What Is The Cheapest Way to Heat A Room
With the cost of living biting almost as much as the chill of winter it’s understandable you may be looking for the cheapest way to heat a room.
Over half the of your energy bill is spent on heating and hot water, so it’s smart to find ways to make savings and efficiencies.
Our energy bill has more than doubled in the last year and we’ve been looking for ways to reduce what we spend on heating our home!
One of the quickest hacks for heating a room for less money is to turn down the temperature on your thermostat – even one degree lower can cut bills by 10% – and turn down radiators in the rooms you aren’t using.
Radiator valves are low-cost but the Energy Saving Trust estimates you can save up to £150 by using them to turn down radiators in rooms you aren’t using.
But what’s the cheapest way to heat a room? Let’s take a look at the options.
Cheapest way to heat a room
When considering the cheapest ways to heat a room it’s first important to understand that the price of gas is cheaper than electricity.
At the time of writing this article the energy price guarantee from Ofgem is 34p per kWh for electricity and 10p per kWh for gas.
So on the face of it, relying on your gas central heating is cheaper.
But there are so many variables, such as how large the space is you want to heat and for how long, how efficient your boiler is and how well insulated your home is.
Gas central heating
Broadly speaking if you have gas central heating then this is going to be the cheapest and most efficient way to heat a room.
Joanna O’Loan, knowledge manager at Energy Saving Trust, said: “There are several factors that will affect this, but if you have gas central heating, it is generally advisable to use this over individual electric heaters, if you’re looking to keep costs low.
“Despite the recent price rises, gas is still roughly three times cheaper than electricity per unit. To use your central heating just for heating one room, we’d suggest using your radiator valves if you have them. Turn the radiator valve high in the room you’re in and low or off in the rooms you’re not using.”
Electric heating system
The cost of using electricity is more than gas, but that’s not the end of the debate.
Options for electric heating systems are quite vast, from storage heaters to underfloor heating.
Plus electric heating is 100% efficient, whereas has central heating can lose up to 50% of the heat produced by the boiler, and electric heating does not require annual servicing. Nor will you have to worry about the cost of replacing a boiler, which tends to come around every 15 years.
You could save money on an electric heating system by switching it off during peak times – taking advantage of off-peak tariffs.
A smart control for your home’s heating can help you set a schedule so you don’t even need to think about it.
Despite all of these considerations, using a system that uses electricity to heat your home will cost more.
Checkatrade calculated the total cost of heating a home over the course of a year would be £5,000 for electricity compared to £1,181 with gas.
Plug-in heater
You may be wondering if it’s cheaper to use a plug-in heater or your central heating system. The answer is, it very much depends on the circumstances! In particular, how long you need to heat the room for.
Fan heaters are cheap and handy as they are small and compact.
While a fan heater gives off heat immediately and will make you feel warm straight away, it won’t necessarily manage to heat an entire room to the same degree that your radiators would.
Sit close enough to it and you’ll benefit most from the heat, however if you’re trying to heat a whole room so all of you feel warmer, you’ll notice it won’t get the room as toasty as your radiator.
Once you switch it off the heat goes away nearly immediately.
If your fan heater is 2000W then it will cost 68p an hour to run. Doesn’t sound like much, but if you run it for a full day – say 12 hours – the cost is £8.16 for the day.
We relied on two small fan heaters for heating when our central heating went on the blink and although they are tiny, they made our living room warm and kept my children snug at night.
They need to be angled so they are pointing at the person you want to warm up.
How much they cost to run depends on the wattage of the appliance that you have purchased – some are more efficient than others.
You can estimate how much your appliance will cost using the energy price guarantee from Ofgem, which at the time of writing this article is 34p per kWh.
Is it cheaper to heat one room?
Yes it is cheaper to only heat one room, and it can be cheaper to use a small fan heater than your central heating.
Let’s say you want to heat your living room for four hours in the evening.
Using a small plug-in fan heater that is 2000W will cost 68p an hour to run, or £2.72 for the full four hours.
We can estimate central heating costs £2.40 an hour to run, which would be £9.60 for four hours – so therefore the small fan heater is cheaper. IF you do only want to heat the one room.
Whether this works out cheaper AND more efficient to warm you and all your family depends on how large the space is you want to heat, how many people you need to warm, and how long you need it to heat you for.
