Jo-Chris

As the 'cold' winter nights are coming (hopefully not too close) what do you fine people think is the best and most economical way to heat individual rooms.

We have a rented property with one heater in the living room / kitchen. Our bathroom has a heater light, so we just need to heat the main bedroom (please try and avoid the obvious jokes about heating bedrooms!!). The rest of the rooms do not require heating and can be closed off from the rest of the house.

NZ_Rob

2 options
1. do what Kiwi's do - layer up, sit on the sofa under a duvet and sleep in a freezing bedroom.
2. move to a newer warmer house.

Jo-Chris

.... and if we don't want to move?

We were looking at the options between oil filled heaters and electric heaters etc

NZ_Rob

I found Electric blankets to be FANTASTIC.

lapsed kiwi

I'd suggest an oil-filled radiator with a built-in timer switch, so you could set it to warm the room before bedtime and before getting up time.

But then, moving house might be easier. Or repatriating.

kiwinow

Oil filled heaters can be expensive, but if you only have it on a low setting on a timer switch it should be fine. Electric fan heaters are a quick fix, but I don't think the heat lasts long and it dries the air.

pricklykina

We always use an oil fired fin heater, on a timer, in the living area.

And yes, we also sleep in a freezing bedroom

We warm my daughter's room with a hot water bottle and a small fan heater that's put on just before bedtime to keep the chill off

And that's in Auckland. It does get cold over night.

Other tips...

Close the curtains before sundown to keep the heat in ( I struggle hard with this as I like to see the last of the light)
Put a rug on your wooden floors.
Use draught excluders

cleverchap

Electric blanket is a must. We also use an oil filled heater set on a plug in timer to warm the room up in the mornings just before we get up.

Nothing worse than getting out of a cosy warm bed

Genesis

Best thing is to buy a top quality 2nd hand dehumidifier off www.trademe.co.nz

That will be a Mitisbushi oasis model. $1100 new around $400 2nd hand. They remove the moisture from your air thus making it easier to warm with whatever it is you are warming with plus they give off an ambient heat. Which is nice. Best bit is they are only c400 watts per hour. Which is even nicer. Go get one...I have 5

simonsi

Jeez, that must alter the local weather

Honeybug

Winter is as cold as the UK down here in the South! so we heat our house accordingly (I'm English, not Kiwi and I like to be warm in my own house) We have diesel radiator central heating throughout the house (all bedrooms and toilets!) and maintain it at 18c 24/7 throughout the winter, the addition of a log burner makes it real cosy at night! (We are out in the country)
Keep healthy and stay warm

Newfies

If you have a reasonable ammount of insulation then I would suggest an 'econoheater'. Cost of around $150 and about 50 cents to run per day. It will not give you a toastie bedroom but it will keep the chill off.
other alternatives are oil filled radiators and fan heaters although they can all be set on timers or thermostat they are costly to run.

Electric blankets are good to have. The hubby was against them initially but has soon come round to them and he has his side on more that I have mine on now.

Our main source of heating is a heat pump and it again is reasonably costly to run (our electric bill in the winter months are about $300) we are in a new build house with good insulation and have thermal curtains on the windows, we shut off the rooms that we are not using.

HTH

aalls73

May i suggest you move outside during the winter because if it was anything like our old rented house last winter it'll be warmer to sleep outside lol......

Foxesecho

Must agree with aalls. Was warmer outside than inside our rental last winter .

We used an oil heater on a timer, and dehumidifier for heating the main room and electric blankets for the beds. It was a mad dash from the bedroom in the morning to the lounge where it would be slightly warmer . Have since moved house and have an HRV system, which I am told will keep us a bit warmer. Only time will tell!!!

aalls73

Same here Foxesecho, we moved to a house that is fully insulated and has a HRV system which is vented to every room of the house, personally i like sleeping in a cold bedroom it certainly beats waking up with a blocked nose lol....