We have one cold room in the house - a north facing lounge.

When the CH is on for the whole house this room is fine, but this time of
the year it is chilly when the rest of the house is warm, especially the
back of the house.

There was a (pretend coal, real flames) gas fire but this has been
disconnected and is due to be removed. Probably not the most efficient
room heater anyway because it would **** a lot of heat up the chimney.

So what is the best (most economical) option for providing single room
heating this time of year?

We could turn on the CH and then turn down the radiator thermostats in the
rest of the house but we have a strange reluctance to do this. The combi
boiler is working anyway so it isn't as if we have to relight the pilot
light to get the whole thing going like we did when we had a system boiler
which we turned off for the summer.

I suppose we could even install an additional zone so that there was an
independent heat control for the room.

I would like a wood burner but that has been vetoed because of the
additional mess - we know what it is like because we have one in the main
living area (ticking over nicely at the moment) and have had stoves and
open fires before.

We are due to lift the floor, insulate under, then relay (suspended wood
floor) so I did wonder about electric UFH; wet UFH seems silly when we
already have a radiator and we would have to put in a separate zone so it
would be cheaper just to zone the radiator.

All in all, an extra jumper or turn on the CH seems the logical way to go.

Just wondering if there were any other options.

Cheers

Dave R

On 29/09/2013 22:36, David.WE.Roberts wrote:
We have one cold room in the house - a north facing lounge.

When the CH is on for the whole house this room is fine, but this time of
the year it is chilly when the rest of the house is warm, especially the
back of the house.

There was a (pretend coal, real flames) gas fire but this has been
disconnected and is due to be removed. Probably not the most efficient
room heater anyway because it would **** a lot of heat up the chimney.

So what is the best (most economical) option for providing single room
heating this time of year?

We could turn on the CH and then turn down the radiator thermostats in the
rest of the house but we have a strange reluctance to do this. The combi
boiler is working anyway so it isn't as if we have to relight the pilot
light to get the whole thing going like we did when we had a system boiler
which we turned off for the summer.

I suppose we could even install an additional zone so that there was an
independent heat control for the room.

I would like a wood burner but that has been vetoed because of the
additional mess - we know what it is like because we have one in the main
living area (ticking over nicely at the moment) and have had stoves and
open fires before.

We are due to lift the floor, insulate under, then relay (suspended wood
floor) so I did wonder about electric UFH; wet UFH seems silly when we
already have a radiator and we would have to put in a separate zone so it
would be cheaper just to zone the radiator.

All in all, an extra jumper or turn on the CH seems the logical way to go.

Just wondering if there were any other options.

Cheers

Dave R

An infra-red heater such as the ones with a Philips Ruby lamp (e.g. 150
watt) is incredibly effective. There are lamps with similar effect which
emit no visible light - but I think they are more expensive.

This is a crap out-of-date link to a Lidl product:

http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/150w...rranty-1112636

--
Rod

On Sun, 29 Sep 2013 22:43:22 +0100, polygonum
wrote:

On 29/09/2013 22:36, David.WE.Roberts wrote:
We have one cold room in the house - a north facing lounge.

When the CH is on for the whole house this room is fine, but this time of
the year it is chilly when the rest of the house is warm, especially the
back of the house.


Just wondering if there were any other options.

Cheers

Dave R



Google "single gas wall heaters".

They have helped in your circumstances if the site is ok for fitting.

On 29/09/2013 22:43, polygonum wrote:
On 29/09/2013 22:36, David.WE.Roberts wrote:

Just wondering if there were any other options.

Cheers

Dave R

An infra-red heater such as the ones with a Philips Ruby lamp (e.g. 150
watt) is incredibly effective. There are lamps with similar effect which
emit no visible light - but I think they are more expensive.

This is a crap out-of-date link to a Lidl product:


http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/150w...rranty-1112636


Or a fan heater, especially one with a thermostat, provided you have the
discipline.

On Mon, 30 Sep 2013 17:43:59 +0100, newshound wrote:

An infra-red heater such as the ones with a Philips Ruby lamp
(e.g. 150
watt) is incredibly effective.

Don't infra red things just heat objects rather than the room. Good
for stopping you freezing in an unheated drafty garage but so so good
for comfort in a nominally heated space. Move out of the beam and you
are back into a cold enviroment...

Or a fan heater, especially one with a thermostat, provided you have the
discipline.

