teebrown

We are currently renting a new build, it has a heat pump in the kitchin diner which also heats the ajoining lounge, but what is the cheapest way to heat the rest of the house??

I have just electric blankets on the kids beds but I just want to take the 'nip' off the air at night and I have heard the oil filled radiators are expensive to run. So what is the cheapest way to heat the bedrooms?

P2L

We use oil filled column heaters too, just to take the chill off. However, we also use a dehumidifier and open the windows, especially when the weather is like today to help dry the air too. We also make sure that the curtains are closed as soon as the sun has gone off the house.

We used ours for about a month last year ( although that was up in Blenheim ), so will be interesting to see what happens this winter.

Just for your info too hun, ( you might already know ) we are on a longer night tarrif here in ChCh than the rest of NZ, we go onto night tarrif at 9pm instead of 11, so I tend to do my washing before bed and put the dishwasher on etc, makes enough of a difference , so I don't panic about the bill.

Also might be worth hanging on till you buy heaters ( NOT winter yet ) until Queens Birthday weekend, then prices for heaters usually drop significantly, or look on trademe.


HTH
Sarah x

Genesis

Dehumidifiers are VERY important..they remove all the damp from the air thus making it easier to heat and also give off ambient heat themselves. They are cheap second hand and fairly cheap to run. I use them over night using half price electric from Genesis. 11pm-7am..that way they are EVEN cheaper to run!!

teebrown

Thanks for that, yes we already put the washing machine on a delay which comes on at 3am and we actually have stopped using the dishwasher since we have been here (gives the husband something to do when he gets in from work)!! trying to save money from the word go - there was a lady on Oprah last week and she says unplugging all appliances will also help, so I have started to do that too and we have already changed all the light bulbs to energy saving ones.

So winter starts in June, blimey will be frozen by then!

teebrown

So do you have a dehumidifer on and a heater??

Jay-Producer

There's a book called "wasted", get that from the library, it tells you the best to use. Its an easy to read book, more like its designed for 5-years olds.

TeamEmbo

When we first arrived we had 11-fin oil radiators in the bedrooms and electric blankets and only had a log burner in the corner of the lounge. We were all freezing and didn't use upstairs lounge/rumpus room or bedroom at all! The electric bills were astronomical. Second winter we ditched the oil rads and electric blankets and had a heatpump installed downstairs and upstairs and bought flannelette bedsheets and PJs and hot water bottles so the beds were nice and warm to get into. The kids have those fake sheepskin mattress protectors and a flannelette fitted sheet to sleep on, a flat flannette sheet and a duvet over them and a minky blanket as well if it gets really cold! The get up and dressed really quick in the mornings!

We leave the heatpumps on all the time in winter at night. The downstairs one is constantly on 14°, the upstairs one is on 10°. It is enough to take the chill off. The bedrooms are all off this room so we leave the bedroom doors slightly open at night so that some warm air can move around and take the chill off. All electric appliances get turned off/unpluged at night. We leave nothing on standby anymore. And our electric bills last winter were much more manageable.

We open all the windows in the morning and wipe them down to get rid of the condensation and dry the house out during the day as it tends to be a cold start but gets very warm during the day. Before the sun goes down we close all the windows and curtains to keep the heat in. (I turn the heatpumps off during the day and reset each night).

I think you get used to it more as well as time goes on. I hate being cold but I do actually prefer not having 'stuffy' air in the house like we used to with central heating. We've had less coughs and colds since being here than we did in the UK.

Genesis

Yes we got euro CH installed (I know you are renting so you wont do this) and the house would not warm up. Got dehumidifiers after seeking advice and the house warmed. All houses have damp as a result of breathing cooking and washing etc. In the UK its not a huge issue (as the climate is dyer), however the climate in NZ is way more damp thus one has to take action to fight said damp OR get soggy. DRY air is waay easier to heat than damp..thus dehumidifiers are an excellent thing to have. I doubt if dehumidifiers on their own will keep you warm..they need to be used in tandem with some type of heating system.

teebrown

Ok, another quick one - did you have dehumidifiers for all the bedrooms?

P2L

I have one ( not cheap) and use it on a rota basis for each room

Batty

I've got a big one for our bedroom - the room is really big - and a smaller one that I rotate amongst the others. We'd only have the heater (oil radiator) on a few nights during winter.

I don't know whether I'm acclimatising or what but this year definitely doesn't seem as cold as previous ones. Every other year the fire was lighting from the third week in April onwards - constantly - but this year we've lit it 3 times since about the middle of April - on days when there was no sun.

Bo-Jangles

It's sure not as cold as it has been at this time in the past few years. The first April we had here 2005 was quite like this, an Indian Summer as they keep calling it. We've only had heaters in about four times so far this year, including tonight.

Browner_

No heaters needed today for me in Wellington.

Forecast for Saturday doesnt look so good!
Wellington is generally okay until the southerly kicks in every now and then.

BEVS

We have been lighting the wood burner since last weekend. Just one or two logs early on in the evening and then no more as it heats us out and we have to open all our doors I blummin' well wanted to wait til the end of this month but it was a bit of a no go TBH

Not sure if this is early or late this year but we can expect to have our wood burner going until around September or so. We have a cord and a half for the winter. Gum and Fir.

Our bedroom is upstairs but it gets so hot that we often have to sleep downstairs due to the heat OK.... it's us.. I admit.

We have one halogen heater that i use to take the chill off a room but to be honest none of our rooms get chilled as such. Maybe I have just got used to things.

I want a heat light for the downstairs shower room this year as that did become a might too parky last year.

I haven't a de-humidifier but did have in a rental afew years ago and it sure did collect moisture from the air.

I have one halogen heater and that is really cost effective and quick to heat any room. Bargain I'd say.

My friends have these oiled fired rads in certain rooms for their kids but they don't seem to do that much TBH. We have one but I gave up on the thing. The halogen seems to do better

Just my opinion.

Genesis

I have 6 dehumids. One for the garage (where we dry our clothes), one for each bedroom that has humans in (that's 3) a REALLY powerful Mitsibushi Oasis for the open plan upstairs and a 'floating' spare. They are cheap sourced second hand on Trademe. My Oasis is $1100 ish new..I got it for $350 on trademe. They are all wonderful and the amount of water they get out...did you know they reckon the average household tips 20 litres into the house each day!!!!!!!