Heating a single room

[WannabeMathematician]

My son's room get cold overnight so we're thinking of getting a thermostatically controlled heater to just bump the temperature up in there and nowhere else.

However, I'm not sure which will more efficient buying a small thermostatically controlled electric heater or buying thermostatically controlled radiation valve to plug into our smart heating system.

Ignoring the hardware costs does anyone know if it's inefficient to run a boiler just for one room or not?

Is he waking up cold? If so I would layer up his bed rather than putting heating on all night.

Yes, it is (usually) inefficient use CH for one room. It’s akin to using a using lorry to pop to the shop for a pint of milk.

Plus, you wouldn’t need one radiator valve, you would need to fit them to all your radiators.

A thermostatically controlled electric heater would cost you less for the hardware and energy overall.

Depends on a lot of things what is the most suitable, like whether we are talking about an adult or teenager or baby.

If it's an adult or older child then I find it a bit surprising that you can't just make sure their room is warm (maybe set the valve on max) before they go to sleep. My living room loses about 3 degrees C in one night, so if your room was at say 20 before they went to bed then it would be at 17 in the morning when the CH comes on again - not too bad really. So long as you had covers I think most people or older children would be fine.

Sorry, it’s for a toddler! He’s waking up cold at 3-4am.

Does he have a winter duvet and warm socks on? Also, sounds daft, but is he getting a filling supper (eg porridge) before bed? If not, hunger may be waking him causing him to then notice the cold.

What temperature is his room overnight?

We always use them at night. Infact, my DCs have never known a time when they have not had it. I spent an entire childhood almost freezing to death so I wanted to do things differently for DCs. In the process, I realised that it was also hugely comforting to me as an adult so I will continue choosing to have a cold house in the daytime and a warm house during the night.

Oil filled radiators are very good - could you try one on a timer set to come on at 2am and go off about 5am?

We used an oil filled radiator heater for this.
Quiet, cheap to run and steady heat.

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz he ate a whole plate of pasta bolognaise last night and was still up at 4. He’s a good eater, touch wood. Yes to socks and winter duvet but he likes to throw the duvet off. He hated the sleeping bag and would fight us getting when getting into it.

his room was 16 degrees when he woke up this morning.