Fan heaters are good for quickly bringing a room up to temp but are
noisey and blow things about. An oil filled electric radiator is
slower to heat the room but is silent.

--
Cheers
Dave.

On 30/09/2013 18:22, Dave Liquorice wrote:
Don't infra red things just heat objects rather than the room. Good
for stopping you freezing in an unheated drafty garage but so so good
for comfort in a nominally heated space. Move out of the beam and you
are back into a cold enviroment...

In a previous work location, theoretically a properly heated building,
poor maintenance and crap design meant that the winters were cold. A
single IR lamp somewhere behind me changed my comfort dramatically. This
was a high-ceilinged room something like 15 by 25 metres and often me
being the only occupant.

I am not usually particularly cold-sensitive but I needed something. In
other offices in the same building, the so-common under-desk fan heaters
were widespread. Indeed, in the same office, when others were in, that
was universal.

--
Rod

On 29/09/13 22:36, David.WE.Roberts wrote:
We have one cold room in the house - a north facing lounge.

When the CH is on for the whole house this room is fine, but this time of
the year it is chilly when the rest of the house is warm, especially the
back of the house.

There was a (pretend coal, real flames) gas fire but this has been
disconnected and is due to be removed. Probably not the most efficient
room heater anyway because it would **** a lot of heat up the chimney.

So what is the best (most economical) option for providing single room
heating this time of year?

We could turn on the CH and then turn down the radiator thermostats in the
rest of the house but we have a strange reluctance to do this. The combi
boiler is working anyway so it isn't as if we have to relight the pilot
light to get the whole thing going like we did when we had a system boiler
which we turned off for the summer.

I suppose we could even install an additional zone so that there was an
independent heat control for the room.

I would like a wood burner but that has been vetoed because of the
additional mess - we know what it is like because we have one in the main
living area (ticking over nicely at the moment) and have had stoves and
open fires before.

We are due to lift the floor, insulate under, then relay (suspended wood
floor) so I did wonder about electric UFH; wet UFH seems silly when we
already have a radiator and we would have to put in a separate zone so it
would be cheaper just to zone the radiator.

All in all, an extra jumper or turn on the CH seems the logical way to go.

Just wondering if there were any other options.


I think insulation is probably the best option to start with, but
frankly, if its literally for the couple of weeks between 'no central
heating' and 'full central heating' why not just put in a dirt cheap
electric heater that will top that room up for the few week of the year
that it needs it?

Of course if you have TRVS and a main thermostat you can do as I do, and
run the CH anyway,. in the full knowledge that it will barely be heating
more than just the one room anyway.

Cheers

Dave R



--
Ineptocracy

(in-ep-toc-ra-cy) €“ a system of government where the least capable to
lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the
members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are
rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a
diminishing number of producers.

On 29/09/2013 23:12, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 29/09/13 22:36, David.WE.Roberts wrote:
We have one cold room in the house - a north facing lounge.

When the CH is on for the whole house this room is fine, but this time of
the year it is chilly when the rest of the house is warm, especially the
back of the house.

There was a (pretend coal, real flames) gas fire but this has been
disconnected and is due to be removed. Probably not the most efficient
room heater anyway because it would **** a lot of heat up the chimney.

So what is the best (most economical) option for providing single room
heating this time of year?

We could turn on the CH and then turn down the radiator thermostats in
the
rest of the house but we have a strange reluctance to do this. The combi
boiler is working anyway so it isn't as if we have to relight the pilot
light to get the whole thing going like we did when we had a system
boiler
which we turned off for the summer.

I suppose we could even install an additional zone so that there was an
independent heat control for the room.

I would like a wood burner but that has been vetoed because of the
additional mess - we know what it is like because we have one in the main
living area (ticking over nicely at the moment) and have had stoves and
open fires before.

We are due to lift the floor, insulate under, then relay (suspended wood
floor) so I did wonder about electric UFH; wet UFH seems silly when we
already have a radiator and we would have to put in a separate zone so it
would be cheaper just to zone the radiator.

All in all, an extra jumper or turn on the CH seems the logical way to
go.

Just wondering if there were any other options.


I think insulation is probably the best option to start with, but
frankly, if its literally for the couple of weeks between 'no central
heating' and 'full central heating' why not just put in a dirt cheap
electric heater that will top that room up for the few week of the year
that it needs it?

Of course if you have TRVS and a main thermostat you can do as I do, and
run the CH anyway,. in the full knowledge that it will barely be heating
more than just the one room anyway.

