Central Heating, why?

[MarkFish]

Why is Gas central heating better than putting an individual electric heater in each room?

 

[Diyisfun]

who said it was?

 

[MarkFish]

who said it was?

Well most homes have central heating. There seems to be a general assumption that CH is better among people I talk to. So I guess most people do.

The more I think about it the more I think individual heaters are better. You put them in the loft for the summer months. Maintainance is nothing more than a trip to Argos to replace the broken heaters. You get every room heated at the time and temperature you want it.

I'm sure CH is cheaper to run day to day and improves resale value of the house. But are those the only advantages?

 

[Jake1886]

Give it a try this winter.

 

[flameport]

Compare the cost of gas and electricity - there is a massive difference.

What about your hot water?

Is the electrical system in your home really up to having individual electric heaters in every room, all on at the same time? (along with all of the other electrical stuff which you have already got)

If you only heat individual rooms, this won't work in the way you expect - the heat loss from the heated room will be significantly higher due to the lower temperatures of the surrounding rooms. You will therefore require substantially more power to heat that room.

 

[Morrisman]

If you only intend to use one room a single heater is ideal, but if you have a family, and you actually use a house like normal, moving around, going to various rooms, going to the bathroom etc, then central heating is by far a more efficient, sensible, cheaper way to heat your house.

 

[RigidRaider]

What people fail to appreciate is that traditional central heating warms up the contents and structure of the house as well as the air inside the rooms. There's a huge mass of material there to bring up to temperature (think how cold the car is in winter when you first jump in) and that takes several days; which is why the CH has to work so hard when you get back from a winter holiday. Individual electric heaters will heat the air in a room quite quickly but a traditional CH system has pipes running under floors and generally warms the structure much more thoroughly.

 

[xr4x4]

Also the thermostats on electric heaters are useless... How can they work correctly...they are inside the heaters.....!

I've modified ours to use external thermostats.

 

[Norcon]

Central heating is only a recent innovation for the colder climates of western nations for the high numbers of the less hardy and sickly homosapien species.
When the fuel runs out, they'll die off or kill each other through war and a stronger species will emerge.

 

[Morrisman]

Central heating is only a recent innovation for the colder climates of western nations for the high numbers of the less hardy and sickly homosapien species.
When the fuel runs out, they'll die off or kill each other through war and a stronger species will emerge.

Hell yes. Real men go out and chop a tree down to warm up in the winter.

 

[Boilerman2]

It must get very cold in the Phillippines!!

 

[Morrisman]

It must get very cold in the Philippines!!

Hell yes. Why just last month I had to get up in the middle of the night, a couple of times, to turn off the air-con.

 

[Corgigrouch]

Hell yes. Real men go out and chop a tree down to warm up in the winter.

But only with a saw or an axe.... If you are caught with one of them new fangled chain saw thingies folk will point at you and laugh calling you a homosexual.

The real problem of heating homes is the lack of insulation.... Even modern UK standards is inadequate in my opinion..