Heat the whole house or just my office?

[JP_]

I am trying to work out if I should keep my central heating on during the day or just heat my office (I work from home) with a heater.

I have no idea what my daily heating bill is.

We have 6 radiators on - have already turned off lobby, front hall, WC, en suite, and office to save money. Office would have to come back on if I heated with central heating, so 7. One is very big, so probably equivalent of 8 radiators.

In the office I have put a Honeywell oil filled electric radiator (that is about 14 years old now) which has a thermostat, and is max 1500W.

I am guessing that this is cheaper than heating the whole house with central heating (boiler).

But just not sure! Has anybody actually tried calculating this themselves? Googled it, but no joy - just lots of varying opinions.

 

[big-all]

electric is 3 times the price
even allowing for inefficiency its unlikely to cost more and iff it was at the level off the electric fire the wasted energy would in fact be heating the house so a warmer house will less heating time later

in other words i expect gas to be around half the running costs and possibly the same but with far more off the house being warm

try it for a week with the boiler and a week with the electric fire and read the meter at the start and finnish off the working day
just make sure the temperature is similar outside

 

[JP_]

Reading the meter - why didn't I think of that?

(don't answer).

 

[big-all]

just be aware a 1500w can cost 20p an hour to run assuming 14p a unit so assuming an 8hr day thats £8 a week just for the one small fire
in reality it will be cutting in and out so will cost less but how much depends on the size and how draughty the room is

 

[JP_]

House is well insulated (12 years old) so that is OK.

And yeah, not going to be working at max the whole time.

Will try to test ..... comparing electric usage during day to gas should give an idea.

 

[big-all]

i would read the gas meter on the electric days as well as the electric meter on gas days to give you the base levels[the gas or electric used normally between those hours]

 

[JBR]

Or why not follow government guidelines. Turn everything off and put on a jumper.

 

[Dave54]

Or why not follow government guidelines. Turn everything off and put on a jumper.

Just like they do in government buildings. . .

 

[big-all]

Or why not follow government guidelines. Turn everything off and put on a jumper.

this government live on a different planet
on money advice services when it first started the advice was so basic and unhelpful as to be insulting
https://www.moneyadviceservice.org....ft_section=e&gclid=CJHAtO_NsLoCFWbMtAoddRIACw
it used to say if you say you dont have enough money to live on "spend less or earn more"
and save money for a rainy day and similar unhelpful carp
at least now they give people other advice like where to look to find funds they are entitled to
or cheaper loans ect

 

[foxhole]

Get a wirelss room stat for the boiler system and use it in you office , will keep heating to a minimum.