Too right, we have 10 rads, only 5 are ever used, too expensive.
Just going out to search for kindling. Although, those housebricks in
the centre of the living room make such a f****** mess

On 29 Sep 2013 21:36:20 GMT, David.WE.Roberts wrote:

We could turn on the CH and then turn down the radiator thermostats in
the rest of the house but we have a strange reluctance to do this.

Can understand that. CH should be fit, set and forget IMHO.

I suppose we could even install an additional zone so that there was an
independent heat control for the room.

That is an option but the layout of pipe work might not make that a
straight forward one.

I would like a wood burner but that has been vetoed because of the
additional mess ...

Poo, that was going to be my suggestion as you are messing about with
the fire place anyway. Also a backup heat source in the event of
power cuts etc but you already have woodburner so that hook isn't
very strong either.
Surprised you need it lit now, haven't lit ours since the 20th as
it's been warm enough with the CH just kicking in for 20 mins when
the set point goes from 18.5 to 20 for the evening.

We are due to lift the floor, insulate under, then relay (suspended wood
floor) so I did wonder about electric UFH; ...

Lot of lag in UFH, might be OK if you use the room a lot so can leave
it on. Otherwise you are heating a room from a relatively expensive
source for no good reason.

Think I'd go for a reasonable sized electric oil filled radiator with
thermostat. What are the walls? Would adding a bit of insulation to
the inside of the exterior walls be possible?

--
Cheers
Dave.

On Sun, 29 Sep 2013 23:05:00 +0100, Dave Liquorice wrote:

snip

Poo, that was going to be my suggestion as you are messing about with
the fire place anyway. Also a backup heat source in the event of power
cuts etc but you already have woodburner so that hook isn't very strong
either.
Surprised you need it lit now, haven't lit ours since the 20th as it's
been warm enough with the CH just kicking in for 20 mins when the set
point goes from 18.5 to 20 for the evening.

We are due to lift the floor, insulate under, then relay (suspended
wood floor) so I did wonder about electric UFH; ...
snip

[This answer covers several helpful posts]

Rear rooms of the house are kept toasty normally just by thermal gain.

The fire was first lit in anger when we had the cool snap a week or so
back. Not really needed - I'm just playing and checking out how well the
wood stock has dried out. Plus the cats love it being in over night.

The CH would probably not kick in because the rest of the house is at
least 20C - if the heating was turned on. If we were going down that route
we'd turn the rest of the house off and put the thermostat in the lounge.

In this row of houses the lounges are well known (notorious?) for being
cooler than the rest of the house - north side of the house and two
outside walls, plus draught under the suspended floor. Oh, and a bay
window to increase the heat loss.

We are going to tackle the draught and under floor cold by putting
Kingspan/Celotex in between the joists.

We have cavity wall insulation.

So apart from doing something drastic to the bay to reduce heat loss there
isn't much more on the insulation front that looks doable.

The room isn't icy - just runs a couple of degree C below the rest of the
house but it is noticeable when you go and sit in there to watch TV - and
it seems wrong somehow to have to put on a jumper to go into Cinema 1.

Possibly low level electric heating at skirting board level but I'm still
struggling with the cost of additional heating unless it is also
attractive.

As the chimney area is going to be turned into AV storage (kit racked up
inside the fireplace, wires up the chimney then through to the back of the
TV) the focus of the room from the seating arrangement isn't suitable for
a heating device any more.

Probably putting too much thought into something which is only an
inconvenience for a couple of months in a year.

I'm also irritated with myself because we have just had all new central
heating and could have included a separate zone for the lounge if I'd
thought it through more.

Cheers

Dave R

On 30/09/13 09:56, David.WE.Roberts wrote:
On Sun, 29 Sep 2013 23:05:00 +0100, Dave Liquorice wrote:

snip

Poo, that was going to be my suggestion as you are messing about with
the fire place anyway. Also a backup heat source in the event of power
cuts etc but you already have woodburner so that hook isn't very strong
either.
Surprised you need it lit now, haven't lit ours since the 20th as it's
been warm enough with the CH just kicking in for 20 mins when the set
point goes from 18.5 to 20 for the evening.

We are due to lift the floor, insulate under, then relay (suspended
wood floor) so I did wonder about electric UFH; ...
snip

[This answer covers several helpful posts]

Rear rooms of the house are kept toasty normally just by thermal gain.

