Despite my best "Dad" efforts of insisting on just putting on another jumper, I accept that at some point I will need to heat the room I work in whilst working from home. We have a smallish study area off the living room. It has a single radiator with a TRV, gas central heating. The house is relatively large so turning on the heating heats the whole house. I could go round and turn off all of the other rads but that would be a hassle and one I'm unlikely to actually do.
Is there a smarter way of doing this or would it be more efficient to get a small electric heater? Alternatively, would it be better to leave the whole house with heating on low and just ramp up the TRV in the study area?
There are all sorts of fancy solutions but a small £10 2kW electric heater from Screwfix is your cheapest way, set on a level to kick in and out as required.
Fit a time switch to it to have the room warm at the beginning of the day and to not leave it on when you are done.
I have the same issue, too mean to heat the whole house when I am in one room. I just wear jerseys, and bought a small plug-in electric radiator thing from Argos for cheap, with a thermostat and timer. It heats up one small room very quickly. Even the cat approves.
Oil-filled radiator.
Did me proud in my bedsit days.
For fast heat a freestanding convector heater, for prolonged heat a decent sized oil filled radiator.
Cheap fan heaters are noisy IME.
Electric heater will be the cheapest outlay (short of going around and fiddling with TRVs all the time), but gas is far cheaper than electricity - so you'd have lower running costs with a smart TRV system.
How many rads have you got and what are you willing to spend?
You could replace all of the TRV's with Wifi ones, and then control centrally the heating, at a later date you could wire this into the boiler to fire if need be, but as a shortish solution, just default it to "on".
Failing that, it;s oil filled rad. The infrared things are OK, but i find extremeties when sitting get unduly cold using them.
left field, is a kersosene burner - but you'd want the one with external flu. I have got one, they are brilliantly efficient and very common in Japan. Don't use it anymore as i've got fancy pants heating system in new house.
edit:
I had the non flu version, which in a large room does work with very little smell, but small rooms it's too powerful
that link is expesnive, i picked mine up for under £150..
I'd look for a secondhand DeLonghi Dragon oil-filled rad.
Actually I have one I could sell, don't need two any more. You're not near MCR at all are you?
I’d look for a secondhand DeLonghi Dragon oil-filled rad.
This. We have one to supplement our gas fire for heating our living room. Quiet and very effective. Has a timer too.
How many rads have you got and what are you willing to spend?
15 rads and towel rails. I also have underfloor heating in part of the house but that is on separate controls
ou’re not near MCR at all are you?
Unfortunately not.
This is STW. You need a wood burner, logpile and axe.
Oil-filled radiator works for me in my little study. I like that it stays warm for ages after a short getting up to temperature period and so doesn't feel overly inefficient. Quiet and unobtrusive too.
I bought fleece lined jeans, with those and a jacket am normally sorted
15 rads and towel rails. I also have underfloor heating in part of the house but that is on separate controls
that's quite a lot of TRV's to change ££££.
I know this may sound daft, but i assume you can't move your daily work to where the underfloor heating is, or no chance to tee off the main hot water feed before it hits the manifold (assuming its wet UFH) - to your rad? that way just UFH + 1 room is on.
If it's a going to be a perm place of work, are you not better off putting in a perm solution that works off your main system?
log burners are no longer De Rigueur STW, polutting you see..
No one needs a flower pot heater. Bill and Ben don't magically bend the laws of physics and thermodynamics.
Back on this planet I use a superser gas heater to warm my work room in the garage because of the old adage....what you have usually works out cheaper..... Not sure I'd buy a new one just for that.
Infrared heating to heat the user rather than the room would be where I'd look if I had to buy something
Bill and Ben don’t magically bend the laws of physics and thermodynamics.
They do, I saw it on Youtube.
heat the user rather than the room
My thoughts exactly - how about an electrically heated seat? There are loads of cheap 12v heated seat covers on Amazon for about £20.
Like THIS
You just need a 12v power source.
They do, I saw it on Youtube.
the next video said covid is a hoax right ?
Installed a few fluid filled towel radiators recently, hadn’t considered them for actual heating, but they do a good job in smaller rooms (last couple were in log cabins where they provided background heat, similar to an oil filled rad)
You've got a few options.
I'm using a fan heater in the shed on thermostat, so kicks in every 30 minutes or so for a minute. We use an oil filled rad in the conservatory - belts out heat when you need it, and basic ones are cheap or, you could get an infra red panel heater. You mount it on a wall near to where you will sit, and it heat's you up - we have one at the computer table in the corner of our lounge as MrsF get's cold. These come with remote control, timers, thermostat. They are less than a cm deep.
I might get a small oil filled rad for the winter whilst in the shed.
The wife uses an oil filled rad in the room she works from. I'm OK as I'm I the extension with wet UFH so nice and toasty!, But the oil filled rad works just fine. You can sit on heated cushions and the like but doesn't stop your fingers from feeling cold, heating up one room with an efficient oil filled rad doesn't cost much.
My small office is heated by laptop, twin screens and me! If I shut the door it honestly gets too warm. So check insulation, drafts (around/under door/windows) etc. The house can be freezing and I'm normally toasty in the office.
I bought a padded gilet for an extra layer. It seems as effective at keeping me warm as a second jumper but doesn't restrict arm movements when using the PC or scribbling on paper.
Once that and the wooly hat are exhausted electric radiator probably makes the most sense.
Bottled gas heaters can also be effective but there is a monoxide risk if you run them for a while in a closed room and they can cause condensation. Also the price of bottled gas, particularly the smaller bottles used for indoor heaters, are often a similar price per kwhr to electric which is clean to use and cheaper to buy the heater.
