Recommend an energy efficient heater for converted garage

[Sonic007]

Hi all,

 

I wondered if anyone could reccommend an energy efficient heater?

 

I've converted my garage into a study but there is no central heating and it gets freezing in there.

 

Anything that heats will use a lot of electricity so looking at something cost effective?

 

It wont be on all the time but only when I'm in there and its not a big room.

 

Any ideas?

 

Many thanks in advance.

[CHiLL]

A friend of mine rents a place where the landlord (for some crazy reason) ripped out all of the central heating and replaced them with electric radiators. They're absolutely pathetic and one issue with normal electric heaters is that they don't retain heat - so when they turn off, they go cold very quickly. Whereas a conventional central heating system will heat water/oil, which takes time to lose heat when turned off...meaning it outputs heat for longer. So with that in mind, they bought this De'Longhi Dragon 4 TRD40820T Oil Filled Radiator. I have to say, it does work better than I expected. I'd also recommend hanging some materials on the walls, maybe some carpet or even cheap/old curtains because you'll probably find that the bricks will be terrible insulators and you'll lose a lot of heat through them.

[dmj]

If a rack of servers isn't an option, oil filled electrical radiators are quite good.

[PotNoodleTech]

If you are going electric, oil filled rads are the most efficent.

 

No electric heater is great though - you'll be using as much as a kettle when it's on so if that's 5 hours a day that's a lot of tea you could have made.

 

If you've got a friendly plumber, have a chat as it would be better to drill a couple of holes in the wall, tee off an existing pipe and put a proper radiator in there.

[mavhc]

There's no such thing, energy in = energy out

 

Options are:

a) insulate

b) burning gas directly uses less gas than converting it to electricity in a gas power station, then the losses in the distribution system, and then turning the electricity into heat

c) heat pump

d) waste heat from something useful, an electric heater is just a bitcoin miner that's not paying for itself

[network41]

Log Burner

[CHiLL]

If you are going electric, oil filled rads are the most efficent.

 

No electric heater is great though - you'll be using as much as a kettle when it's on so if that's 5 hours a day that's a lot of tea you could have made.

 

If you've got a friendly plumber, have a chat as it would be better to drill a couple of holes in the wall, tee off an existing pipe and put a proper radiator in there.

Yeah, though these types of electric oil radiators often come with timer functionality, so at least they can be scheduled for better efficiency.

[Andrew_C]

Log Burner = hole in wall for air inlet. It is a trade off...

[Sonic007]

Thanks everyone. Some good info here.

 

The oil radiator route seems promising. I'd love a log burner but slightly expensive and room not that big for it.

[Linfit]

If its bare brick walls and timber roof with exposed joists, the best thing you can do is insulate as much as possible.

 

I turned my garage into a workshop by walling up the up and over door. This reduced draughts but it was still very cold.

When I had the rest of the house done I replaced the wooden window and door with UPV double glazed, to eliminate draughts. Then put insulation between the joists, as the biggest heat loss will likely be out the roof.

 

Carpets or rugs, and as said above, material on the walls all help as well.

 

The insulation has made a huge difference to the amount I need to heat the space - I have a conventional fan heater that I use and 15 or 20 mins warming the place up and then its good for several hours working in there.

[Andrew_C]

Intended to say in my post above - gas heaters ALSO require holes in wall for air, and create vast amounts of water vapour that will condense on the walls & ceiling.

 

Lining the walls and ceiling with something like this is easy (ish) and will make it SO much easier to keep warm.

[mavhc]

Burning wood is usually a terrible idea, if you can smell it you're inhaling carcinogens

 

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/feb/22/wood-diesel-indoor-stoves-cities-pollution

[dhicks]

I wondered if anyone could reccommend an energy efficient heater?

 

With a storage heater, you can use electricity when it's a bit cheaper (overnight / offpeak hours) and have the heat available when you want it. Storage heaters used to be installed on a separate electrical circuit on a timer, complete with different billing, but you'd think there'd be a more modern option by now with an app-controlled timer or something. Ideally, you'd want something that could take in weather forcasts for the next day to predict how warm you might want the room - you do have to plan ahead a little when deciding how much to turn the heater on. In practice, you often wind up with a storage heater providing general background heat and a small on-demand heater for when you want it.

 

The most efficient electrical-based method of heating is going to be a heat pump - you could try sticking a portable air conditioning unit in backwards.

 

If this is your building to modify as you wish, you could look at better insulating the walls - possibly try pumping insulation in to the gap between the inner and outer walls.

[Andrew_C]

With a storage heater, you can use electricity when it's a bit cheaper (overnight / offpeak hours)

but your daytime usage is charged at a higher rate.

you do have to plan ahead a little when deciding how much to turn the heater on.

They really aren't that flexible. Only good in well sealed, well insulated modern homes. Otherwise bordering terrible.

[jmak]

If you're not going to be in there for very long at a time, you could look at an infrared heater - they only heat "things" rather than the whole space; point it at yourself [emoji846]

 

https://www.electricradiatorsdirect.co.uk/infrared-heaters/

[Reboot_IT]

What about a Bio-Ethanol free-standing fire?

[dhicks]

but your daytime usage is charged at a higher rate. They really aren't that flexible. Only good in well sealed, well insulated modern homes. Otherwise bordering terrible.

 

I haven't used a storage heater in a while - do electric companies still do separate Economy 7 tarrifs, or is everything on one circuit now? I used to live in a very un-insulated top-of-block flat (basically the converted roofspace of an older house), and found that the storage heater at least brought the background heat level up to a reasonable level, although I then had a fan heater which I could point at wherever I was sat.

 

It's the kind of thing you'd think would be ripe for a smart-home makeover - have a storage heater than could get the next 24 hour's worth of weather and temperature predictions, plus maybe the flexible price of electricity and store / release heat accordingly. I don't know if there are such products available now - all the smart home stuff I've seen advertised seems to be the kind of thing someone living in California would think of, i.e. mostly concerned with whole-house air conditioning or central heating.

[Sonic007]

Ive not seen an Economy7 tariff in a long time.

 

Luckily the garage walls have been plaster boarded up so some sort of insulation. Tumble dryer in there now (don't ask how that got into the study) and that will act as a sort of heater too.

 

Think I'l check out the oil heaters this weekend.

[mavhc]

now we have smart meters there's way more flexibility in your tariffs, can change the rate every 30 mins

[woodham]

if its an attached garage , seriously consider having it plumbed in and connected to your normal central heating

[Another]

If you buy a radiator with a ceramic core they retain the heat within the ceramic plate in the centre. Storage heaters used to do this with large blocks inside, the ceramic core is more efficient and a lot smaller. They ARE more expensive but as they retain heat they are quite reasonable to run and also can heat quite large areas too. First website I googled - but loads out there. QVC and Ideal World shopping channels have them for sale every once in a while too - https://www.heatershop.co.uk/ceramic-core-electric-radiators

[Andrew_C]

Efficiency is how much heat you get out for how much power you put in. An electric heater, of any sort, is darn near 100% efficient. There is nowhere else for the heat to go. Hell, an old fashioned light bulb is an efficient heater (rubbish light bulb as only about 15% of the energy is turned into light) as 100% of the electricity eventually heats your room.

[MkII]

Aldi/ Lidl regularly have oil filled radiators for around the £25 mark. CPC have one too. I have one with a timer (from Screwfix - another cheap alternative/ they often have them on offer this time of year) - useful if you want to go into a warm room at regular times. Edited December 6, 2019 by MkII