In order to heat a single room in a house, which would be the cheapest way to do this?
Using oil fired central heating and just heating the one room, or alternatively not using the central heating and using a portable gas bottle heater, similar to these...
They give out a huge amount of water and you have to ventilate a lot to get rid of it. The net effect is you get little usable heat from it.
The same is true of paraffin heaters.
I would say its a choice of electric or the central heating (unless its a green house then the water vapour is a useful by-product). If the central heating is insulated and reasonably efficient it should be a bit cheaper than mains electric but may cost more if you use storage heaters.
Thanks for the info..!
It would just be an ordinary room, not a sun-room or conservatory.
What about these kerosene (ie domestic heating oil) powered portable room heaters...
It depends. You're going to need to ventilate a lot to remove the water vapour. If you don't, then you'll get massive condensation through the unheated bits of the house. I assume you're doing this because energy prices are a problem? Do you have a means of measuring oil consumption - is there any sort of meter on the oil boiler? Is it a modulating boiler?
As it's a small cottage there's only one living room downstairs and one attic bedroom upstairs, the rest is a single storey extension going out the back of the house.
So if the living room was heated I suppose the water vapour would only rise up to the attic bedroom so this could easily be ventilated.
Yes
I don't think there's a meter on the boiler.
I'm not too sure what that is, so I'm not sure if it is or not...
the old paraffin portable heaters are extremely cheap to run, as well as to buy. But theyre not entirely safe. I'd look at the highest return varieties of solar heating, a =A310 mirror could add a couple of degrees C, or a =A3200 panel system could warm you right up.
Problem is that you will probably find that the ventilation you need to avoid condensation overcomes the smallish losses from running the boiler to heat only one room.
A modulating boiler can run moderately efficiently at low outputs. Instead of simply switching off and on very often, which has poor efficieny, it turns down the flame so that instead of outputting 20Kw max, it may be able to modulate down to 5Kw.
Do you have the boiler manual? Or at least the model number?
Are the pipes to the boiler that are accessible well lagged? Do you have TRVs on all rooms, so you can simply turn them off?
I assume you've replaced lightbulbs with energy saving ones, checked you're using the cheapest electricity supplier, insulated the loft if applicable, and investigated if you can insulate the walls?
even worse
On 1 May 2006 10:11:17 -0700 someone who may be snipped-for-privacy@care2.com wrote this:-
one room is at a suitable orientation.
On 1 May 2006 04:09:24 -0700 someone who may be snipped-for-privacy@operamail.com wrote this:-
The real answer is that there are too many variables to give an answer.
How efficient is the central heating? Are the pipes well lagged, can the boiler and pump be modulated? Can the unused radiators be easily turned off?
Then there are the broader questions. How well are the walls and roof insulated? How windproof are the windows and rest of the house? These are more important than heating, as there is little point putting in heat for it to leak out.
Is this just because you want a warm refuge for chilly Spring evenings?
you can buy an electric fan heater with a thermostat and timer for a tenner or so.
yes its not much use in summer
theres usually a window or wall that is.
NT
yes its not much use in summer
theres usually a window or wall that is.
NT
On 2 May 2006 10:46:15 -0700 someone who may be snipped-for-privacy@care2.com wrote this:-
And in the winter it is unlikely to totally heat one room, though it may allow other forms of heating to be reduced. It might provide space heating for one room for a period in spring and autumn though.
People will be reminded of over-claiming as is necessary.
That rather depends on the layout of the building. It also depends on the location of the wall with respect to other buildings, especially when the sun is low in the winter.
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