[Misc] Best Heater Option

[Superphil]

Why would I post it as a joke? What a weird idea.

I was asking if anybody had actually tried one, and was it any good. Seems like a very straightforward question to me ......... and yes, I do know what to do with emails from Nigerian princes, but adverts are adverts; they may be good, they may be bullshit - that's why it's sensible to see if anybody can give you a steer based on their actual experience.

So have you, or anyone you know, got any first hand information about these gadgets?

I often run these things through https://uk.trustpilot.com/ and often, especially if they were ones you saw on social media, the reviews are shocking.

 

[Bold Seagull]

That's remarkable if all correct.

We took the plunge and gave the central hearing a first run out this week. A 45-minute blast used about 15kWh, but only made a difference of about one degree according to the Hive thermostat.

Whilst the central heating will be warming the entire house and an electric heater just the one room, generally we're only using a couple of rooms in the house at any one time so it sounds like we'd get a lot more heat for less money by using a couple of these electric heaters. 10 degrees in 15-30 minutes is incredible!

We went Tado because at the time they were the only ones doing connected TRVs. I note Hive are now doing them.

The great thing about this is you can effectively programme every radiator in the house so that you can use them individually. I have been able to programme my son's to his college timetable, have just 1 on during the day if I am in the bedroom/office, and basically treat radiators as individual heaters rather than rely on a centrally position stat. As an example, the landing stat can read say 18 deg. but I'll set our bedroom for a brisk 16 deg, and the kids at 17 deg. After 08.30 when off to school, these all go off and I have my office set to about 16 - 17 degs which I am fine with.

You can get programmable TRVs now for as little as £15. Typically, as long as your radiator already has a standard TRV valve, you just replace the valve body so no plumbing is required, you just unscrew the body and replace. Might be worth thinking about in the situation you're describing where you are only using one or two rooms.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Who needs biased reviews when you have NSC...?

So...

It's coming to that time when heating needs to go on and we all know what that means this year.

I need a stand alone heater for long periods of use (I work from home) that will heat up a room well and is as economical as the current climate allows.

The room is about 17ft x 13ft

I've put it here as a lot of folk will have been making this consideration and I won't have to read biased reviews.

Could I have your suggestion ? Much appreciated.

If you are sitting at a desk using a laptop or pc, get a hot water bottle and a blanket. Fold the blanket in half, place the hot water bottle in between the folds and put the blanket on your lap.

It is cheaper to warm the person, rather than the room.

 

[Bozza]

We went Tado because at the time they were the only ones doing connected TRVs. I note Hive are now doing them.

The great thing about this is you can effectively programme every radiator in the house so that you can use them individually. I have been able to programme my son's to his college timetable, have just 1 on during the day if I am in the bedroom/office, and basically treat radiators as individual heaters rather than rely on a centrally position stat. As an example, the landing stat can read say 18 deg. but I'll set our bedroom for a brisk 16 deg, and the kids at 17 deg. After 08.30 when off to school, these all go off and I have my office set to about 16 - 17 degs which I am fine with.

You can get programmable TRVs now for as little as £15. Typically, as long as your radiator already has a standard TRV valve, you just replace the valve body so no plumbing is required, you just unscrew the body and replace. Might be worth thinking about in the situation you're describing where you are only using one or two rooms.

Thanks - I've been mulling smart TRVs for a while, but I think I've been sceptical about the potential savings given the relatively high initial outlay.

(I appreciate I'm going to sound a bit dim on this, but it's something I've given no thought to at all before prices shot up this year)

I guess it comes down to how much heat the water loses being pumped around the house and how hard the boiler has to work to get it back up to temperature to send it back round again? So, the fewer radiators the water has to work through, the less heat that is lost and the less gas burned heating that same water back up again?

Does it really make that much difference to water heat loss / boiler workrate by taking rads out of the loop?

