ahrrrrrgh !! - storage heaters

[brett53]

this recent cold spell has certainly shown up the deficiencies with these totally useless items - my leccy consumption has gone through the roof - i only use ONE heater in the kitchen and this has to suffice to warm the whole place - i have 3 but they are in rooms i dont use much - so only get used VERY occasionally ( my one used one was using 17+ kw per night - needless to say that's got turned down - A LOT !! )

they where put in by warmfront - and where at the time a blessing as my late wife was nearing the end of her time here , and needed to be kept warm - but now i consider them a curse - there has to be a better way to heat a house - now please don't say gas ( no supply or system ) - or wood burners fitted internally as for a metal box they are ridiculously expensive + i have had many many problems with the things whilst in the fire service as people WILL go sticking them in existing chimneys by just shoving a short length of pipe up the flue and plating off , then they wonder WHY they get mega chimney fires - smoke issuing into rooms , and in one case lost the whole house due to NOT having the stack lined as SHOULD be done , and way way outside my price bracket

any ways i was pondering , i happen to have an old disused external loo out in the yard , and was thinking has any one ever installed or made any sort of outside furnace ?? - with maybe a small boiler attached ?? - with either plumbing run to the house or better still a heat exchanger to just pump hot air ??

what i HAVE done and boy does it make a difference is put an internal door in my long hall ,forming a porch of sorts - thus funneling the warm air upstairs where i want it in winter as i tend to live up here then and downstairs more during the summer - as whilst insulating a place is great for saving heat - it also can make the upstairs TOO hot during any warm spells

any thoughts appreciated - as if we ARE going to get a run of colder winters here ( quite possible ) - these stupid piles of bricks are going to bankrupt me ( they where installed during some mild ish winters and seemed OK at the time ) - nothing too crazy or not do'able , as i have an inventive bent and can weld ,plumb etc = so am open to suggestions

i have even thought of running a copper micro bore pipe in place of the electric heating coils through the bricks - thus giving me the best of both worlds - but how to power it ??

+ would be interested in others experiences of these decidedly inefficient heaters

[Milims]

Did warmfront only do your storage heaters? If so it might be worth asking them about loft insulation and draft excluding - after all the grants are up o £4,000! Also have you contctd your local council about disabled facilities grants? They are means tested and you'll need a referral from and OT, but its worth looking into. Then ther's always a snuggly blanket!

[Millymollymandy]

I used to work in an office with those old fashioned ones which took 24 hours to adjust to whatever setting you put them on, hence I'd be freezing on cold days and boiling on warmer days, as you just never knew what to set them on.

We have the same problem here with underfloor heating on our ground floor. It's only any good for the middle of winter as it takes at least 12 hours to adjust to any change. What numbskull decided it was a good way to centrally heat should have his/her brain examined. Heating needs to be adjustable pretty much instantaneously according to the temp and whether the sun is shining or not!

So you have my sympathies, but be very grateful you don't have underfloor heating running on propane because I bet it is about a million times more expensive! (with new condensing eco boiler we get about 11 weeks worth out of a tankful that costs about €1,500, as opposed to 5 weeks with the old faulty boiler).

So we use the wood burner most of the time for obvious reasons!

[liskeardjane]

Hi Brett - do you use economy 7? for the storage heaters and set washer etc onto timers to run at night?

[crowsashes]

i have absolutely no idea on running an outside heater/furnace but im assuming it is probably do-able to some extent.

http://www.ehow.com/how_4920988_outdoor ... rnace.html

i did find this hope it helps .

in the short term though use draught excluders, ive used everything from an old towel to those snake ones.

line your curtains, when it was really cold a few weeks ago i hung some spare fleece blankets up over the curtain wires and kept the curtains closed which really helped to keep it warm. it dont look pretty from the outside but who cares if your nice and warm eh! and it not great for the during the day but for rooms your hardly in i dont think it would matter much.

having concrete floors downstairs its very cold under foot, even with the carpet and underlay so i pulled extra rugs out to help insulate the floors. its lovely in the summer though :)

and i guess you could invest in a hot water bottle, i know poundland is selling them, so it may help keep you a little warmer.

[brett53]

ain't the Internet wonderful folks - i think i may have found a solution - well a couple actually

first have a gander at this - not a new concept - but one i had not come across before

http://www.sustainability.vic.gov.au/re ... ifters.pdf

now this has got me thinking and i had one of those 'duh oh " moments

to explain : - this place gets unbelievably hot upstairs in the summer ( and a few more inches of insulation ain't gonna help either ) - sooooooo last year i found some cheap 240 v vent fans - and fitted one in the ceiling to take the hot air up into the roof space and out via some aluminium dryer ducting and a roof light i fitted if required - which does work - it also has the advantage of removing my pipe smoke from the room too as its right above where i am typing this - so DUH OH - what had i built but a heat shifter

now if this works for that a similar system - located down stairs over the top of the storage heater could "pump" some of the hot air up stairs where i need it -especially to the bath room which is always freezing - despite being now more of an insulated box ( there's that much polystyrene on the walls /ceiling + 12 inches of insulation in the roof ) but it remains cold - there IS a reason for this but i am NOT going into that as you will think i have totally lost it ( and i know even the double glazed window i intend fitting this year - ain't going to help much ) i was thinking of a :cooker hood type arrangement near the ceiling ( where does hot air go ?? - up !! )

OK so i WILL have to cut some 4 inch holes in floors and ceilings - no biggie - and as its my place lock stock and woodworm + the fact when i go it WILL end up as someone else's problem ( a bloody big one ) - i ain't too worried - + i happen to like the aesthetic value of this stuff :http://www.wickes.co.uk/Aluminium-Ducting/invt/713024

now - off on another tack /tangent - i was sitting looking at my halogen fire - and thought bet the bulbs in that get hot - they do some 400 odd degrees according to my trusty infra red non contact laser thermometer - which measures surface temperatures - so i got a sheet of black card and held it a bout a foot away and measured the temp - well over 150 degrees for a short exposure ( of course it cooled rapidly ) - now if one bar at 400 w can do this WHAT if one made a metal box with say some fining or plates exposed to the glow and an air inlet in the bottom and a hot air outlet in the top ?? - well insulated ( = safety trip outs etc ) and then ducted the heated air using low voltage fans ( ex computer fans ?? ) or EVEN added a coil of micro bore piping in the form of a spiral large enough to fit over ( but not too close to ) the lamp/bulb /tube / whatever you call them ?? - through which you pumped water ?? - er would this not be a form of water heater ??

have to experiment but it sounds feasible - now if one tube takes 400 w per hour - that means i can run it for 2.5 hours for 1 unit of electric , which = 24 p max approx during daytime ( and yes i am on economy 7 at night ) so less then this ( i never understand how they work out electric bills - so much for the first X units - then so much for the rest - seems the LESS you use the more it costs ) - this equates to - 9.6 kWh ( units ) per day ( 24 hrs ) - which is a damned sight cheaper than 17 odd units for running the pile of bricks for what 8 hours

as to if it will work or not - i - but got to be worth thinking about - as halogens heat surfaces not air - - but a black surface will radiate heat - think of how hot a black car bonnet / hood gets in sun - soooooooo ....................................

think on this more must I