is using only one radiator or a portable heater in the office more economical?

ibrahimovic · 03-11-2019 10:38PM #1

Not sure if this is the right place to post this.

I work at home and last year in my office was using an oil heater to heat the room up, didn't have it too high and turned it off when not needed but the bills were still pretty crazy, This year I was looking at an alternative heat source but I think the consensus is that any kind of portable heater will be pretty expensive.

Therefore I was wondering.... there is a radiator in the office that works well, would switching off all the other radiators in the apartment and only leaving this one on in the day be more economical than using the portable heater? Or would putting on the heating fto heat just one radiator be a massive waste of electricity? I am not sure how the electricity gets used so would be only guessing, does anyone know? Thanks!

coylemj · 03-11-2019 11:15PM

ibrahimovic wrote: »

... there is a radiator in the office that works well, would switching off all the other radiators in the apartment and only leaving this one on in the day be more economical than using the portable heater? Or would putting on the heating fto heat just one radiator be a massive waste of electricity? I am not sure how the electricity gets used so would be only guessing, does anyone know? Thanks!

Is the radiator in the office a storage heater? If it's not and it's just an electric heater running on the regular tariff (i.e. not on a separate meter) then it will make no difference in terms of cost whether you use it on it's own or a portable heater.

ibrahimovic · 04-11-2019 12:26PM

coylemj wrote: »

Is the radiator in the office a storage heater? If it's not and it's just an electric heater running on the regular tariff (i.e. not on a separate meter) then it will make no difference in terms of cost whether you use it on it's own or a portable heater.

Hey thanks for the reply, the office its just a normal radiator, the one that you need to bleed every so often, and theres plenty of them around the house, we have a gas bill too thats usually very small though.
So wondering if a normal radiator in the office left on but the others round the apartment switched off would be cheaper than running a portable oil heater.

MadYaker · 04-11-2019 12:29PM

Trying to heat one room in the house is pointless as the heat will leech into the other cold areas of the house. If you have gas just turn the heat on and heat the whole house, I have gas central heating and I use it all the time and the bill is always small.

04-11-2019 12:56PM

Hi OP, there are so many variables it is impossible to say for certain. You could always try the boiler for one month and measure how much oil was used. Then the following month use an electric heater and work out how much more electricity was used. Once you have completed this exercise a cost comparison table could be generated. Ideally would would factor in the weather conditions too.

Idbatterim · 04-11-2019 01:03PM

Is the room Draughty? That’s a major source of heat loss if so. Does your electric radiator have a thermostat? Lidl selling one with thermostat and remote control at the moment for e45

Electric is hundred percent efficient, costs more per kwh than gas though. Just keep the temp of the room at 17/18 ideally ...

Bruthal · 04-11-2019 02:49PM

If the one room is heated ok by a gas boiler rad with all other rads off, then that will be cheaper than either an electric heater, or having all rads on in the house, regardless of how draughty the room is.

Bruthal · 04-11-2019 02:56PM

Idbatterim wrote: »

Electric is hundred percent efficient, costs more per kwh than gas though..

If only we had to pay for the final conversion from electricity to heat, and disregard where the electricity comes from.

coylemj · 04-11-2019 03:08PM

ibrahimovic wrote: »

Hey thanks for the reply, the office its just a normal radiator, the one that you need to bleed every so often, and theres plenty of them around the house, we have a gas bill too thats usually very small though.
So wondering if a normal radiator in the office left on but the others round the apartment switched off would be cheaper than running a portable oil heater.

If it's just an apartment then you may be better off runing the gas boiler to heat the single radiator than running an electric heater.

But you could try measuring it to see how it works out. Run the gas boiler for an hour (with nobody using the cooker if the oven or the hob is gas), then check the meter and see how many units it used. The electric heater will be easy to calculate, you don't even have to switch it on, the consumption will be stated on the appliance.

Bruthal · 04-11-2019 03:21PM

If its heating a cylinder from cold as well, it will be a bit more expensive for the first hour or so, although it could be a combi boiler with no cylinder.

ibrahimovic · 04-11-2019 04:52PM

Hey thanks for the replies, theres no draught in the office at all. The radiator in the office heats the room up well so think i'll try that for 2 months and monitor the bill, my dad thinks it will be cheaper to turn off the other heaters in the day and leave the one on in the office when needed. Cheers

purifol0 · 04-11-2019 04:58PM

Is this domestic or residential? You keep mentioning office. If its an actuall office you can write the bill off as an expense. Home heating oil is a hell of a lot cheaper than electricity in Ireland - 4th most expensive electricity in the EU and quite the rip off.

Bruthal · 04-11-2019 05:56PM

ibrahimovic wrote: »

, my dad thinks it will be cheaper to turn off the other heaters in the day and leave the one on in the office when needed. Cheers

He is right, it will be

is using only one radiator or a portable heater in the office more economical?

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