Newhouse Farm

[columbusrat]

It may not be possible to give a defiitive answer to this but some guesstimates would be appreciated...

I'll soon need to put the heating on during the day as I work from home sitting down. It's 15.8c in here at the moment and I'm resisting the temptation.

Assuming the heating will have to go on in the evening fairly soon, would it be cheaper/greener to have an electric fire just in this one room during the day and then have the central heating on in the evening, or to have the central heating ticking over all day because a) it's more efficient and b) the rest of the house will then take less warming up in the evening?
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'With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams; it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful.'

[happymama]

i'm guessing there will be some heatlosses during the day - people going in and out of the house, that sort of thing, as well as the normal stuff through walls, windows and roofs.

I would not run the whole house all day, but I don't see the need for it upstairs anyway and would have the rads off up there permanently. There is still some heat circulated because the pipes under still get hot, but not as hot, because of heat transference.

I'd have a small heater to heat the room you're in, only when you're there, and then turn it off about an hour before you put the central heating on. 16 Deg is quite cool for sitting down, unless you're used to it.

I manage a whole house on 1kW of gas fire, really. It sits at somewhere between 16 and 18 in here, a bit warmer upstairs in the kid's rooms but 13 at night in mine in the depths of winter, and we're absolutely fine.
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People will continue to commit atrocities, as long as they believe in absurbities. (Voltaire)

[columbusrat]

[Billy Rhomboid]

As an option to an electric fire you could just burn money in wads and warm yourself over it.
The ideal solution to your situation would be to upgrade your heating controls to allow time and temperature zone control. Define the rooms that are more permanently occupied - such as the boys bedrooms and your work room - as one zone, the remainder of the downstairs as a second zone and the remainder of upstairs as a third zone.

The cost of installing would not be particularly high - and Mr Ratty may well be able to do it himself - and this would massively improve the efficiency of your heating system, enabling you to have comfort warmth when and where you want without wasting loads of money and energy heating unoccupied areas or time running a round turning individual rads on and off.

Zone control is one of the most sensible measures one can take to improve the energy efficiency of a central heating system.
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Carpe Cerevisi

[Brumbie59]

I'm in a similar situation and yes the sedentry nature of work doesn't help. (note to self; get an active job out of doors).

Thermostatic valves on the rad's would be a help.

During the day in Autumn and winter I just sit at the desk in a sleeping bag, but then I am from Yorkshire with all regional traits in tact

[danksshady]

we turn of individual radiators - only leave on front room,and hallway which heats rest of the house fine
upstairs rads havent been on for years no idea if they even work
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mum to 6 - trying to be greener in our own way

[columbusrat]

[Billy Rhomboid]

Almost inevitably the pipes will not all be ideally positioned Ratty. Some degree of plumbing will be required, but the cost of this would be minor in comparison to the efficiency gain, and recouped within at a guess 2 years in heating cost savings. It is not a matter of laying whole new pipe runs rather a few more junctions.
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Carpe Cerevisi

[Ecocentric]

Le Rhomboid speaks sense, particularly if linked to programmable thermostats for each zone. these are a lot easier to incorporate these days as there are wireless versions that don't need complicated wiring runs. However, if hard wired one are feasible go for them as there is less to go wrong.

Do you work at a desk or roam from chair to sofa? If the former, an option I deployed some years ago when spending long but irregular hours on a desktop pooter (and that was before I discovered t'interweb or, worse still, forums.... ) was an oil filled, thermostastically controlled radiater under the desk rigged to a timer switch (mechanical not digital) withonly off settings at 1200, 1700 and 2000. if I felt cold I could flip the override switch to activate the heat but in case I forgot to turn it off (90% of the time) the timer would click off at the end of each "session. I accept this will not solve the teenogre problem but some mysteries are meant to be insoluble....
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200 yr old farmhouse and land - a few hundred £k. Livestock, more buildings and kit - a few more £k. Greener business and lifestyle - ***king priceless.!!

[columbusrat]

I think I'll press Mr Ratty a bit harder when he's not preoccupied with his gammy knee... though knowing this house some vital bit of plumbing will be under the solid floor, or tiles, or under carpets which once lifted will never lie flat again....

If all else fails I'll threaten to call the plumber
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'With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams; it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful.'

[justme]

Retro fitting zones can be a big problem especially if you want rooms on the same pipe leg to be on dif zones.

I would fit 2 port valves on each rad & then either run wires to a central point & controller to control each rad individually or in groups/zones or if cable runs are not an option fit a local time switch or room sensor to control each rad.

Justme

[jives11]

http://www.house-intelligence.co.uk/department/househeat_products/

Not had any experience but appears to provide a means of zonal heating using wireless motorise TRVs with a central controller
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http://mr-ives.blogspot.com/

[Mike&Penny]

This might be a special case where electricity not horribly wasteful.

Columbusrat, you said that you worked sedentary in this study? Worked seated at a desk or the like? In other words, at a more or less fixed location?

In that case you might not have to heat the room, just the vicinity of where you were working. An electric air heater can't do that but an "infra-red" heater can. Our perception of comfort with regard to temperature has little to do with the ambient air temperature and a lot to do with whether we are receiving back all but 300 w if active or 100 w if very sedentary of the heat we are radiating away. Radiant heat can be focused to a particular location, in this case the few feet surrounding the position of a chair at a desk.
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There is no possibility of social justice on a dead planet except the equality of the grave.

[columbusrat]

Jives11, that looks very interesting - thanks.

M&P, yes it's sedentary as in a chair and laptray - which works better for my back than chair and desk - so I would only need to heat the area directly round me.
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'With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams; it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful.'

[greentwinsmummy]

what about sitting on an electric blanket?
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