Hutch

Like most of us, our home in the UK was centrally heated and we just paid an astronomical gas bill every winter quarter. Here in Oz though, very few houses are centrally heated and heating tends to be on a per-room basis. I've heard mixed reports about the relative cost of various heating methods and, not knowing who to believe, I decided to work 'em out for myself. The calculations I made are based on the heating methods we have in our house - obviously if you've got a solid fuel burner then you're laughing and if you use gas then you know what it costs to replace the cylinders every couple of months. The costings are based on the prices charged by Integral Energy (our local supplier) - your price may be slightly higher or lower, but they won't be *that* different.

Okay - so the first heater we have a is 2400watt fan heater in my wife's office. Running this non-stop for an hour peak (daytime) cost $0.38c - offpeak (nightime) is $0.16c.

The second heater we have is a smaller fan heater in my office which is 1800-2000watt rated (I used the higher rating). This costs $0.32c per hour peak and $0.13c off peak.

The third heater we have is a Delonghi oil-fired radiator. This is rated at 1500watts and costs $0.24c per hour peak and $0.09c per hour off peak.

Finally there's the reverse cycle aircon in the living room. This Fujitsu unit is rated at 1750watt (on the heat cycle - 1950watt to cool if you're interested) and costs $0.28c per hour peak and $0.12c per hour off peak.

So on the face of it, the oil fired heaters are the cheapest to use. But in reality this is not the case because they take so long to warm up and have to stay on to maintain that heat whereas a fan or reverse cycle gets up to full heat in a matter of seconds and can take a room from cold to warm in as little as five mintues. So combine a fan heater or reverse cycle with a thermostat set to something like 24 or 25 degrees and you have the most cost-efficient way to heat a room (excepting solid fuel or gas).

Bernieboy

My unit is so small a hairdryer works for me,very cheap to run as well

kar-kier

We have a gas fire, from mains gas - anyone know what sort of hellish bill I've got to look forward to at the end of winter?

moneypenny20

We have a wood burner in the main living area and half an acre of trees so thankfully we don't have to buy the wood. However in the bedrooms we use the oil filled rads but they are only on four hours in the evening and then two/three in the mornings so not too bad.

My main problem is hubby and the woodburner. He feels the need to feed it constantly and we can get too damn hot - had it going last night and I had to open a window in the end

ozhappy981

Thermostat set to 24 or 25 degrees ! Do you wander round the house in your bathers???

We live in sunny warm Perth and so far I've only had the reverse-cycle on three times this winter for half an hour each. But our thermostat is set to 20 degrees and that's toasty warm (wearing a cotton turtleneck and a sweatshirt - might need to get a wooly jumper out next month ).

I agree: reverse-cycle is lovely. Heats the rooms up really quickly.

Bernieboy

From what i hear,Hutch dont bathe

ABCDiamond

Are your costs allowing for the fact that the RC heater turns off and on at various times, to maintain the required heat, and does not use all the power all the time. It may actually be cheaper than that.

With the off peak rate, isn't that only for units wired in to the off peak supply ?

My set up is normal tarriff for most of the house, with the off peak (20 hrs per day) wired to Pool Pump and Water Heater.

Just to test my RC unit, my current electric cost, according to my 'gadget' is 11.77 cents per hour. Turning on my 6.3kw (2.5hp) RC unit bumps that up to... (waiting for it to update) ... 53.37 cents. That is during the peak warming up period at full power.

It is too warm to leave it on to see what it averages out at, once it reaches the 26C operating temp.

ABCDiamond

Now I am curious.

Turned that one off and it drops back to 11.49 cents.

Now I turned on the bedroom RC (1hp) 1.75kw I think, and the power usage is now 21.89 cents

So my big unit costs (53.37-11.77) = 43 cents per hour to initially heat up, and maybe 22 cents p.h. to run continuously assuming 50% time cycles.

The small unit (21.89-11.49) 11 cents per hour to initially heat up, and maybe 6 cents p.h. to run continuously assuming 50% time cycles.

Hutch

Only heating we've had on at all this year was a small fan heater in my office a couple of days ago when the temperature dropped down to 6c. Other than that we haven't heated anything - but then we don't use aircon in the summer either.

No - they were just guide costs to find out which unit is nominally the most expensive to run. They also take no account of the size of the room, the altitude the house is at, how many sofas or chairs are in the room, what the cubic dimensions of the room are or indeed whether the occupants of said room like things on the warm side, or the cooler side.





Don't know why I bother sometimes.

WillBlack

The unit rating is almost certainly the maximum heat it will deliver, not the energy it will consume when doing so. Heat pumps are used because the amount of heat pumped is several times the amount of energy consumed. Good ones pump 3 times more heat energy than they use in electrical energy.

A heat pump delivering 1,750 W of heat will consume about a third as much energy, ~580 W; provided the temperature difference between source (outside) and sink (inside) is smallish.

Often the input power is a multiple of 0.25 horsepower to suit Americans who are the last users of the English weights and measures system. 1 horsepower = 745.699872 watts. 580W is approx 3/4 hp.

Wol

Hutch - I'm assuming your DeLonghis are oil FILLED, and not oil fired? Mine are <g>.

Vash the Stampede

Imperial units are still officially mandated by the USA, UK, Burma and Liberia.

Siren & Brian

Thanks for that, was just about to buy one over the weekend but didnt know how much it would cost to run

WillBlack

English units optional, metric units mandatory in the UK?

NMO’s advice is that the law remains unchanged in so far as the circumstances in which metric units must be used. Traders are free to use imperial units if that is what their customers want, provided the imperial units are accompanied by the equivalent metric units. Consistency of units allows consumers to make value-for-money comparisons with similar goods on offer.
Update on Metrication


Since 1 January 2000 goods sold loose by weight (mainly fresh foods) have been required to be sold in grams and kilograms. However,
. Retailers can continue to display the price per imperial unit alongside the price per metric unit as a supplementary indication.
. Consumers can continue to express in ounces and pounds the quantity they wish to buy. Retailers will weigh out the equivalent quantity in grams and kilograms.
Metrication

Vash the Stampede

Nevertheless, some Imperial measures are still officially mandated in the UK.

For example, draught beer can only be sold in pints; road speeds and distances can only be displayed in miles; road height clearance signage must be displayed in feet and inches; railways still retain the imperial system as their official measure of distance and speed, etc.

It's bizarre.