economy radiator company

cashstrappedchap wrote: »

I had the week trial and we're actually really impressed! The 1.5kilowatt Economiser radiator was 1m wide - and used nowhere near as much power as we'd expected after reading various thoughts on here. It was plugged into an efergy power monitor which showed that the radiator switched on for an average of six times an hour drawing between 1.5kilowatts in the morning when the room was very cold and 800watts at the lowest. The radiator came on for between two and four minutes at a time after the temperature got to 21degrees. The room is 3.8m x 3.5m and was far warmer than the rest of the house which has storage heaters downstairs and panel heaters upstairs. Am I missing something here as it seems pretty good to me? They aren't cheap at 1700 for five rooms but still worlds apart from the heating we have been putting up with.

And it's warm..I've had the electric radiator on all day (the one from argos for £15). I have an energy monitor as well. It's Saturday. I've been here all day. Rarely heard it switching on. Right it's 7pm (19 hours since midnight) and the energy monitor says I've used 5.3kw in total today that's 280W per hour and my base usage with only the computers, lights, fridge and so on is 160W per hour so I've only used 2.3kw today to keep the room without the gas fire in it warm all day. At a cost of 2 pence per hour. Electric is 14p/kw. Room temperature is 18 degrees. Well insulated and double glazed. Room size 3.5m by 3.0m.. Not bad hey... You would never see me spend £1,700 on that when a £15 convector can do the same.

Edit:since posting at 7.10pm. It's now 7.40pm I've had a shower (8.5kw electric) and ironed clothes (1600W) ready for work and now the energy monitor reads 6.8kw. That's a lot in such a short time.

cashstrappedchap wrote: »

I had the week trial and we're actually really impressed! The 1.5kilowatt Economiser radiator was 1m wide - and used nowhere near as much power as we'd expected after reading various thoughts on here. It was plugged into an efergy power monitor which showed that the radiator switched on for an average of six times an hour drawing between 1.5kilowatts in the morning when the room was very cold and 800watts at the lowest. The radiator came on for between two and four minutes at a time after the temperature got to 21degrees. The room is 3.8m x 3.5m and was far warmer than the rest of the house which has storage heaters downstairs and panel heaters upstairs. Am I missing something here as it seems pretty good to me? They aren't cheap at 1700 for five rooms but still worlds apart from the heating we have been putting up with.

All you've done is measured the heat loss from your room that particluar day. It doea seem implausible to me that even on max heat (1.5kw) that it can raise the room temperature from 'very cold' to 21C while only actually being on 6 times per hour for a max of 4 minutes a time (so a max of 24 mins/hour, or a max heat delivery of something like 650w on average). Are you sure your meter is working/ you took notes correctly?

Taking averages, we can calculate the rate of heat loss from your room that day, according to the data you presented. So for an average power of 1.15kw (1.5kw, 800w), on 6 times per hour, for an average of 3 minutes (4mins, 2 mins), so an average of 18 m/h, or 30% of the time, then the heat loss is 1.15*0.3kw, being 345w.
(Actually the rate of heat loss is less than that, due to the energy being used also to raise the room temp mfrom 'very cold' to 21C.

The point is that to maintain raise the temp from 'very cold' to 21C and to maintain 21C using your figures requires heat delivered at 345w. (lucky you!) That rate of heat delivery would cost exactly the same (3.5p/hour) whether delivered by your £1700 heaters, or a £7 Tesco Value heater.

edit - In fact, you wouldn't even need a heater. Just get your kid to play on an xbox360 - they use about 350w, so you could keep your kids entertained and heat your room to 21C all from the xbox!