The fire was first lit in anger when we had the cool snap a week or so
back. Not really needed - I'm just playing and checking out how well the
wood stock has dried out. Plus the cats love it being in over night.

The CH would probably not kick in because the rest of the house is at
least 20C - if the heating was turned on. If we were going down that route
we'd turn the rest of the house off and put the thermostat in the lounge.

In this row of houses the lounges are well known (notorious?) for being
cooler than the rest of the house - north side of the house and two
outside walls, plus draught under the suspended floor. Oh, and a bay
window to increase the heat loss.

We are going to tackle the draught and under floor cold by putting
Kingspan/Celotex in between the joists.

We have cavity wall insulation.

So apart from doing something drastic to the bay to reduce heat loss there
isn't much more on the insulation front that looks doable.

The room isn't icy - just runs a couple of degree C below the rest of the
house but it is noticeable when you go and sit in there to watch TV - and
it seems wrong somehow to have to put on a jumper to go into Cinema 1.

Possibly low level electric heating at skirting board level but I'm still
struggling with the cost of additional heating unless it is also
attractive.

As the chimney area is going to be turned into AV storage (kit racked up
inside the fireplace, wires up the chimney then through to the back of the
TV) the focus of the room from the seating arrangement isn't suitable for
a heating device any more.

Probably putting too much thought into something which is only an
inconvenience for a couple of months in a year.

I'm also irritated with myself because we have just had all new central
heating and could have included a separate zone for the lounge if I'd
thought it through more.

Actually if you have underfloor space to run extar pipework and wires
and you already have rads in there, adding the zone my not be that hard.

a local thermostat and local motorised valve fed from the CH timer, ort
s erpate one, and prviding an alternative 'call for heat' too te CH
system will wortk

You just have to pipe it in upstream of the MV that controls the rest of
the house. Thats one hot pipe to run - the return can stay as is.
In fact you can stuck te MV in te same place as the other one, and have
the pipe downstream of that. Makes the wiring easier.

If ou use an RF stat, uyou dont even need to expoend the wiring, so teh
joib becomes

- add one more MV take off from the boilerfeed, and a pipe from that to
the room radiators, blanking off the old pipe.

- install RF stat reciever in Ch 'cupboard' to drive new MV
- wire the MV switche outoputs in parellel toexisting CH MV conatcts.
- install RF stat TX in room.

The only time consuming bit is the new MV and the only hard bit is
running the new pipe under the floor and lagging it.

Cost are pretty low - a coupole of hundred parts wise at the most.


Cheers

Dave R



--
Ineptocracy

(in-ep-toc-ra-cy) €“ a system of government where the least capable to
lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the
members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are
rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a
diminishing number of producers.

The room isn't icy - just runs a couple of degree C below the rest of the
house but it is noticeable when you go and sit in there to watch TV - and
it seems wrong somehow to have to put on a jumper to go into Cinema 1.

Swap the TV for a nice big plasma, turn it on half an hour before you go
into the room to watch TV, and it'll be nice and warm in there

If you have a server or other computer that is on a lot of the time, can you
re-locate it to live in the cold room? thus utilising the heat it kicks out
to warm the room,

On Mon, 30 Sep 2013 11:59:16 +0100, Gazz wrote:

The room isn't icy - just runs a couple of degree C below the rest of
the house but it is noticeable when you go and sit in there to watch TV
- and it seems wrong somehow to have to put on a jumper to go into
Cinema 1.

Swap the TV for a nice big plasma, turn it on half an hour before you go
into the room to watch TV, and it'll be nice and warm in there

If you have a server or other computer that is on a lot of the time, can
you re-locate it to live in the cold room? thus utilising the heat it
kicks out to warm the room,

Nice plan except for:

(1) We already have a 42" plasma screen in there, and going larger for the
extra heat output may not play well in certain quarters.

(2) My pleasures are few and simple (like my children) but one is
irritating errr...assisting people on the Internet so I have a floor
standing computer here in the main living room. I can sit here whilst my
Lady Wife watches the TV in the lounge. I think that I would find Corrie
and the X Factor a bit of a distraction if I moved into the lounge. I also
play the occasional bit of music through the computer - again, this could
cause contention if it was co-located with the TV. The Media Server is due
to go in there in the fullness of time so that will add a bit to the heat
( a few hundred watts, perhaps). Have to finish wiring in the Ethernet
first, though.

