Does anyone know if it's cheaper to heat the whole house (3 bedroom semi) with the gfch than it is to heat one room with a 2Kw electric heater and another with a three-burner gas fire on full chuff? I know there are a lot of variables - it's a seperate boiler, not a combi, for example, but a rough idea would settle an argument with SWMBO :)
Si
"Mungo "two sheds" Toadfoot" wrote | Does anyone know if it's cheaper to heat the whole house | (3 bedroom semi) with the gfch than it is to heat one | room with a 2Kw electric heater and another with a | three-burner gas fire on full chuff? | I know there are a lot of variables - it's a seperate | boiler, not a combi, for example, but a rough idea | would settle an argument with SWMBO :)
Gas fires are usually inefficient compared to boilers. Electric heaters are 100% efficient but electricity costs twice or three times as much as gas. There is usually better insulation between inside and outside than there is between adjacent rooms, so there will be heat loss from room to room. Individual heaters usually have poor control so the temperature will swing wildly and there may be a temptation to over-heat to compensate. CH will usually maintain a more even temp over time.
It is probably no more expensive, and considerably more comfortable, to use the GCH, and possibly cheaper if you can use turn down the radiators in the unused rooms a few degrees lower.
Of course, if *you* want to use the gas fire on full chuff I am sure we can find some other arguments to support you.
OWain
I like that :) That's politics, that is.
It's me who feels that the central heating would be more economical but unfortunately we haven't got TRVs at the moment. Must visit Toolstation...
Si
Oh, and I forgot to say "thanks"!
And I typed "runnung". I blame the flu affecting my fingers.
Si
More like 4 times.
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But the initial purchase cost of electric heaters is very low - assuming you can use them without overloading your supply - whereas gas central heating has a very high purchase cost -and possibly a significant maintenance bill. If your usage is low electricity may be cheaper - particularly with "high tech" central heating solutions becoming mandatory.
James
This is very true. You need to have a very well insulated and air-tight house to justify electric heating though. What you would save in on intallation cost will go some way to improving the insulation.
The point is that unless you can prove by energy bills, etc, electric heating may make the house worth less and and very slow to sell. Electric heating also costs nothing to service, just breakdown costs, so saving ~£100 per ann.
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It may only cost you a500 wuid to install half a dozen storage heaters, but the 600 quid a quaerter cost of them in winter soon pays for the couple of grand a decent CH system costs to install.
Unless you are e,g,. only in the place for a year or two, it never pays to install electric heating. Even if you are, its arguable that decent CH will show a profit in terms of resale value anyway.
"James" wrote | But the initial purchase cost of electric heaters is very | low - assuming you can use them without overloading your | supply - whereas gas central heating has a very high | purchase cost -and possibly a significant maintenance bill.
The implication from the esteemed Mr Toadfoot is that there is a choice between different existing methods of heating and so installation costs do not enter into the equation.
Owain
Heating just one or two rooms also results in the unheated rooms condensing out moisture from the heated rooms, and forming damp moldy areas.
:-)
I'm resisting radiators in our what used, quaintly, to be called reception rooms - dining and sitting. The time wespend in those is intermittent and we're sitting down when we're there so we'dneed higher temperatures than the rest of the house. The thermostat is set at 10C currently and it's mostly adequate for everywhere else.
The gas fires in those rooms can be put on as and when we want them - and turned off when we leave the room. When I'm in the sitting room I'm usually doing just that - sitting - and sewing or doing some other textile work and like to be cosy with radiant heat. If radiators were putting out enough heat to have the same effect it would send me to sleep as well as taking longer to get to the right temperature.
Mary
SNIP
A classic example of the adage "You can please some of the people some of the time ........."
Yes. When it comes to house heating I suspect I'm not part of the majority. Most people's houses (and shops, offices and the like) are far too warm for me.
I prefer to have the house comfortable for everyone - that means that if they're cold they can put on another layer :-)
I can't take off much else ...
Mary
Rubber undies can be warm, I hear.
Si
Undies?
Now there's a novelty !
Red feathered hats stop a lot of heat loss ... ;-)
Mary
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