oil filled non fan heater (free electric) it took a long time to warm up, with a fan heater it was alot quicker, nothing to do with efficiency of course, but a more efficient way of moving the heat around the air. Meaning, you should be able to have the fan heater on less.

Undoubtedly the way that electrical heaters produce their heat varies and is better suited to some applications.

You are correct that electrical oil filled radiators are slow to warm up but of course they retain their heat for a long while after the electricity is switched off. So some people find them better on a low setting in, say, an unheated room.

My pal works at a bench in his garage a lot, so has a radiant heater directing heat at him.

Like your caravan, I have a fan heater in my study and if I am working late I sometimes use that, rather than switch on the CH for the whole house.

The point being that for a given cost they both produce exactly the same amount of heat.

sunflower1_3

Lotus-eater. Would love to change however, the problem is we live in a rented bungalow and our landlord loves the rayburn! Have a plumber in family so changing would be very cheap - changing to electric was only real option as rayburn could be left in and electic boilers small so could fit in. However, as Cardew and others on the forums have said electric is just as expensive.
Will prob have to stick with rayburn in coldest months and get some form of portable heaters (???????) for colder evenings.
Does everyone think that its worth buying the oil now as its only going to go UP!!!
Thanks for all the comments.