In my case when I relied on our small heaters to warm our living room, we only had them on for around four hours in the evenings. So that’s not too expensive.
If you’re planning to use it sparingly to warm yourself while you work from home this may be your cheapest option.
Cheapest way to heat a room without electricity
If you want to avoid using electricity, or gas central heating, to heat your room then you need to reduce heat loss from your home.
Many actions to reduce heat loss may cost you a sum upfront, for example improving cavity wall insulation, loft insulation and replacing single pane windows and doors with double glazing.
But there are cheaper options.
Here are a few other ways to heat your room that avoid using electricity:
Utilise sunlight
When you’re lucky enough to get a sunny day in winter, have the curtains open and allow the heat of the sun to warm the room.
Keep doors closed
A key way to keep your home warm is to stop draughts.
For us our hallway brings down the temperature of our living room significantly, so in winter we always keep the door shut to prevent heat leaching out.
Invest in heavy curtains
Thicker curtains can help to block out draughts from windows. Some people also place curtains at their front door to prevent draughts from there.
Researchers from the University of Salford found that drawing curtains at dusk can reduce heat loss by 15 to 17%.
Look for thermal curtains which have multiple layers of fabric – you can find some really lovely budget options so this is a nice low cost action that can have good results.
Upgrade windows to double glazing
It is estimated that 18% of heat loss occurs through windows. So if you can invest in double glazing then this can help to keep heat in your home.
Look for windows with with an energy rating of A+ if you are shopping around for new ones, as these have the highest rating and will save you more money on heating.
It can also help to have trickle vents in your windows, which you open in the winter to improve air circulation, reducing condensation without losing heat.
Seal draughts
Plugging up any gaps around windows, doors and chimneys can prevent heat loss from your home.
The Energy Saving Trust estimates you can save £90 a year by draught-proofing chimneys.
You can refresh putty around windows and doors and use caulk to plug any gaps around the window and window sill.
If you are unlucky enough to have a window with a crack in it then you can try putting a little clear nail polish over the crack.
Invest in solar panels
If you are looking to save money then this may not be top of your list as they require a large investment.
But you can reduce your energy bills significantly with solar panels. These work best to reduce your energy bills where you have an electric heating system.
How much solar panels could save you varies massively depending on the size of the system you install and how efficient it is. You can read more about how much solar panels can save you here.
TikTok heating trends to avoid
Unless you have a fireplace in your room that’s safe to use, then there aren’t any other ways to safely use fire to heat your room.
With the cost of living hitting people hard in the pocket, people have been sharing unusual and dangerous hacks to heat a room that don’t involve switching on the heating.
Unfortunately some of these have resulted in fires, so they’re definitely something you should avoid.
Other ways to keep a room warm
A cheap way of making a room feel warmer is to heat the human not the home.
This can be done with stuff you may already have or by investing in a few inexpensive items that can help.
Here are a few ideas:
Heated blanket
These plug into the mains and make you feel toasty warm within minutes.
There are lots of options on the market now, with prices starting at around £25.
Cost: 3p per hour
Microwaveable wheat bag
Pop these into the microwave for a minute and you’ll have something warm to pop under a blanket or put on your lap while working.
Cost: Less than 1p per use
Hot water bottle
This is an alternative to the microwaveable hot bag. It’s about the same cost to boil your kettle as it is to run your microwave to heat the wheat bag.
Cost: 1p per use
Wearable blanket
My daughter has a wearable blanket and it is the softest, cosiest looking outfit.
These fit over the head and often include a hood. Some have arms, like a jumper, whereas others fit like a poncho.
Cost: Initial outlay for blanket, then free
Layer up your clothes
Wear a thermal vest and add a long sleeved top, T-shirt and then jumper to keep you warm. Choose fleece-lined leggings or cosy jogging bottoms for your legs.
Cost: Free if you use existing clothes. Thermal vests cost from £5.
Try USB powered wearable heating devices
If you’re already using your computer for work then you may as well take advantage of USB powered devices such as heated gloves and hand warmers.
Cost: Less than 1p per hour
Final thoughts
If you’re looking to make a room warm then the cheapest option is probably going to be your central heating system.
But following the steps outlined above there are ways you can make that system more efficient, by turning down the thermostat or turning radiators in unoccupied rooms off.
Want more ways to save money? Check out these frugal living tips.
