Another boring thread from Twinkle. Thanks to good old Scottish Hydro Electric we need to cut our heating costs by 40%. Should I get oil heaters, non-oil eco heaters, convector or panel heaters to use in the bedrooms instead of our storage heaters?

[Twinklemegan]

Which would work out cheapest for low level heating in the late evening, overnight and early morning? I know they all cost the same KW for KW, but one type must be better than another for different applications. And I'm getting very confused...

Please please have a heart and humour a Mumsnetter & family who look like freezing half to death this winter. Someone must have an idea which of these will work out cheaper (or at least come and join me in a rant about Scottish Hydro Electric hiking their electricity prices because of the price of gas! - and me living only a few miles away from their latest hydro-electric scheme!)

If they all cost the same to run then any would be ok. I would ditch the storage heaters though. They are switched on all the time. I used to have a convector heater on a timer so my room was warm when I woke up.

Convector heaters or something with a fan will generally spread the heat better.

If they all cost the same to run then any would be ok. I would ditch the storage heaters though. They are switched on all the time. I used to have a convector heater on a timer so my room was warm when I woke up.

Convector heaters or something with a fan will generally spread the heat better.

doh!

Hi Avena - I think we've spoken before about a similar topic!

I guess what I'm thinking is whether oil/oil equivalent heaters work out cheaper because they retain the heat better, therefore don't need to come on as often to maintain the temperature IYSWIM. Judging by last winter we'd need to leave them on overnight as we were constantly waking up from the cold. Plus if I needed to get up for the loo I'd be shivering for the next half hour.

Loads of extra jumpers and blankets methinks. Oh, and a wooly hat too!

There's a whole thread on this topic somewhere. I like my house quite warm. An oil heater would take the chill off but wouldn't necessarily be better because they would take a while to heat up. Maybe you should mix them? One convector and an oil?

I used to live in a house with very little heating as a child. I used to go to bed in thick socks, pyjamas, jumper and a hot water bottle and never woke up because of the cold. Thick curtains will help, if you rest the bottoms on the window sil then any heat in the room doesn't go up under the curtains and out through the window.

Been there, done that Butterflymum. Three jumpers, three pairs of socks - the works.

You know NPower have funds availiable to help families in with this problem?

TBH Avena, I think (hope!) we'll be better in this house. Last winter we were in a rented house that was really damp as well as being ridiculously cold.

We use oil heaters as DP has worked out that they are the most economic. We have a 1KW one and a 3KW one with a timer. We are in Scotland too.

Is that just for NPower customers though? I think Scottish Hydro will only help if you're old or on benefits.

Do you know how your DP worked that out Bexie?

My last house had storage heaters and was still freezing. My mum brought me an electric underblanket which was lovely (I need to get it checked from somewhere ). I don't mind wearing loads of clothes but ds's asthma is alot worse when it's cold so I'm having the same problem. I was going to get an electric heater for the living room as we spend alot of time there as electricity has a lower kw price then gas, and use the central heating when he's in bed.

Just NPower, can you swap?

We're stuck on Total Heating Total Control and can't swap suppliers unless we get our meters, and possibly wiring changed. I need to find out what, if anything, this would cost us. We're thinking Economy 10, or even Economy 7, would be a lot better for us given the unit charge of the standard electricity. Currently we only get cheap rate for heating which, since we now can't afford the storage heaters, means basically for heating water and 15p a unit for everything else. Plus 30p a day standing charge - it's daylight robbery IMO.

It is as you are stuck. Storage heaters are very expensive anyway, I had 2 in my old house, they were not even on full and I was getting £300 bills which went down to £50 when I movedm . The government set up warmfront, they send someone to your house to do an energy assessment, they give you ideas on how to make savings etc and will sort out free things like loft insulation if you are on a low income. It doesn't matter if you are renting. www.warmfront.co.uk Have a look.

It is as you are stuck. Storage heaters are very expensive anyway, I had 2 in my old house, they were not even on full and I was getting £300 bills which went down to £50 when I movedm . The government set up warmfront, they send someone to your house to do an energy assessment, they give you ideas on how to make savings etc and will sort out free things like loft insulation if you are on a low income. It doesn't matter if you are renting. www.warmfront.co.uk Have a look.

Electric blankets if you are cold overnight.

If you want the room warm when you wake up, maybe a halogen heater (pretty economical for an electric heater, and heat up fast) and use a timer plug.

He used to work in a an electrical shop (so knows about power outputs and the like) before leaving for Dell. He has devised some spreadsheet to work it all out. We also only put the water on 2 nights a week when Tom has a bath. If we want hot water for the dishes, we boil the kettle. We both shower each day.

convector heaters are expensive to run.
we moved into our house last yr and bought panel heaters for the bedrooms (we have a coal fire in sitting room) but we found they took the chill off the room but didnt actually heat the room.
in our old house we used old oil filled heaters and they were great,we had 3 and it heated our whole cottage.
this year im going to invest in oil filled heaters for the bedrooms.

Thanks everyone. We've decided to retain one storage heater (to make sure there are no quibbles from Scottish Hydro), replace the others in the bedrooms with panel heaters which will run on the cheap rate, and go with a solid fuel stove for the living room backed up by a portable oil-filled radiator. Here's hoping for a warmer winter in our house than last year.

Hi Kbaby - long time no see. Do you mean oil filled radiators would be cheaper even though panel heaters would be running on the cheap heating rate (7.5p) and standalone oil heaters would have to be on the expensive circuit (>15p)?

Nice deal on gas central heating. Only trouble is that there is no gas in most of Highland, and certainly not here. And the price of LPG is ing.

I agree about the extra blankets/bed covers. Our house gets very cold IMO and I've long since given up on duvets but pile quilted bedspreads and duvets over sheets. I've just invested in a couple of large blankets from Dunelm for our living room too as we always seem to want something to cuddle into on the sofas.