Best Heater For Living Area?

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da5id

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#237647 11-Jun-2018 16:09

Does anyone know the best type/kind of heater to heat a moderate, 4.1 metre x 7 metre sized lounge area?

Like the wattage needed, and the best kind of heater? Oil, or convection, etc?

There's a small fan heater in there now, but it's not really warm enough and probably uses too much power.

ps, this is a rental, so we can't be putting in a heat pump.

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#2033739 11-Jun-2018 16:15

We bought a dimplex unique panel heater (from mitre 10) for our bedroom. It's about 5 x 5m and we bought a 0.75kW heater. It's sufficient for the bedroom but for a living area I would look at about 1.5kW.

Simple heater and they crank out the heat much faster than an oil heater.

It's also possible to buy an optional 7-day timer or an optional unit that enables control of multiple heaters via WiFi.

Mike

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wellygary

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#2033741 11-Jun-2018 16:20

Like the wattage needed, and the best kind of heater? Oil, or convection, etc?

There's a small fan heater in there now, but it's not really warm enough and probably uses too much power

If you want to be warmer you will need a bigger heater and that will use more power

All resistance heating ( whether it be oil, fan or radiant panel) has a performance co-efficient of about 1

Fans heaters can move warm air around a bit more ( and are noisy) - but the overall efficiency to heat a room is the same....

timmmay

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#2033742 11-Jun-2018 16:27

A heat pump costs more ($3K or so) but will give you 3-4 units of heat for every unit of power. Great for warming a room or even a few rooms, depending on size. Every other heater is equally efficient, but a fan heater directs the heat better than say a convection heater. I don't like radiant heaters, I want the whole area warm not just a glow.

mattwnz

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#2033744 11-Jun-2018 16:29

It all depends on how quickly the room loses the heat. Insulation, airflow etc.The max heater wattage is around the 2400 watt mark. SO it largely comes down to how many of those you need. We have a an oil one for a living area and it is fine. Apparently they are best combined with a fan to move the heat around.

Oblivian

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#2033751 11-Jun-2018 16:43

One of these!

/joking/ But man the infomercial had me laughing. They're being pimped in NZ by the annoying ladder/cooker/painting guy

alasta

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#2033753 11-Jun-2018 16:56

My living room is about 4m x 5m and I use a 1.5kw oil column heater which works pretty well, but it is very slow to heat up the room. Ideally it needs to be switched on an hour before the room is occupied.

If you need to heat the room more quickly then a convection heater, or oil column with a fan would be advisable. Since your living room is a bit bigger than mine I would be inclined to go for 2kw.

If you don't already have a dehumidifier then you may want to consider getting one. Heaters work better with dry air, and dehumidifiers work better with warm air, so they work well together. Also, the dehumidifier will release some latent heat from the moist air.

wellygary

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#2033757 11-Jun-2018 17:05

Oblivian:

One of these!

/joking/ But man the infomercial had me laughing. They're being pimped in NZ by the annoying ladder/cooker/painting guy

I looked up the website of these in NZ ( and no I'm not going to link to it)

"powerful 370 Watt" - well there are 2 words in that phrase that are a contradiction if you are talking about heating a room....

da5id

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#2033761 11-Jun-2018 17:33

Thanks guys, that gives me plenty to go on with.

It really is miserable weather out there - yuck...

neb

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#2033778 11-Jun-2018 18:09

da5id:
Does anyone know the best type/kind of heater to heat a moderate, 4.1 metre x 7 metre sized lounge area?, this is a rental, so we can't be putting in a heat pump.

If you want low-cost heating, have you considered this solution? It's carbon-neutral, and with the right tenants they'll be practically heating themselves.

nickb800

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#2033852 11-Jun-2018 19:07

If it's an old/draughty place, then I'd be looking at a radiant or fan heater. If it's more modern and not draughty, then perhaps oil column or ceramic heater (e.g. Dimplex unique).

nickb800

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#2033854 11-Jun-2018 19:10

Also, turns out that Handy Heater actually exists. Available on Amazon (with Geekzone affiliate link)

wazzageek

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#2033907 11-Jun-2018 20:29

(I've assumed that you are renting, not the landlord)

When we used to rent, we had a portable aircon unit - that seemed to be good at both heating and cooling our unit in Auckland. We got permission from the landlord to have a small hole cut in one of the windows (we replaced the glass when we moved out) and used that to "exhaust" the air con unit.

The two downsides was the size of the unit, along with the noise (all the noisy bits are in the house with you, as opposed to a split unit which puts the noisiest bits outdoors.

One bonus was that the unit worked very well as a dehumidifier as well.

Note that this solution requires you to consider the cost of replacing / fixing any holes cut. (From memory the unit was just under a thousand, replacing the window was circa $120)

Aredwood

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#2033953 11-Jun-2018 21:19

Consider offering the landlord $10 per week extra rent if they install a heatpump. Assuming $2k install costs, it would be paid for in 4 years time, while it will have a 5 year or so warranty. And having the heatpump will make the property more desirable to tenants, so the landlord should still be able to get that extra rent from future tenants also.

And if you currently use 8 units of power per day on electric heaters, assuming that the heatpump has a COP of at least 4, and power costs 25c per unit. You will save enough on power to pay for the extra rent.

Although I haven't considered weeks when no heating is needed. Or use of money costs to the landlord. But the landlord will get some tax advantages. While you will get faster heating, and the option of summer aircon. To also help offset the extra rent.

MullyAKL

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#2034218 12-Jun-2018 10:52

Aredwood: Consider offering the landlord $10 per week extra rent if they install a heatpump. .

This.

Maybe just ask the landlord in the first instance. If you're a good tenant, he may do it anyway. Our old landlord was great.

Fred99

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#2034256 12-Jun-2018 11:26

You used to be able to buy units like this in NZ. I bought one about 12 years ago with Delonghi branding, quick-fit adapters and pre-charged with refrigerant. Cost about $1000. Took about an hour to install. It lasted about 10 years, and worked "okay" over that time.

Lower COP than quality units, and placement is limited due to the length of hose. As I understand it, they were taken off the market in NZ/Aus because the power to the external unit was supplied via the indoor unit (which plugged in to a standard wall outlet), there was no power isolation switch for the fixed wiring to the outdoor unit and so they didn't meet regs.

Apparently they do seem to meet UK regs:

http://www.aircondiy.com/kfr51gw.shtml

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