Cheaper ways to keep a home warm this winter

[Griselinia]

Currently on oil, prices of which are already crazy.
Looking for ideas for safe, effective cheaper ways to heat the house this winter.
DH wants oil heaters in every room. I'm concerned about the smell and the DC burning themselves on them.
Infra red panels? Splash out on a Dyson? Get over my fear of electric blankets?

Mould is a symptom of inadequate ventilation, need open trickle vents or crack windows open for an hour or so.

Things that have made a difference for us:

another vote for oodie style things. Ours are kuddly brand, they are going into their fourth winter and still look good as new despite extensive wearing and washing. We got 2 for £50 and they have more than paid for themselves.

Last year we bought heated throws for the sofas. Means that we can have central heating on for shorter durations, and often on lower when we do use it. We got ours in costco, and they were an exceptionally good buy on the black friday offers.

brushed cotton sheets on the bed and lots of thin sheet / blanket layers to trap the heat rather than just one thick layer. Hot water bottles put in to bed at least 30 mins before bedtime - wrap your pjs around them so that you are warm getting into bed.

candles and battery operated lights create an ambience that makes a room look warm and cosy.

Draw curtains as sun starts to set to keep ambient heat in room.

Leave the oven door open after cooking so that heat can escape into the house.

lots of hot drinks. On days when I'm home for the day, I fill and boil the kettle and transfer the spare hot water to a flask so I don't have to keep reboiling the kettle throughout the day.

decent slippers / slipper sock to prevent heat loss through feet.

A hot element with all meals (e.g. instead of just a sandwich at lunch, I'll have some soup too).

the back of our house (where our dining room is) is south facing, whilst the living room is north facing. In winter, the back of the house is noticabley warmer than the front as it gets more sun. We have set our dining room up with a sitting area so we can make use of the ambient warmth in there

An electric air conditioner that heats cheaply is a reversible air-to-air heat pump (such as a wall-mounted split system) rather than a standard portable unit with a basic heating element.
Why Heat Pump Air Conditioners Heat Cheaply
High Efficiency (COP of 3.5 to 4): Instead of generating heat directly from electricity (which is 100% efficient at best), a heat pump moves heat from the outside air into your room. For every 1 unit of electricity you use, it delivers roughly 3.5 to 4 units of heat.
Zoned Heating: You can heat just the room you are using rather than firing up a whole-house gas or electric boiler.
Inverter Technology: Modern units scale compressor output up or down automatically to maintain temperature without wasting power.

This above was explained to me the other day - id always presumed zircon units weren't good at heating and didn't realise they actually work very efficiently. With the advantage of having an zircon until in the summer.

You can purchase them for around £700, then obviously installation costs as they have to fit on the wall - due to the nature of them taking air from outside.

If its 3.5 x as efficient than other electric units then it will be a lot cheaper to run

I am not sure how hot water bottles help- for me they seem to go horrible and cold quite quickly … can someone enlighten me ?
id love it if it helped .

Use them to pre-warm the bed for half an hour before you get in. Then take them out when you go to bed.

You stick them under a blanket or hoodie. It heats a limited area that stays warm, then the hot water botter stays warm because the air around it is warm.

I have a long one for bed.

Although tbf I do boil the water that goes into mine.

I’ve recently bought a heated blanket I adore it.

i also have a log burner, if you can afford to get one installed look into it, I search marketplace for free wood and 5 years later I’ve yet to pay for any. When it gets really cool I’ll buy some smokeless.

me and the kiddos have oil radiators in our bedrooms.

I never put the heating on, ever. My gas bill last month for a 6 bedroom house was £12.30. Electricity £85.

my house is over 100 years old and huge, the central heating has to work too hard and costs a fortune

Oh yes Teddy bedding from Dunelm is a game changer too

Yes. I have one.

I think there's nit a simple answer to 'what is best' as it depends what you are trying to achieve.

All electric heating uses the same per KWh so if it's a 2kw fan heater or 2kw oil filled radiator, it costs the same to run for an hour.

I think you are on a false economy. Filled the tank but use it sparingly. If you need geat in all rooms, oil central heating is still your cheapest option.

If you have three 2kw oil radiators running for two hours and assume 28p for your standard electric, that's £1.68.

If you say work from home and are just in one room then electric options make more sense.

