Heating a very large room in a shared house

p.pete

I've just moved into a shared house and my room is massive - floor space is reasonable but the ceiling is ridiculously high (possibly 16foot). I'm not in a position to alter the heating of the house and it's quite an old one. There is one small sized radiator in the room, the opposite side to where the windows are. The windows are quite large also!

I'm planning on buying thermal lining for the curtains. The amount of time that my inadequate radiator will be on will be dictated by the house as a whole - I'm guessing it's likely to be on a lot in the winter but I don't know yet, I've certainly been warned the heating bills are a lot more in the winter. I'm guessing this may be due to people plugging in their electric heaters - the previous occupier of my room left the box for their heater behind

I've been told by a housemate that I have indeed got a very cold room, so I'm wondering what else can be done. I have £25 worth of vouchers on amazon(uk) that I'm looking to use - in terms of additional heating, given it's a shared house I think my only option will be heaters that I plug in ( http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/search/ref=sr_nr_i_0?rh=k%3Aheaters+electric%2Ci%3Akitchen&keywords=heaters+electric&ie=UTF8&qid=1282902569 ). Suggestions or recommendations recommended! Also the carpet is quite thin, not sure if that makes a difference - but have already managed to cover most of the room in large rugs.

yoshytoshy

If I was in your position ,I'd buy a timer and an oil heater/radiator. Time it to come on around the times you're there ,it should take the cold out of the room.

Your also guarnteed it won't be left on by mistake.

Joey the lips

large rooms are very hard to heat and this is no exception. Your best bet would be a blow heater to try heat the air but tbh they are quite dangerous so i would go with the suggestion above and buy an oil heater.

bear in mind those you are shareing with will no doubt complain because of the rise in the electricity bill.. if so tell them to swop rooms with you...

danjo

Read somewhere on this forum that placing a radiator on the opposite wall to a window is the worst possible place as it causes draughts. Under the window or an adjacent wall seems to be best. I would go with the oil radiator as suggested above but place it close to the window. They also retain the heat for a period after switch off.
If it is an old house make sure the wiring/socket is adequate for the radiator you select.

yoshytoshy

Just looking for stuff on argos and spotted this and this
Obviously don't know if they're good or not ,but for less than €20 you can't go far wrong.

danjo

yoshytoshy wrote: »

Just looking for stuff on argos and spotted this and this
Obviously don't know if they're good or not ,but for less than €20 you can't go far wrong.

Those prices are incredibly low. Should be in bargain alerts forum.

JuliusCaesar

Hi ppete! I had this problem some years ago. I take it that it's an old house and not double-glazed. This I found really useful. (You might pass it on to your landlord!)

Table 5, page 12 "The effect of the various options on reduction in heat loss through single glazing, the estimated U-values and measured average surface temperatures" lays out the option neatly.