How to heat an unheated room...
 

I have a 100 year old colonial in MA with one room on the 2nd floor
with no heat source. Nothing. No radiator, no baseboard heater - it
was just built w/o heat.

The room is about 12 x 10, my wife uses it for her changing room/giant
closet. We keep the door open to get heat from the hallway, but it is
always 10-15 degrees colder than the rest of the house.

How can I get heat in this room without going broke? I am thinking
single baseboard heater with it's ownn thermostat - does something like
that exist? Can it be plugged into a wall outlet or does it need to be
hard wired into the main box?
Thoughts or suggestions are appreciated.


Bluesman

wrote in message

How can I get heat in this room without going broke?

Electric is the most expensive heat available in New England.

I am thinking
single baseboard heater with it's ownn thermostat - does something like
that exist? Can it be plugged into a wall outlet or does it need to be
hard wired into the main box?

Both types are available. If it is a plug in, be sure the wiring is
sufficient to handl the load.

wrote:
I have a 100 year old colonial in MA with one room on the 2nd floor
with no heat source. Nothing. No radiator, no baseboard heater - it
was just built w/o heat.

The room is about 12 x 10, my wife uses it for her changing
room/giant
closet. We keep the door open to get heat from the hallway, but it
is
always 10-15 degrees colder than the rest of the house.

How can I get heat in this room without going broke? I am thinking
single baseboard heater with it's ownn thermostat - does something
like
that exist? Can it be plugged into a wall outlet or does it need to
be
hard wired into the main box?
Thoughts or suggestions are appreciated.


Bluesman

How is the rest of the house heated? If you have forced-air heat,
that's easier to tap into than if it's a water or steam system. But
for a quick easy fix, an inexpensive electric heater with blower should
easily suffice to raise the temp of a small room 10 or 15 degrees. If
it's only a matter of comfort while changing, you could put your
plug-in heater on a timer (the heavy-duty kind) and have it just go on
for an hour or two in the morning.

The rest of the house is oil fired FHW into radiators...not really
feasible to tap a radiator into this room.

I know elec is expensive - what are my alternatives? Buring scrap wood
in a trash barrel?

If anyone can suggest a plug in/hard wired baseboard heater with its
own thero, let me know.

Thanks,


Bluesman

Run new pipes for a radiator. Electric is probably near 3 times the cost
to operate. In the long term you will be happy you did it.

What kind of heat do you have in the rest of the house?
How close is the nearest existing heat source?
How well is this room insulated? Does it have windows?
If it's just a walk-in closet, why do you care if it's a little
cool? What are the adjacent room(s)? what, if anything,
is above it?

If it's a 100 year old colonial, my guess is that it's
got very little insulation above and around it, and
a leaky old window. So I'd start by cutting a foam
insert to plug the window(s), and drop fiberglass
in the attic over it. Only then should you look into
extending the existing heating system.





wrote:

I have a 100 year old colonial in MA with one room on the 2nd floor
with no heat source. Nothing. No radiator, no baseboard heater - it
was just built w/o heat.

The room is about 12 x 10, my wife uses it for her changing room/giant
closet. We keep the door open to get heat from the hallway, but it is
always 10-15 degrees colder than the rest of the house.

How can I get heat in this room without going broke? I am thinking
single baseboard heater with it's ownn thermostat - does something like
that exist? Can it be plugged into a wall outlet or does it need to be
hard wired into the main box?
Thoughts or suggestions are appreciated.

Bluesman

wrote in message
ups.com...
The rest of the house is oil fired FHW into radiators...not really
feasible to tap a radiator into this room.

I know elec is expensive - what are my alternatives? Buring scrap wood
in a trash barrel?

If anyone can suggest a plug in/hard wired baseboard heater with its
own thero, let me know.


You could always get a window unit heatpump.....

On 20 Dec 2004 09:25:18 -0800, wrote:

I have a 100 year old colonial in MA with one room on the 2nd floor
with no heat source. Nothing. No radiator, no baseboard heater - it
was just built w/o heat.

The room is about 12 x 10, my wife uses it for her changing room/giant
closet. We keep the door open to get heat from the hallway, but it is
always 10-15 degrees colder than the rest of the house.

How can I get heat in this room without going broke? I am thinking
single baseboard heater with it's ownn thermostat - does something like
that exist? Can it be plugged into a wall outlet or does it need to be
hard wired into the main box?
Thoughts or suggestions are appreciated.


Bluesman

First you need to do a load calculation on the room to see how much
heat you need. Then decide on what you want to heat it.
Bubba

I don't know if this would work, but how about one of those radiant heat
lamps that are used in bathrooms of fancy hotels? The only time it seems
that you will ned to heat the room is when your wife is in there. So, she
could turn on the light and heat lamp while using the room (in the winter),
then turn both off when leaving.

wrote in message
oups.com...
I have a 100 year old colonial in MA with one room on the 2nd floor
with no heat source. Nothing. No radiator, no baseboard heater - it
was just built w/o heat.

The room is about 12 x 10, my wife uses it for her changing room/giant
closet. We keep the door open to get heat from the hallway, but it is
always 10-15 degrees colder than the rest of the house.

How can I get heat in this room without going broke? I am thinking
single baseboard heater with it's ownn thermostat - does something like
that exist? Can it be plugged into a wall outlet or does it need to be
hard wired into the main box?
Thoughts or suggestions are appreciated.


Bluesman