I guess I'd not need to buy upgraded TRVs for all rooms in the house. For example, when the heating is on, I'll always want to heat the lounge diner (2 rads), so I'd not need to spend anything extra on those. My son's room does get very hot, so a smart TRV there could help in taking that out of the loop when his room is toasty and my daughter's room is essentially the laundry drying room, as she's at university, so that could be turned off when there's no clothes to dry.

 

[McTavish]

There was a good programme on radio 4 which investigated a load of different ways of heating rooms (including the "miracle" ceramic heaters).The conclusion was that oil-filled heaters were usually, but not always, the best bet.

Sliced Bread - Portable Heaters - BBC Sounds

Which portable heater is best for heating you – and the room you’re in?

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[CheeseRolls]

Thanks - I've been mulling smart TRVs for a while, but I think I've been sceptical about the potential savings given the relatively high initial outlay.

(I appreciate I'm going to sound a bit dim on this, but it's something I've given no thought to at all before prices shot up this year)

I guess it comes down to how much heat the water loses being pumped around the house and how hard the boiler has to work to get it back up to temperature to send it back round again? So, the fewer radiators the water has to work through, the less heat that is lost and the less gas burned heating that same water back up again?

Does it really make that much difference to water heat loss / boiler workrate by taking rads out of the loop?

I guess I'd not need to buy upgraded TRVs for all rooms in the house. For example, when the heating is on, I'll always want to heat the lounge diner (2 rads), so I'd not need to spend anything extra on those. My son's room does get very hot, so a smart TRV there could help in taking that out of the loop when his room is toasty and my daughter's room is essentially the laundry drying room, as she's at university, so that could be turned off when there's no clothes to dry.

You can get some really strange results, if you don't use TRVs everywhere, with a smart controller controlling the boiler. This way madness lies.

 

[Bozza]

You can get some really strange results, if you don't use TRVs everywhere, with a smart controller controlling the boiler. This way madness lies.

We've got TRVs on all the radiators, not smart ones though.

Edit: ...and a Hive thermostat/app controller thing.

 

[Curious Orange]

Thanks - I've been mulling smart TRVs for a while, but I think I've been sceptical about the potential savings given the relatively high initial outlay.

(I appreciate I'm going to sound a bit dim on this, but it's something I've given no thought to at all before prices shot up this year)

I guess it comes down to how much heat the water loses being pumped around the house and how hard the boiler has to work to get it back up to temperature to send it back round again? So, the fewer radiators the water has to work through, the less heat that is lost and the less gas burned heating that same water back up again?

Does it really make that much difference to water heat loss / boiler workrate by taking rads out of the loop?

I guess I'd not need to buy upgraded TRVs for all rooms in the house. For example, when the heating is on, I'll always want to heat the lounge diner (2 rads), so I'd not need to spend anything extra on those. My son's room does get very hot, so a smart TRV there could help in taking that out of the loop when his room is toasty and my daughter's room is essentially the laundry drying room, as she's at university, so that could be turned off when there's no clothes to dry.

Check out the videos on the Heat Geek YouTube channel. The answer, as usual, is it depends.

 

[Bodian]

If you are sitting at a desk using a laptop or pc, get a hot water bottle and a blanket. Fold the blanket in half, place the hot water bottle in between the folds and put the blanket on your lap.

It is cheaper to warm the person, rather than the room.

And the advantage of this over the cat (who essentially does the same job) is that the hot water bottle doesn't wriggle - or jump upon to your keyboard and create mistakes and er ojonbrycbie iiruiruhbhfbj jkvrvuyugciucymspw,;;[;2229ji 41\\dclmcl ojiruirrefnf rors

 

[Thunder Bolt]

And the advantage of this over the cat (who essentially does the same job) is that the hot water bottle doesn't wriggle - or jump upon to your keyboard and create mistakes and er ojonbrycbie iiruiruhbhfbj jkvrvuyugciucymspw,;;[;2229ji 41\\dclmcl ojiruirrefnf rors

True. The last time Tigger put his paws on the keyboard, I lost my toolbar, and the screen turned upside down.