Still, as I said, a nice plan :-)

Cheers

Dave R

On 30/09/13 13:42, David.WE.Roberts wrote:
The Media Server is due
to go in there in the fullness of time so that will add a bit to the heat
( a few hundred watts, perhaps)

??? mines barely 10 watts..




--
Ineptocracy

(in-ep-toc-ra-cy) €“ a system of government where the least capable to
lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the
members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are
rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a
diminishing number of producers.

On 30 Sep 2013 12:42:12 GMT, David.WE.Roberts wrote:

(2) My pleasures are few and simple (like my children) but one is
irritating errr...assisting people on the Internet so I have a floor
standing computer here in the main living room. I can sit here whilst my
Lady Wife watches the TV in the lounge. I think that I would find Corrie
and the X Factor a bit of a distraction if I moved into the lounge. I
also play the occasional bit of music through the computer - again, this
could cause contention if it was co-located with the TV.

Extend the cables from the unit to your work station. Shoving the
nasty noisy heat generating box out into the lounge...

The Media Server is due to go in there in the fullness of time so that
will add a bit to the heat (a few hundred watts, perhaps).

Good grief what's it going to be! Some octo cored 50 GHz thing? Just
ordered a Raspberry Pi to use as a media player, that'll be about 2.5
W, the NAS that it will play from is about 10 W. My PC, an ancient
single core 1 GHz Athlon, takes about 100 W. I really ought to look
at replacing it with a less power hungry and many times more powerful
modern box.

--
Cheers
Dave.

David.WE.Roberts wrote:
(2) My pleasures are few and simple (like my children) but one is
irritating errr...assisting people on the Internet so I have a floor
standing computer here in the main living room. I can sit here whilst my
Lady Wife watches the TV in the lounge. I think that I would find Corrie
and the X Factor a bit of a distraction if I moved into the lounge. I also
play the occasional bit of music through the computer - again, this could
cause contention if it was co-located with the TV. The Media Server is due
to go in there in the fullness of time so that will add a bit to the heat
( a few hundred watts, perhaps). Have to finish wiring in the Ethernet
first, though.

You could, depending on the layout, use extension cables for the
keyboard, mouse and monitor. ;-)

She'd probably co,mplain about the noise fomr the fans, though.


--
Tciao for Now!

John.

On Sunday, September 29, 2013 10:36:20 PM UTC+1, David.WE.Roberts wrote:
There was a (pretend coal, real flames) gas fire but this has been
disconnected and is due to be removed. Probably not the most efficient
room heater anyway because it would **** a lot of heat up the chimney.

They vary widely in efficiency; a glass fronted room heater may be 70-80% efficient or more; a Decorative Flame Effect 'bed of coals' might only be 25% efficient.

Claims 89% efficiency
http://www.fireplacesareus.co.uk/sho...-gas-fire.html

Owain

On 29/09/2013 22:36, David.WE.Roberts wrote:
We have one cold room in the house - a north facing lounge.

When the CH is on for the whole house this room is fine, but this time of
the year it is chilly when the rest of the house is warm, especially the
back of the house.

There was a (pretend coal, real flames) gas fire but this has been
disconnected and is due to be removed. Probably not the most efficient
room heater anyway because it would **** a lot of heat up the chimney.

So what is the best (most economical) option for providing single room
heating this time of year?

We could turn on the CH and then turn down the radiator thermostats in the
rest of the house but we have a strange reluctance to do this. The combi
boiler is working anyway so it isn't as if we have to relight the pilot
light to get the whole thing going like we did when we had a system boiler
which we turned off for the summer.

I suppose we could even install an additional zone so that there was an
independent heat control for the room.

I would like a wood burner but that has been vetoed because of the
additional mess - we know what it is like because we have one in the main
living area (ticking over nicely at the moment) and have had stoves and
open fires before.

We are due to lift the floor, insulate under, then relay (suspended wood
floor) so I did wonder about electric UFH; wet UFH seems silly when we
already have a radiator and we would have to put in a separate zone so it
would be cheaper just to zone the radiator.

All in all, an extra jumper or turn on the CH seems the logical way to go.

Just wondering if there were any other options.

Cheers

Dave R

If the plumbing implications are not too horrific, I'd go for a separate
CH zone.
--
Cheers,
Roger
____________
Please reply to Newsgroup. Whilst email address is valid, it is seldom
checked.

David.WE.Roberts wrote:

We have one cold room in the house - a north facing lounge.

When the CH is on for the whole house this room is fine, but this time
of the year it is chilly when the rest of the house is warm,
especially the back of the house.

