Heating The House

[newdud]

From time to time I work at home hence during the winter months hence the house needs to be heated.
Normally during the daytime, the heating is set to around 15C.

I have a small office downstairs, my question is is it better to just heat that small room with an electric heater or turn the CH on and turn off all the rads upstairs and heat just the downstairs albeit at a lower temp then normal, say around 17C

I am thinking of the fact that since the house has been heated hence when everybody comes home in the afternoon the energy
needed to heat the whole house to the desired temp is less than it would be otherwise.

I am aware that we are only talking about a few £ here in saving, if any

[Rorschach]

If you heat the whole house it will be quicker to heat later in the day, but you will also be losing heat all day. If you are only working in your office then use a small electric heater in there and wear some warm clothes, drink hot drinks etc.

A warm hat will make a big difference, fingerless gloves can be worn while using a computer, a nice warm jumper, fleece etc. Put your hot drink in an insulated mug so you can sip it over a long period and have a hot lunch. Do these things and you might not need any heating at all.

[dewaltdisney]

Christ, I doubt the heating ever gets going with such a low cut off temperature. in my house the standby temperature setting is 21 degrees and we up it to 22/23 for comfort when needed. our heat is on 24/7 and as the house is well insulated it really does not take much to top up the heat. Our gas is £58 a month.

While I accept this will not work for everyone quick space heating is best achieved with a fan heater. the air is warmed rather than the structure but my belief is to keep the house fabric warm all the time so in the long run you use less fuel.

DWD

[Rorschach]

Keeping the house warm all the time will use more fuel, it's simple physics. Heat is lost until the house reaches thermal equilibrium with the outside, keeping the house warm doesn't stop this, you are just pumping heat outside all day.

As for thermostat, it depends what you prefer really. During the day our heating is not on, we keep the thermostat set to 14C as I don't really want it getting any colder than that, the heating never comes on during the day unless things are really bad outside.
In the evening we turn it up to 17C for a couple of hours then back off before going to bed. It works for us. We do run a dehumidifier though since at those temps condensation can be a problem. Your location will obviously affect these things though, we live in Devon, it rarely gets near freezing outside.

[dewaltdisney]

Horses for courses I guess R. We like to be warm and comfortable and what we pay is far from exorbitant. It might be different if we had oil.

DWD

[boxedin]

17.1C in a 2 bed flat economy 7, external temp about 6c but feels colder because of high wind, internal humidity 51% external humidity 75%. comfortable with that.

To top up a convector heater 2kw cheapo got it for £7.50 delivered from cpc on offer works great, about £14 now, heats up a room quickly provided door shut, fan heaters are noisier although you know when they are on, only need it on lowest to raise temperature to 22c in a small study room about 15p an hour perhaps less, to run during the day

http://cpc.farnell.com/search?st=convector%20heater
http://cpc.farnell.com/search?st=fan%20heater

[Rorschach]

Horses for courses I guess R. We like to be warm and comfortable and what we pay is far from exorbitant. It might be different if we had oil.

DWD

Sorry I am not disputing your choice of temp, if you like it that warm and are happy to pay for that then you go for it. Just pointing out that keeping it warm all day whether you are home or not is not cheaper or more efficient, but certainly is more comfortable.

[big-all]

gas about 4p per kwh off heat after losses
electric about 12p per kwh
so you can heat up around 3 times the area for the same money
so iff you have a quite draughty house and the room you want to heat is a relatively small room and closed in i would say electric fan heater may be cheaper
iff you go the shutting off unused radiators route gas will probably be cheaper
if non to some turned down it may get a bit closer