We've been in our house for a year, it's built into the hillside and the ground floor (front entrance and two rooms currently used as a study and guest room, about 1/3 of our overall living space) are technically underground so are prone to being very cold. In the winter there's no issue as the central heating does a good job of heating the space, but in the summer it's absolutely freezing down there. Obviously we don't want to be putting the heating on just to heat downstairs (especially with gas prices being what they are), but it's really unpleasant to try and work down there or for guests/ the kids when they play down there.
DH has done some Google research and thinks our best bet is to replace the three radiators downstairs with wall-mounted electric radiators as then we can have those on a thermostat in the summer and just have them on at the same time as the central heating in the winter. I honestly can't decide whether this sounds like a good idea or not. Half of me thinks it makes sense to treat downstairs as a separate space in terms of heating, however my worries are that it will end up costing us more to run and I'm not sure how effective electric radiators are at heating rooms in comparison. The good electric radiators easily cost as much as a traditional radiator to purchase so no savings there.
Any lived experiences would be much appreciated if you're happy to share! Thanks :)
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Anyone installed electric radiators instead of gas (especially just in the odd room?)
mummabubs · 17/05/2022 08:27
mummabubs · 17/05/2022 09:07
This is my fear but apparently the new ones aren't as ineffective as older styles?
PigletJohn · 17/05/2022 09:16
All electric heaters are equally efficient. They all turn 1kWh of electrical energy into 1kWh of heat energy.
Some deceitful marketing spin encourages you to think that paying £1,000 for a heater will get you more heat per pound then a £10 one.
It isn't true.
Energy from electricity costs four or five times as much per kWh as energy from gas.
if your subterranean room is constantly cold it probably has a problem with damp.
mummabubs · 17/05/2022 09:07
This is my fear but apparently the new ones aren't as ineffective as older styles?
CasperGutman · 17/05/2022 09:19
You can heat just about any space with electric heaters if they're powerful enough, but the energy will cost more than the gas would. A better approach would be to have zoned controls fitted for the main central heating system, with a separate thermostat controlling the cold basement area of the house. I doubt this would cost much more than removing the redundant radiators of you went electric, as presumably you'd need a plumber to sort that for you anyway.
Of coursehe best option would be to sort out the insulation in the cold part of the house so it no longer gets too cold outside the normal "heating season". That would likely be much more disruptive though!
MyHusbandTheIdiot · 17/05/2022 09:23
I would ask on this group: <a class="break-all" href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/1511971082517633/?ref=sharewww.facebook.com/groups/1511971082517633/?ref=share&exp=7ffb" rel="nofollow noindex" target="_blank">Green Heating for Older Properties - lots of very knowledgable people who should be able to give you some good advice. I agree that you need to be very wary of electric heating though unless the property is extremely well insulated with a breathable material (insulated lime, hemp, sheepswool, aerogel etc etc) and also therefore dry, as the humidity will also make a huge difference to the overall feel and warmth.
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