There was a (pretend coal, real flames) gas fire but this has been
disconnected and is due to be removed. Probably not the most efficient
room heater anyway because it would **** a lot of heat up the chimney.

So what is the best (most economical) option for providing single room
heating this time of year?

We could turn on the CH and then turn down the radiator thermostats in
the rest of the house but we have a strange reluctance to do this. The
combi boiler is working anyway so it isn't as if we have to relight
the pilot light to get the whole thing going like we did when we had a
system boiler which we turned off for the summer.

I suppose we could even install an additional zone so that there was
an independent heat control for the room.

I would like a wood burner but that has been vetoed because of the
additional mess - we know what it is like because we have one in the
main living area (ticking over nicely at the moment) and have had
stoves and open fires before.

We are due to lift the floor, insulate under, then relay (suspended
wood floor) so I did wonder about electric UFH; wet UFH seems silly
when we already have a radiator and we would have to put in a separate
zone so it would be cheaper just to zone the radiator.

All in all, an extra jumper or turn on the CH seems the logical way to
go.

Just wondering if there were any other options.

Cheers

Dave R
Get a free standing radiant electric heater. Cheap to buy and easy to
install and use. You'll feel the warmth. One that oscillates on its
stand may be an improvement.

Edgar

"David.WE.Roberts" wrote in message
...
We have one cold room in the house - a north facing lounge.

When the CH is on for the whole house this room is fine, but this time of
the year it is chilly when the rest of the house is warm, especially the
back of the house.

There was a (pretend coal, real flames) gas fire but this has been
disconnected and is due to be removed. Probably not the most efficient
room heater anyway because it would **** a lot of heat up the chimney.

So what is the best (most economical) option for providing single room
heating this time of year?

We could turn on the CH and then turn down the radiator thermostats in the
rest of the house but we have a strange reluctance to do this. The combi
boiler is working anyway so it isn't as if we have to relight the pilot
light to get the whole thing going like we did when we had a system boiler
which we turned off for the summer.

I suppose we could even install an additional zone so that there was an
independent heat control for the room.

I would like a wood burner but that has been vetoed because of the
additional mess - we know what it is like because we have one in the main
living area (ticking over nicely at the moment) and have had stoves and
open fires before.

We are due to lift the floor, insulate under, then relay (suspended wood
floor) so I did wonder about electric UFH; wet UFH seems silly when we
already have a radiator and we would have to put in a separate zone so it
would be cheaper just to zone the radiator.

All in all, an extra jumper or turn on the CH seems the logical way to go.

Just wondering if there were any other options.


Get some insulation in. Look at your draught proofing.
Astonishing you need any heat in this weather. You house must be leaking
heat like a sieve.
Conventional woodburners (and gas fires) are somewhat counter productive as
they must draw cold air into the room.
This may be your major problem, maybe it's coming in via the lounge.
You can get room sealed gas heaters and fires for a single room, they need
regular maintenance (as with all gas appliances.)
It would be good if your house could be surveyed with a thermal image
camera. (Cold weather job)

You can get room sealed wood burners too.

If you are lifting the floor, you might consider installing a solid floor
(+wet UFH?) with 150 or 200mm insulation below.
Wet UFH makes your boiler more efficient.
It's quite difficult insulating below a suspended floor, especially if
there's not a lot of space below.

It all might seem a lot of trouble/expense but you are doing it for
tomorrows energy prices, not todays

On Mon, 30 Sep 2013 08:28:53 +0100, "harryagain"
wrote:

It all might seem a lot of trouble/expense but you are doing it for
tomorrows energy prices, not todays

The future is fracked gas, too cheap to meter. No need for thermostats, just
open a window.

--

In article ,
The Other Mike wrote:

The future is fracked gas, too cheap to meter. No need for thermostats, just
open a window.

A colleague told me of a large US research institute built just before
the 1970s oil crisis, in which the air conditioning worked by having
chilled air piped to each room, where it was heated by gas if required
by the thermostat setting.

-- Richard

On 01/10/13 10:16, The Other Mike wrote:
On Mon, 30 Sep 2013 08:28:53 +0100, "harryagain"
wrote:

It all might seem a lot of trouble/expense but you are doing it for
tomorrows energy prices, not todays

The future is fracked gas, too cheap to meter. No need for thermostats, just
open a window.

not after the government have taxed the crap out of it..