Here is where i think infrared is a good option but again depends on your space.

I work in our back extension which is three outside walls, windows, door and rooflight.
An oil filled radiator can get it warmest but costly to run and loses heat the second you open back door. Fan heater great for an instant boost but list even quicker.

Infrared heats the objects rather than the air so is retained better but takes longer to warm room up. I have a 600w wall mounted panel. It's good but was put in before I used the room as an office so not in optimal place. Ideally you need to be in front of them.

I've just ordered a small 170w panel which I intend to mount behind my desk do it is better directed at me.

I do also agree that heated throws are excellent.

Don't neglect things like heavy curtains, door curtains etc to retain heat.

Hot water usage, if it has to run a long way to your bathroom, keeping an insulated container of hot water for basic hand washing is better than running a tap for a long time.

Electric hot water bottles are good. Stay warm ages under a bed cover.

I have put silver foil behind radiators that are against outside walls. It makes a difference

We have oil filled radiators and they don’t smell

We also only heat the room we are in. And use hive and put the thermostat in the room we are in.

water bottles and blankets for bed. Jumpers socks and warm clothes. Looking into a heated blanket for WFH

I spend as much time as possible in bed to keep warm. Have a heated underblanket as well as thick throws.
I wear TurtleDove wrist warmers all the time, and a thick gilet or Oodie type thing round the house. Heavy thermal curtain behind front door.

Unfortunately spending lots of time in bed isn’t an option! Probably bad for you anyway! How do you get chores etc done?

Staying in bed with an underblanket works, but if you have to move around for chores or work, a wearable heated poncho/throw (around 80W-120W) is a lifesaver. It costs around 2p–3p an hour compared to a 2kW heater which is over 50p/hr. You can check the exact hourly breakdown on appliance energy calculators like VoltMetricPro.

Agree with heated blankets, throws etc. I got a really thick, nice, fluffy one during amazon prime week for about £22. The only thing I've found is that they very rarely last more than one winter - I've had about ten, from the cheap to expensive brands, and the electric has gone on all of them at some point, so get one with at least a year's guarantee. If you get a nice one you can at least still use it as a normal blanket after.

Other tips - wear a woolly hat (or sweater with hood up/oody if you feel silly wearing one indoors. No point in heating your body and having nothing on your head.

Also don't waste the heat you've already created - leave the oven door open once you've finished cooking, water in the bath, etc. Turn the heating off at least half an hour before you leave the house - it will stay warm for quite a while, particularly if you're moving around getting ready, but it's pointless to heat a house which will then be empty. If you/family already pay for a gym membership or have showers at work, consider showering there rather than at home where practical - saves both hot water and warming the bathroom.

Both of my kids love their electric blanket on the lowest setting through the night and electric over blankets for the sofa on top. My mum puts up bubble wrap on some windows in winter and as crazy as it sounds it does make a difference.

I’ve had an electric blanket for a couple of years. I just have it in timer. I set it low too so it’s just warm getting into bed not hot (suits me). It’s great. I could turn it higher though. It feels perfectly safe. I’ve burnt myself on hot water bottles and they seem to cool down really quickly. So I don’t use them. The heated throws are great for the sofa but we often just use them as a blanket and they are great. Really thick socks and slippers, lots of layers of clothing help too. Thin leggings or tights under jeans when working at home. You need to be careful about mould and damp if you’re just heating one room and other rooms are not getting ventilation. Curtains across your front / back doors. Door stoppers and shut doors to keep the heat in etc.

By staying in bed more I mean that I go there instead of the sitting room in the evenings,after dinner. Why sit up in a cold house when I could be warm.and cosy in bed? Days off and weekends get more bed time too but I do actually get up too.

@ChapmanFarm thank you for the info on heat panels.
I can report that I now have an electric blanket, which has been wonderful for on the sofa but to anyone else looking to get one note that mine (silent night as per previous recommendation) is one that plugs into the mains with an approx. 2m cord and the instructions say not to use an extension lead or to use it as an underblanket so will be sticking with fleece or wool for those.

Off to research the magical sounding heated ponchos today...

Some more great ideas though - bubble wrap on the windows, ha!

We have IR panels, they’re great, quite juicy on electric but work quite quickly. Our bedroom was 18 yesterday and within 1.5 hours it was 22.