What's more economic, heating-wise?

-Kosh-

Hi everyone. What with the winter all up ons, my girlfriend and I were wondering what was the most economic way of heating our room. We have basically two options.

We have one wall-mounted electric heater in the room (came with the house), I have no idea if it runs on oil or not. Anyway, there's no thermostat, so we just set the timer. We're thinking of using instead an electric blanket. Argos has some nice ones with timers and crap. I am basically wondering what would be the best way to provide heat. The room is quite tiny, so it heats up relatively fast (except the window isn't properly isolated so, you know, some heat inevitably escapes).

In short: what consumes more electricity ,a wall mounted electric heater or an electric blanket? Thanks for your help!

Red Alert

Depends on a lot of things:

* Heater power (usually in W or kW)
* How long the heater actually spends 'on' (timer and thermostat are both on)
* Your own usage patterns - you will use an electric blanket and room heater differently

What sort of heater is it? When you say oil, it's not a central heating radiator is it?

gerryo

-Kosh- wrote:

In short: what consumes more electricity ,a wall mounted electric heater or an electric blanket? Thanks for your help!

Very general reply!

- electric blankets are usually less that 100 watts (= 0.1 units)
- electric heaters , 500 Watts or more likely 1 to 2 Kwatts (=0.5,1 or 2 units).

More units = more cost, however depends on whether device has a thermostat, i.e, is not always on (consuming power) or whether it uses night saver rate (= lower cost, but only at specific times).

Electric blankets are designed to warm beds, so won't heat a room.

Electric heaters can be oil filled (look like an old fashioned radiator), direct radiator (storage heater on wall) or convectors (fan heaters).

If the window is not at least double glazed, & it's 50% size of the outside wall = big heat loss. Try to get this sorted.

-Kosh-

Thanks for your replies, here's as much clarification as I can give.

-Windows don't seem to be double-glazed. They're very old, we live in one of the oldest buildings in Dublin that are still standing. All the other windows in the building are the same so I doubt the landlord would change them.

-The heaters, as I said, have no thermostat. They are large, thick-ish panels stuck on the wall (they came with the flat), and they have these large vents through which heat comes out. The timer in the bedroom allows for the heater to be on at a minimum of 15-minute units. On an average night, we have the heater on for five or so of these units, which means over a full hour of full-strength heating. I have no idea about the watt output, as I have no manuals for the heaters nor is it indicated anywhere in their body.

In short, from what you guys tell me it seems as if we'd have at least some savings with a blanket. We could at least halve the usage of the radiator in the room, I'd say. What do you think?

spank_inferno

It sounds like you have a storage heater on your walls.

they were ok back in the 80's when electricuty was cheap, but they are a huge waste of money now cos they consume a lot.

I live in an old house too so to avoid these costs I use oil heaters I go from Argos, I recomment the Delonghi "Dragon" 2kw. Great heat output and distribution, and running costs are quite low, has thermostat and timer too. Cost around €160 at the time.

-Kosh-

****, don't say that...

Our flat is really tiny so I'm afraid we can't afford the extra room a heater would take up! One of the heaters was installed recently, as the old one wasn't working. The one in the bedroom does look very old. At least we don't have a gas bill I guess. I'll just have to tell my girlfriend we'll need to not use them more than necessary. Hopefully with an electric blanket we'll cut down on the usage of the bedroom one, and we'll just have to wear warm clothes indoors

peepsbates

i agree with spank the heat outa them is great and you can move them from room to room as needed

maireadmarie

In really cold weather could you consider sleeping in the living-room? Buy an extra duvet for over you and one to sleep on as well? The first suggestion is advice given to old people when temperatures drop. The second would allow you to keep one room really warm all the time!