I recently bought & fitted a Drayton Wiser smart heating starter kit as they were cheap on Prime Day. Works really well, need to get the smart TRVs for the rest of the house now so will probably wait until this time next month when hopefully they'll be on offer again for Black Friday.
It's a fair outlay even with a discount but the whole idea of smart heating is that it saves you money in the long run so hopefully a decent investment, plus it's a great solution to OP's specific problem (which we also have!)
Are those DeLonghi jobbies actually better heaters or just a bit prettier? Other oil filled rads seem much cheaper. In a similar situation for Mrs C this winter and currently have a convection panel heater in with her.
Re using your central heating......surely even if all the TRVs are off around the house its still running around the whole system heating up the pipes just to heat one room? There must come a size of house (therefore amount of pipe and size of boiler) where economically it does not make sense. We are LPG too so the balance point must come even earlier.
I think our plan is going to be a heater in the room with wife and the wood stove running in the rest of the house to make sure not too Baltic in rest of the house (and give her a reason to get up from her desk which she is terrible at doing).
Don't forget to nag your employers for the £6 tax free to offset heating costs - https://blog.moneysavingexpert.com/2020/04/martin-lewis--working-from-home-due-to-coronavirus--claim-p6-wk-/
Don’t forget to nag your employers for the £6 tax free to offset heating costs –
Nothing to do with employer, employee needs to apply (which I've already done)
Thanks for the advice everyone.
Nothing to do with employer, employee needs to apply
Sort of, not sort of. From the ML blog....
But apportioning extra costs such as heating and electricity is tough. So instead you can, in simple terms, claim a rate of £6 a week. There are two ways to do this:
Employers can pay you £6 a week extra tax-free. Employers can give you an allowance up to this amount and what they give you is free from tax, so you get it all (to give you more, it will need to make special arrangements).
But right now – with many firms struggling – asking may be bad timing, so instead you can...
Claim tax relief on £6 a week. If your employer won't pay expenses for your extra costs due to necessary working from home, but you have them, then you can ask for the amount to be deducted from your taxable income. To make the process easy, HMRC says that claims in line with the employers' payment (ie, for £6 a week) will not need to justify that figure – meaning you won't need to keep receipts or prove information. Tax relief of £6 a week equates to a gain of £1.20 a week for a basic 20% rate taxpayer, £2.40 a week for a higher 40% rate taxpayer.
Sounds like "fur coat, no knickers" as my Nan use to say 🙂
Re using your central heating……surely even if all the TRVs are off around the house its still running around the whole system heating up the pipes just to heat one room? There must come a size of house (therefore amount of pipe and size of boiler) where economically it does not make sense. We are LPG too so the balance point must come even earlier.
It's sort of offset by gas being a quarter of the price of electricity.
We are LPG too so the balance point must come even earlier.
is the key part of that sentence.
Short of burning 20quid notes there isnt a more expensive way to heat your whole house.
LPG is still half the price of electricity. I'm on LPG - I use the boiler in preference to electric heating.
Now I don't have central heating, not by choice, but because my rented flat came with e7 storage heaters. They cost a fortune to run, more than doubling our electricity consumption typically from December to March.
If you have central heating, I'd have thought that grabbing a good deal for a batch of temperature sensitive valves, even if you simply install say six on some upstairs rooms (or your least used rooms) would work out cheaper, given how cheap gas is compared to electric.
things have changed - i had LPG at a house i rented.
LPG was astronomical cost
- we were on a big calor tank - that said i think the land lords were on one of those Calor supplies the tank and the boiler deals so that possible accounrted for cost
https://nottenergy.com/resources/energy-cost-comparison/
Good to see this is still updated - also interesting to see that Kerosene is the cheapest at the moment (we are on kero)
that said it still doesnt make sense to heat my whole house 😀
but gas is far cheaper than electricity – so you’d have lower running costs with a smart TRV system.
The difference won't pay back the cost of buying (and installing if you can't DIY) the TRVs.
Just buy a small fan heater and aim the warm air directly at you - you won't need the room to be warm overall to feel comfortable so you can keep the thermostat turned down.
One thing we do is dry our clothes in the spare room overnight (which is now the office): the dehumidifier means the room is nice and warm when I start work in the mornings.
https://nottenergy.com/resources/energy-cost-comparison/
/blockquote>Thanks for the link - not seen that before.
also interesting to see that Kerosene is the cheapest at the moment (we are on kero)
Yes - much cheaper. Our boiler is relatively new but I guess if/when it goes we should consider switching.
We are at the drawing phase of a big renovation - I've always thought this house was much cheaper to throw logs in the stove than lpg at the boiler to keep warm. That website says it is roughly the same cost. I suspect we need to be more savvy with out TRVs. The stove gives 'luxury' warmth to the heart of the home even if the extremities are cold - whilst the central heating makes the whole house mediocre warm.
and installing if you can’t DIY
Surely you'd have to be at no opposable thumbs level of competence not to be able to install the TRVs?
Surely you’d have to be at no opposable thumbs level of competence not to be able to install the TRVs?
Depends if the valves need replacing: usually not, but...
ransos
Free Member
Surely you’d have to be at no opposable thumbs level of competence not to be able to install the TRVs?Depends if the valves need replacing: usually not, but…
just to clarify for those that may never have played around with heating..
The TRV's litterally just screw on top of the valves, and just make the valve pin go up and down to close it. Really is very very easy, you cant flood the house changing them!
The valves ar very different, you'll need to isolate the rad, you maybe lucky if you've got isolation valves in well thought out places, you may not which could potentially mean a drain down.