Heating

[guddler]

It's that time of year again folks! This gets brought up nearly every year, and every year I wheel out the oil fired radiator, switch it on in October, November time and switch it off again in April time. And boy do I feel it when the bills come in!!!

My main problem last year was that while the chaps that built my new office / games room did a very fine job of building the structure, they desperately need to go back to school when it comes to building a door

. In the coldest of the winter I had to give up and work in the house. Way more than I had planned and even for most of the winter I was sat at my desk with a padded shirt, fingerless gloves, and my upper body was fine but my legs and feet were like ice.

That was essentially due to the half inch gap all the way around the door. Idiots!

So, I'm getting a UPVC door fitted and I hope that will be done in time for the colder weather. That and the 75mm Celotex in walls, floor and ceiling covers heat LOSS. But I still haven't tackled warming the place up yet.

I was looking at heat pumps and while I could go the route of a ground heat pump because the garden needs re-digging again anyway, I don't think I can be arsed.

Does anyone have any experience with air based heat pumps? I'm sure this could be quite pricey if you were doing the whole house, but for a 5m x 4m area I'm wondering if it might be viable?

Martin.

PS: Solar is out as that would involve the council and I don't want them sniffing about.

 

[DanP]

Hi Martin, my game room is just a little bit bigger and I use a small single oil rad on a timer socket set at 15mins an hour through the night and it keeps the room comfortable throughout the winter, warm enough to use the machines for example. Put the machines on for any length of time and they soon add a bit more heat I did try a big double (2KW) oil rad and accidentally left it on for a couple of hours and the room went up to 31c/87f from 10c!!! I'd suggest maybe a single rad on a timer and a double rad for when you're in there, again on a timer/thermostat for comfortable working. The new door will drastically change your room I think, I have a PVC double glazed door ,very thick Kingspan insulation and double thick insulation in the roof space (you didn't mention what type of roof you've got) and it keeps it pretty toasty in winter and cool in summer, to the extent that people thought it was air conditioned during the recent hot spell. From that I've learned that good insulation is key to keeping things at a reasonable temperature.

Cheers,

Dan

 

[guddler]

Yep, I'm really, really hoping that the door is the entire problem!!

The whole place is wooden, it's a shed basically, but a very posh shed with double glazing. Pictures are on my facebook page. The roof is a standard pitched roof but a very shallow pitch due to height limitations with planning. I've got 75mm Celotex in between all the rafters and we then added a plasterboard ceiling internally. I wasn't going to do that initially but it looked rubbish without it so that was a bit of a rush job and I therefore didn't get the time to put any standard loft insulation in the space. Shouldn't need it though with the celotex.

It's definitely insulating well as even on the hottest of days it didn't get hot in there until probably 3pm. The insulation managed to keep it very cool right up until that point. To be fair the biggest issue is that when i'm working I'm obviously just sat at a desk. When i'm up there doing stuff it's normally in a t-shirt as it gets hot very quickly.

I'll just give it a go again I guess and see how I get on. The heater is 2.8Kw -> 4Kw, has various settings and a thermostat. It just didn't seem to have any effect last winter.

Oh, I lied on one thing. The floor only has 25mm Celotex. Not sure why they did that?

 

[Bods]

Doesn't matter how much insulation etc you have, it's still going to take a long time to warm up a large building from damp cold.

A 2k heater in mine was useless, I have a 4.5kw now and that still takes a long time to warm up

From what I've read, if the air is dry it's alot quicker to warm it up and the insulation will only help to retain the heat

This is the whole reason I wanted to have something attached to the house, just my house is not the best for this type of extension so I ended up with both

 

[DanP]

Doesn't matter how much insulation etc you have, it's still going to take a long time to warm up a large building from damp cold.

A 2k heater in mine was useless, I have a 4.5kw now and that still takes a long time to warm up

From what I've read, if the air is dry it's alot quicker to warm it up and the insulation will only help to retain the heat

This is the whole reason I wanted to have something attached to the house, just my house is not the best for this type of extension so I ended up with both

That's why I have my heater on a timer. Yes from totally cold it will take a long time, it's more realistic to keep the temperature at a reasonable level (~10c) all the time and boost it as and when you need it at 21c. Works for me anyhow

Dan

 

[guddler]

So, the one thing we're getting out of this thread is that no-one has any new information to offer in terms of new insights into alternative ways to keep the games room / office at a useable temperature

 

[cools]

Leave the cabs switched on 24/7

 

[guddler]

That'd work well. Initially. The flames would probably cause a problem before too long though

 

[DanP]

So, the one thing we're getting out of this thread is that no-one has any new information to offer in terms of new insights into alternative ways to keep the games room / office at a useable temperature

Sorry dude, I was just trying to assure you that the oil rad solution could work, but no you're right I don't have any new insight on how else to do it.

 

[Bods]

The solution is no problem, the cost is another matter

I know what ya saying Dan, how much do you think that would cost you over the winter months?

 

[andyman]

Ground source and air source are both expensive to install, cheap to run but mega ££££ in materials, halogen heating is ok but directable, Infra red is good but doesn't reaaly heat the air too much. Oil filled rads or tubes or convector rads are about the cheapest option in terms of install and running costs are lowered with the use of thermostat/timer.

I have two stat controlled 1KW convector rads, they cost me 22.4 pence per hour before 1am and 8 pence from 1am-8am (guess when I play)

How's the sun in Somerset ?, solar assisted ?, have you got Economy 7 (or equiv) would require a cable run though, then use a storage heater @ 56p/day

Have a look here , there are loads of alternative methods but they usually involve burning something which possibly would not be a good idea considering.

How's that

Andy.