Wifi/App Thermostat plug?

[Hudson1984]

Hi all,

so, the garage has started getting colder now. So i'm thinking of heating sources.

I haven't yet completed the insulation as it's a month or two before the sparky is booked to wired the place out so until he's sorted I can't really crack on.

The garage is 9m x 3m however I have put a partition up creating a 6m x 3m space and a 3m x 3m space. I will more than likely put a door between the two as I've no plans to heat the 3x3 area.

With the 6x3 however, this is my man cave so I want it comfortable - I don't intend to be out here in my underwear though!

I wondered if anyone knows of a plug that I could use to control the heating? What i'm after is a thermostat plug i.e. I want it to monitor the room temp, then if told, turn the heater on which is simply a wheeled plug in heater

Ideally I'd like this controlled via an app - so I can watch TV in the lounge and if I think "might go play darts a bit later" I can just flick the heater on for an hour or two and bring the temperature up.

any suggestions?

if not something like this:
https://www.mylek.co.uk/mylek-app-controlled-smart-electric-panel-heater-15kw

it's just I have a 3kw oil filled heater which is a lot cheaper to run

 

[winston1]

Why do you think a 3kW heater is a lot cheaper to run than a 2kW max one?

 

[Hudson1984]

oil vs electric really - with an oil filled heater the oil retains the heat without the need of continuous power - an electric heater requires continuous power in order to maintain output, so running costs are generally higher.

Unless I've misunderstood

 

[Mottie]

I use a couple of these in my workshop to turn heaters on when I am on my way to work on cold day’s. One to control a 2kw oil filled rad and one to control a 3Kw one. Mixed reviews on this site but mine have been working fine for the last two winters.
https://www.diy.com/departments/g-homa-plug-through-socket-adaptor/1345782_BQ.prd

 

[stem]

Unless I've misunderstood

You have. An oil radiator takes longer to warm up when it's first switched on and that's what you get back at the end.

With standard electric heaters (oil or convector) all are 100% efficient, in that 100% of the electricity you put into them comes out as heat. A 3kW heater will use more electricity than a 2kW heater, but will give out correspondingly more heat. So, when it comes to heating a room the thermostat will turn off a 3kW heater so no energy will be used, whilst a 2kW would keep going for longer to catch up.

 

[Hudson1984]

You have. An oil radiator takes longer to warm up when it's first switched on and that's what you get back at the end.

With standard electric heaters (oil or convector) all are 100% efficient, in that 100% of the electricity you put into them comes out as heat. A 3kW heater will use more electricity than a 2kW heater, but will give out correspondingly more heat. So, when it comes to heating a room the thermostat will turn off a 3kW heater so no energy will be used, whilst a 2kW would keep going for longer before it catches up and the thermostat turns it off.

ok dokie happy to be wrong - especially if it saves me money!

ok, so would you suggest, in terms of running costs, the heater I linked above, would be better to use, than my oil heater?

 

[stem]

For heat output and running cost they are all the same, a 2kW oil filled heater running for an hour will use the same amount of electricity and emit the same heat as a 2kW convector left on for an hour.

Convector heaters do tend to dry the air more than an oil filled radiator, because the air comes directly into contact with the heating elements, rather than via a medium such as oil. And, as you have figured oil radiators heat up slowly and cool down slowly, and convectors warm up faster, but also go cold as soon as they are switched off.

 

[ericmark]

Any off/on thermostat will produce a hysteresis, the closer the heat source is to what is required the lower the hysteresis.

The closer the thermostat is to the source the faster it will act to an extent also of course depends on thermals but a thermostat but into the heat sources work well, be it direct electric or water or oil there are special thermostats which can reduce the hysteresis but not normally used with direct electric heaters.

The more a set of contacts open/close the shorter their life, so unless using solid state switching then size matters as the small the heater the less hysteresis.

Because heat lost is a logarithmic curve reducing hysteresis reduces energy loss.

So two heaters is likely best, a large heater to raise the temperature fast, and a small one to maintain it, so 2 kW fan heater and 0.750 kW oil heater will give fast warm up, and then low hysteresis maintaining the temperature. And both cases thermostat built into the unit. Other option for fast warm up is infrared heaters.

 

[boringoldcodger]

Deleted, as no longer relevant.

 

[Taylortwocities]

Amazon have a deal on their SmartPlugs. Normal price £25. Offer price £9.99!

Controlled by Alexa, you may need to be aa Amazon Prime customer. Oh, and limited to one per customer...


edit. Shouldn’t it be Smart SOCKET???

 

[funkydiver]

Man cave... Gotta be a wood stove