--
Ineptocracy

(in-ep-toc-ra-cy) €“ a system of government where the least capable to
lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the
members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are
rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a
diminishing number of producers.

In article ,
David.WE.Roberts wrote:

Just wondering if there were any other options.

Not sure about the economics, but I use a 2KW electric fan heater with
a thermostat for the times I don't want to fire up the wood burner in my
(home) office - also north facing... Might be a cheap stop-gap if you're
planning in UFH, etc. anyway.

Gordon

On 29/09/2013 22:36, David.WE.Roberts wrote:
We have one cold room in the house - a north facing lounge.

When the CH is on for the whole house this room is fine, but this time of
the year it is chilly when the rest of the house is warm, especially the
back of the house.

There was a (pretend coal, real flames) gas fire but this has been
disconnected and is due to be removed. Probably not the most efficient
room heater anyway because it would **** a lot of heat up the chimney.

So what is the best (most economical) option for providing single room
heating this time of year?

We could turn on the CH and then turn down the radiator thermostats in the
rest of the house but we have a strange reluctance to do this. The combi
boiler is working anyway so it isn't as if we have to relight the pilot
light to get the whole thing going like we did when we had a system boiler
which we turned off for the summer.

I suppose we could even install an additional zone so that there was an
independent heat control for the room.

I would like a wood burner but that has been vetoed because of the
additional mess - we know what it is like because we have one in the main
living area (ticking over nicely at the moment) and have had stoves and
open fires before.

We are due to lift the floor, insulate under, then relay (suspended wood
floor) so I did wonder about electric UFH; wet UFH seems silly when we
already have a radiator and we would have to put in a separate zone so it
would be cheaper just to zone the radiator.

All in all, an extra jumper or turn on the CH seems the logical way to go.

Just wondering if there were any other options.

Cheers

Dave R

It's not really like me to advocate moderation in many things (!) but
you ~may~ find that the floor insulation makes enough of a difference to
resolve things, so I would try that first. We put 3 inches of celotex
under the living room floor and (though a minor issue) some insulated
plasterboard on the north facing external wall (minor because it was the
27mm thermaline plus and was mostly chosen to level up to the coving - a
dirty great window covers 75% of that wall, so little effect likely).
At the same time, we fitted new radiators (probably no big effect, just
better looking and physically smaller). This together instantly made it
the warmest room in the house.
Anyway, my conclusion is that the underfloor insulation made the biggest
difference. I don't know if it's the insulating properties or the
draught proofing effect, but I suspect the latter is more important, so
it's likely that thinner celotex would be as effective.
I've just put 200mm of loft insulation under the dining room floor (from
beneath) but can't tell if it's had much effect as it hasn't really been
cold enough yet.

On Mon, 30 Sep 2013 22:25:15 +0100, GMM wrote:

On 29/09/2013 22:36, David.WE.Roberts wrote:
We have one cold room in the house - a north facing lounge.
snip

We are due to lift the floor, insulate under, then relay (suspended
wood floor) so I did wonder about electric UFH; wet UFH seems silly
when we already have a radiator and we would have to put in a separate
zone so it would be cheaper just to zone the radiator.
snip

It's not really like me to advocate moderation in many things (!) but
you ~may~ find that the floor insulation makes enough of a difference to
resolve things, so I would try that first. We put 3 inches of celotex
under the living room floor and (though a minor issue) some insulated
plasterboard on the north facing external wall (minor because it was the
27mm thermaline plus and was mostly chosen to level up to the coving - a
dirty great window covers 75% of that wall, so little effect likely). At
the same time, we fitted new radiators (probably no big effect, just
better looking and physically smaller). This together instantly made it
the warmest room in the house.
Anyway, my conclusion is that the underfloor insulation made the biggest
difference. I don't know if it's the insulating properties or the
draught proofing effect, but I suspect the latter is more important, so
it's likely that thinner celotex would be as effective.
I've just put 200mm of loft insulation under the dining room floor (from
beneath) but can't tell if it's had much effect as it hasn't really been
cold enough yet.

The joists are 2 * 4 so we will only be putting 4" of Celotex in there.

This should do the draught proofing and insulation without the ventilation
problems you get if you try to encase the joists.

Probably also replace the floor boards with chipboard as we are likely to
damage some of the boards when lifting them, and this also further reduces
draughts.

So we shall see if this improves things.

Not enough room under the joists to do anything from below unless we find
a very able small child.

Cheers

Dave R