Heater Thread 2021

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tchart

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#285927 26-May-2021 12:33

My home office is detached from the house - its a 10m2 glorified wooden shed - which gets cold overnight in winter. I currently have a small fan heater which mostly works fine but the temperature fluctuates wildly so even with the thermostat (and Netatmo automation) I find I have to constanty turn it on or off.

Im after a quiet heater that I can leave running overnight if need be.

Currently leaning towards an oil column heater since this would at least store some residual heat and not just be an on/off heat source.

There was a thread regarding heaters in 2019 that suggested convector heaters but Im guessing there would still be fan noise and risk leaving it on overnight.

I see there are "oil free" column heaters but they just seem to be convection heaters in reality.

Any thoughts?

timmmay

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#2713223 26-May-2021 14:51

Is the shed insulated? If not could it be insulated?

I probably wouldn't bother heating overnight personally. My office is attached to my house, it's well insulated, I have the heating come on an hour before I start. I use a fan heater and an oil heater, with the fan heater blowing through the oil heater so the heat doesn't just go up.

qwertee

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#2713247 26-May-2021 15:05

Have you looked into an infrared heater?

Had one installed (a rectangular panel) on the ceiling on a portacomm unit , that was quite nice to work under.
Cant remember the brand though . Something like this https://infraredpanels.co.nz/

cheers

tchart

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#2713668 27-May-2021 11:10

@timmmay the floor is insulated, walls are made from 28mm thick wood panels (not lined or anything) and the roof is wood+roofing felt (bitumen)+corrugate over it.

The reason I dont like switching the heater off overnight is due to all of the electronic equipment in the office.

This is only my second winter working in it so will probably add some ceiling insulation from the inside soon as while there is no ceiling cavity there are joists that I can jam some polysytrene sheets inbetween.

@qwertee I did consider that but reviews are mixed.

Ive read some reviews and end up getting one of these this morning based on good feedback. Seems to throw out a good amount of heat so far but will see how it goes and report back.

https://www.delonghi.com/en-nz/trrs0510t-radia-s-oil-filled-radiator/p/TRRS0510T

Handsomedan

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#2713763 27-May-2021 12:58

We used to use a convection heater pre-heatpump.

My parents now use it and love it.

https://www.tradetested.co.nz/p/home-outdoor-living/heating-cooling/indoor-heaters/noirot-spot-plus-convection-heater-2400w-5691?gclid=CjwKCAjw47eFBhA9EiwAy8kzNPUkAzjx7YXw4hqsh7bojGhJuEKazfYsxSsWkdVNYNK0DvNHIPzEXRoCE7sQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Quite expensive, but super-efficient. Or at least it appeared that way.

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timmmay

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#2713778 27-May-2021 13:10

Handsomedan:

We used to use a convection heater pre-heatpump.

My parents now use it and love it.

https://www.tradetested.co.nz/p/home-outdoor-living/heating-cooling/indoor-heaters/noirot-spot-plus-convection-heater-2400w-5691?gclid=CjwKCAjw47eFBhA9EiwAy8kzNPUkAzjx7YXw4hqsh7bojGhJuEKazfYsxSsWkdVNYNK0DvNHIPzEXRoCE7sQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Quite expensive, but super-efficient. Or at least it appeared that way.

All heaters that are not heat pumps are equally efficient. Some are more effective, fan heaters for example put air where it is needed.

sidefx

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#2713781 27-May-2021 13:12

tchart:

The reason I dont like switching the heater off overnight is due to all of the electronic equipment in the office.

Isn't being cooler a bonus then?

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tchart

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#2713799 27-May-2021 13:46

sidefx:

Isn't being cooler a bonus then?

Haha, its more for avoiding condensation (unlikely but Im trying to avoid sharp temperture changes). If I had some servers in here then I'd be quite warm 😎

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tchart

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#2713987 27-May-2021 16:19

Initial results are promising. Will see how it goes overnight.

Yesterday with fan heater, see how its very spiky

Today with new oil fin heater (from approx 11am) similar day time temp as yesterday. Probably need to fine tune the thermo stat as 19 is ideal temp.

timmmay

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#2714065 27-May-2021 18:57

What hardware and software do you use for those temperature graphs @tchart? I may have asked you this before...

tchart

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#2714365 28-May-2021 10:16

Hi @timmmay the charts are just from Netatmo. I know a lot of people complain that they are pricey but Ive had mine for 5+ years now so its been a worthwhile investment.

I only recently bought another (second hand) station for my office so that can automate the heater more efficiently (using IFTTT).

Oil Heater (Thursday) - around 9pm I changed the thermostat setting (thats why the temp picks up towards the end of the graph). Still think there is a bit of tweaking to do between the thermostat and Netatmo.

Fan Heater (Tuesday)

tchart

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#2717508 3-Jun-2021 07:16

One more update - pretty happy with the oil fin heater.

Office is now a more constant temperature during the day instead of either sweating or freezing.

Being only a 1000W heater it does struggle with the colder temperatures (got down to ~3C overnight) but the office was still pleasant when I came in at 6am.

Goosey

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#2717510 3-Jun-2021 07:42

Others might chime in, my thoughts are;

Overnight - run a dehumidifier

Day - run a infrared or oil

Long term... Could you retrofit the walls and ceiling with insulation? (add a 30-50mm gap using battons and thin ply or gib and fill with batts)?

- mind you, could be cheaper to replace the 'shed'.

SomeoneSomewhere

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#2719005 6-Jun-2021 18:48

I would be looking at some of the foam-board style insulation. Nail/glue it up and don't worry too much about wall linings. A 1kW heater running close to 24/7 is going to get expensive fast.

For the heater, try to find one with an electronic solid-state thermostat so you don't have any noise from switching, and hopefully more responsive control.