 

[Live by the sea]

Any recommendations for household products , I use which . Only a few pounds for a yearly subscription. You do it online and you have instant access to thousands of independently reviewed products .

You also get a which magazine each month .

Which has been my go to for several years and their recommendations have always been spot on .

 

[zefarelly]

I picked up a 2kw site heater from screwfix last winter £40 the absolute nuts keeps me toasty warm on cold sites. Indoors a quick blast quickly heats up a room

I have one in my workshop, toasts up a double garage in15 minutes

 

[Bozza]

Check out the videos on the Heat Geek YouTube channel. The answer, as usual, is it depends.

Thanks.

Broad advice from watching was if you have a condensing boiler (we do) was turning radiators off can reduce the efficiency of the boiler as it wants water to return cooler rather than hotter.

But this has sent me down a rabbit hole about heating generally, which has taught me that Hive (and most similar) thermostats are a bit rubbish as they don't control the boiler in the best way. By all accounts a boiler and thermostat that can talk compensation control language to each other is best rather than just turning the boiler on or off.

More information than anyone could possibly need here - https://www.theheatinghub.co.uk/

 

[Bold Seagull]

Thanks.

Broad advice from watching was if you have a condensing boiler (we do) was turning radiators off can reduce the efficiency of the boiler as it wants water to return cooler rather than hotter.

But this has sent me down a rabbit hole about heating generally, which has taught me that Hive (and most similar) thermostats are a bit rubbish as they don't control the boiler in the best way. By all accounts a boiler and thermostat that can talk compensation control language to each other is best rather than just turning the boiler on or off.

More information than anyone could possibly need here - https://www.theheatinghub.co.uk/

The thing is this is your heating system running at full capacity because the entire heating loop is balanced for that to be all on. If however you're only using 2 rads, even though the flow return temp might be quite high, the power needed from the boiler is much less because much less heat has been lost. Okay, so your flow and return temps are closer, the boiler is less efficient, but crucially it's needing to do much less anyway.

So, my take on this is yes, ideally a balanced system has a flow return drop in system across it so that your furthest radiator is still getting hot. So if you set it to say 65 deg it should return at 45-50 deg - and the condensing part of the boiler works.

Many of the smart TRVs can help balance the system because they can regulate the flow through the TRV valve rather than it being done on the lockshield side. Drayton do a whole set of TRVs where the lockshield is left fully open and all the balancing is done by the TRVs. What I've noticed is that if I am using just 2 rads, the Tado TRVs slow the flow that there is still a drop in temperature even though a fraction of the heating loop is being used. This puts far less demand on the boiler anyway.

I do have an infra red temperature sensor so I am going to check my flow and return temps when say using just a couple of rads, and then when the entire system is on to see what I am getting.

 

[Papak]

Thanks - I've been mulling smart TRVs for a while, but I think I've been sceptical about the potential savings given the relatively high initial outlay.

(I appreciate I'm going to sound a bit dim on this, but it's something I've given no thought to at all before prices shot up this year)

I guess it comes down to how much heat the water loses being pumped around the house and how hard the boiler has to work to get it back up to temperature to send it back round again? So, the fewer radiators the water has to work through, the less heat that is lost and the less gas burned heating that same water back up again?

Does it really make that much difference to water heat loss / boiler workrate by taking rads out of the loop?

I guess I'd not need to buy upgraded TRVs for all rooms in the house. For example, when the heating is on, I'll always want to heat the lounge diner (2 rads), so I'd not need to spend anything extra on those. My son's room does get very hot, so a smart TRV there could help in taking that out of the loop when his room is toasty and my daughter's room is essentially the laundry drying room, as she's at university, so that could be turned off when there's no clothes to dry.

Unheated rooms will also act as a heatsink for the rooms trying to maintain the required temperature.

Heating is essentially all about replacing losses.