What's the best way to maintain just one room warm?

[NeoPTLD]

What is the best way of maintaining 68-70F just in a typical bedroom? I think it's wasteful to keep the whole place warmed when I'm the only one home staying up until 4AM.

I have a Holmes space heater with a bi-metal thermostat that doesn't really work.

Should I go with another box type space heater with fan and a digital thermostat or an oil filled convection heater?

What are the pros and cons of each beside size and price?

 

[Eli]

A small, safe space heater and a towel to put infront of the door.

 

[NeoPTLD]

Originally posted by: Eli
A small, safe space heater and a towel to put infront of the door.

The thermostat needs to be able to maintain 68-70 pretty well. The thermostat on one I have is crap. Completely useless.

 

[Eli]

Hmmm.

How about getting an external thermostat with a placable external thermal probe(so you can place it where you are), and plugging the heater into that?

I'm not even sure if such a thing exists.. but if it doesen't, it should.

 

[WinkOsmosis]

A few extra computers running Fold@home.

 

[Xionide]

I have never had to heat my room because my computer does it for me. Sometimes I even have to open the window (in the winter) when I have it going with my door shut too long. Its a small room with good insulation. That pound'o copper on top of my xp2500 gets that heat into the air quite nicely

-Xionide

 

[cLe0]

hmm.. i'm using a Holmes space heater too... works fine for me. i guess it depends on how big is your room. i'm staying in a dorm room.

Originally posted by: NeoPTLD
What is the best way of maintaining 68-70F just in a typical bedroom? I think it's wasteful to keep the whole place warmed when I'm the only one home staying up until 4AM.

I have a Holmes space heater with a bi-metal thermostat that doesn't really work.

Should I go with another box type space heater with fan and a digital thermostat or an oil filled convection heater?

What are the pros and cons of each beside size and price?

 

[beer]

Buy a 400w halogen bulb. Basically all heat

 

[Ornery]

10,000 Btu Blue Flame, Unvented Wall Heater, Thermostat Controled, $169 Shipped

99.5% efficient, so no wasted energy, and gas is the cheapest fuel available.

6,000 Btu Blue Flame or Infra Red Wall Heater for $129, is more than enough for a bedroom.

 

[beer]

How's he going to run a natural gas line to his room? It doesn't come in canisters like propane, does it?

 

[rh71]

HUMIDIFIER ! I love it. $50 for a 500ft space and it keeps my home office nice and cozy. It sure helps with the dryness in the winter air too.

I have a cheapo Holmes space heater and that thing does crap, even while sitting in front of it. Then again, it only cost $10.

 

[Ornery]

He asked, "what's the best way." An unvented gas heater is the best way. It's initial cost is low, operating cost is lowest of all, and a byproduct of it's combustion is water vapor, so that eliminates the need for a humidifier. The gas line would have to be tapped off from some convenient location, like the laundry room. If that's too hard to do, he'll be missing out on the best solution.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

These would work well.

 

[GalvanizedYankee]

Originally posted by: Ornery
He asked, "what's the best way." An unvented gas heater is the best way. It's initial cost is low, operating cost is lowest of all, and a byproduct of it's combustion is water vapor, so that eliminates the need for a humidifier. The gas line would have to be tapped off from some convenient location, like the laundry room. If that's too hard to do, he'll be missing out on the best solution.

Doesn't an unvented gas heater also produce CO, that can kill.
Aside from heating the room. A small electric blanket to wrap-up in while studying
worked for my GF when she lived in Connecticut.

 

[beyonddc]

Leave few computers on and few monitors on at night. I'm sure it will be nice and warm even without heat.

 

[bandana163]

Sleep beside a 24" monitor.

 

[Ornery]

• 

Electric heaters can start fires and kill, including electric blankets. Kerosine heaters can kill, as can just about any type of heater. Unvented heaters have oxygen sensors, and a CO detector is a must in any home with gas appliances of any kind.

 

[RU482]

Please elaborate on how electric heaters start fires. Is it the heater, or something fvcking retarded that the user does that causes the fires?

 

[beer]

Ornery -

I just low how you suggest that he tap into a gas line off a fscking laundry room. What's he gonna do, save $10 or $15 a month on elecricity versus gas and have to run a highly-combustable line through his house to his bedroom, knocking down numerous walls in the process?

Yea, great fscking idea.

Just more elitist suggestions from our good member Ornery.

 

[Ornery]

You've got as much chance of getting CO poisoned from an unvented gas heater, as having an electric heater start a fire... for whatever reason. One is clothing or drapes getting into the unit. Another is wiring overloaded, such as a low wattage extension cord, or too many appliances on the same circuit. People do it with their Christmas decorations every year.

I don't like the amount of power used for electric appliances, and the cost of that power is way too high. It's really nice to have the unvented heater when the power goes out, because it will still be keeping the house warm. Well worth the trouble to hook a few up, if you have gas available.

 

[beer]

And don't forget gas leaks, too. A slight shift in the land and you have a ruptured gas line, too. I've had my power out less than 6 hours a year for as long as I can remember.

Gas Leaks > Tripped Breakers

 

[DaWhim]

AMD is the best heater

 

[NeoPTLD]

Originally posted by: Ornery
He asked, "what's the best way." An unvented gas heater is the best way. It's initial cost is low, operating cost is lowest of all, and a byproduct of it's combustion is water vapor, so that eliminates the need for a humidifier. The gas line would have to be tapped off from some convenient location, like the laundry room. If that's too hard to do, he'll be missing out on the best solution.

Best:

best combined performance of:

initial cost
minimal temperature drift.(I rather it maintain ~70 than kick on at 68, kick off at 72, and repeat thereafter)
safety(no exposed 1,000 degree surfance, doesn't have to be dumbass proof)
instant installation
No plumbing/wiring needed

The only gas whose byproduct is just water is hydrogen and there is absolutely no way I am going to bring in a cylinder of hydrogen gas into my room.

 

[beer]

Ornery -

But the difference is that plugging a heater in is fairly easy. Modifying a gas line, and installing a gas line to a remote part of the house (most houses have laundry rooms on the opposite side of the bedrooms) is far more dangerous and people generally have far less knowledge of gas lines than electrical lines.

Worst case scenerio, a spark lights a fire that slowly spreads. A gas leaks builds up and can either kill you via asxphixiation or kill you when you turn on a light and your entire room goes up into a fireball.

I bet you most people don't even know where to turn off gas at.

I KNOW how inefficient electricity is for heating. But what you're suggest is not what was being asked in this question. It's completely irrelevant.

 

[beer]

Originally posted by: NeoPTLD

Originally posted by: Ornery
He asked, "what's the best way." An unvented gas heater is the best way. It's initial cost is low, operating cost is lowest of all, and a byproduct of it's combustion is water vapor, so that eliminates the need for a humidifier. The gas line would have to be tapped off from some convenient location, like the laundry room. If that's too hard to do, he'll be missing out on the best solution.

Best:

best combined performance of:

initial cost
minimal temperature drift.(I rather it maintain ~70 than kick on at 68, kick off at 72, and repeat thereafter)
safety(no exposed 1,000 degree surfance, doesn't have to be dumbass proof)
instant installation
No plumbing/wiring needed

The only gas whose byproduct is just water is hydrogen and there is absolutely no way I am going to bring in a cylinder of hydrogen gas into my room.

These conditions were basically implied by the wording in your original posting to everyone else but one person here.