Which heaters?

[vgarcia]

Hi Guys,

As a novice I need an advice.
For a room size 4x3.7 m with no central (gas) heating what it is BETTER and CHEAPER the heaters that run as written “from 2p per minute”, or these convector Heaters (lets say of 2Kw)?

Or do you know others convenient electric heaters (e.g. these infrared heaters)?

Please keep in mind I `ve got an economy seven tariff.

Much appreciated your help

 

[Big_Spark]

Many people will recommend storage heaters, I would not, they are expensive to operate, inefficient and generally a pile of poo.

What is the room to be used for?

 

[vgarcia]

You are right. I do not want storage heaters.
It is my lounge.

 

[Big_Spark]

The problem you have is that any form of electric heating is expensive, convector heaters are a potential fire hazard and most other forms of electric heating are inefficient.

The best form are tube heaters that can be bought in various lengths, ie: 1ft, 2 ft, 3 ft, 4ft and 6ft. These are rated at 60W per foot and are remarkably efficient.

However the surface of these gets very hot, so they would need to be boxed in, with vents obviously, so they did not pose a hazard to anyone.

In the situation you are in though, this is not the best solution.

Would I be right in thinking that you are not in a position to have Gas central heating installed?

To be honest this is the best form of heating currently available outside of Iceland, however there is a hybrid method ytou can use.

Buy one or two radiators and install them into your room, connect the pipework as you would for normal central heating. These pipes will then rn back to an Immersion heater whose sole purpose is to run these radiators. A small pump would be required to be put on the system to move the water around, and the heater element could be on a programmer so that it only heats the water at night, and perhaps for an hour prior to you getting home from work.

The Immersion tank would need to have good insulation on it to minimise heat loss from the tank.

I have seen such systems installed, and they do work remarkably well, far better than any other form of heating.

 

[vgarcia]

Well,

I had today a Transco engineer at my place to get a quotation for the installation of a gas boiler. I suspect is going to be expensive. I am on a 2nd floor and the gas pipe is about 5 metres away from the block.

I thought about the hybrid system, however there a couple of points that I am not sure. First to put the pipes around (they will have to run just above the skirting boards, cause I have concrete floor), so a bit of extra work.
Second I suspect I need a fairly big Immersion tank (e.g. more than 100L). But no space to put any of these big beasts.

Moreover I have in place a heating system. I know it is old, but works fine (I have got heating elements in the ceiling).
So the heaters would work as support to this system to get something uniform, programmable and fast.

What do you think?

 

[Big_Spark]

If you are happy with what you have, and need something for immediate heating without huge cost, then I would recommend the tube heaters.

All you need to do is mount a surface spur, unless you want to chase it in, beside an existing socket, fuse it down to 3A, and connect a four foot tube heater to this with the heater mounted on the wall above the skirting.

In the room you have I would suggest three of these. Further, you could connect each one to a room stat so that it will operate automatically to keep the temperature at a set point, say 20C.

These tube heaters could then be boxed in so they are safe and are not particularly noticable.

Do not Buy the heaters from a DIY place, they will rob you. Find an electrical wholesaler near you and phone them up to check they have them in stock, if not they will ususally have them the next day.

If you buy all you parts there you will save money over the DIY chains.

 

[mildmanneredjanitor]

fwl,

i was quite intrigued by your immersion/radiator heating idea

And this got me thinking. Do you think that if you connected a radiator and pump to the coil side of an emmersion that enough heat from the water in the cylinder would be transfered???

I was thinking that, if a flat that is electric only with a hot water cylinder (coil not used) that this could be utilised in the manner you have suggested.

P.S. I should get out more!