Winter is upon us, days are still warm enough. Am starting this thread to solicit for suggestions of how, during loadshedding we can keep our homes warm. Not all households will have fireplaces. What are you thoughts....

1. Gas fired heaters?
2. Low-voltage heaters? (Though these would definitely tax any backup system and it's batteries)
3. ....

Gas heater as last resort is what I use.
But what I did last Winter was I run a fan heater in the house from the time I have enough solar until solar disappears in the evening. Always complain in summer about my excess solar, well I use a lot of it in Winter, and we have an abundance of sun (albeit more limited hours) on the Highveld in Winter.
Makes the evening inside temps just more acceptable. Before Solar I actually hadn't used a heater for at least 5 years. 

1 hour ago, Moffat said:

 

1. Gas fired heaters?
2. Low-voltage heaters? 
3. ....Have supper in or just on the bed with the elec blanket on preheat from about 17h00. Doing what? Browsing the forum 😀

 

Edited April 26, 20233 yr by Scorp007

We use gas heater works best and depending on how many hours you run the gas heater it can get expensive. 

Here in Hillcrest,KZN it gets quite cold so i have a big fireplace and burn tons of wood from the Natal midlands. I dont have a heater.

There is some cooler weather coming and a chilly snap from about tuesday but forecasts can change.

I have 400w wall-panel heaters in all the rooms and lounge area. They stay on 24/7 in cold spells, electricity usage is quite low.

Keeps the house reasonably cosy. 

19 minutes ago, GVC said:

I have 400w wall-panel heaters in all the rooms and lounge area. They stay on 24/7 in cold spells, electricity usage is quite low.

Keeps the house reasonably cosy. 

Interesting to hear a number of 400W heaters on 24/7 do not use much power? 

Been in Cpt 26 years now, never had a heater.

1 hour ago, Scorp007 said:

Interesting to hear a number of 400W heaters on 24/7 do not use much power? 

LOL, To put it in context....4 X 400W panel heaters equates to approx: 1 x double-bar heater.

Unexpectedly I found that  air conditioners are a good option for heating. A good AC has a heating COP of around 3 and the distribution of warm air makes it more effective. We have a very cold house in winter and a few ACs are able to heat it up with way less power usage than any other electrical hearing device.

 

Its important though to get an inverter AC with a good COP.

Edited April 27, 20233 yr by tvic

1 hour ago, GVC said:

LOL, To put it in context....4 X 400W panel heaters equates to approx: 1 x double-bar heater.

Thanks. The relative low power use would equate to 3 days total power use for us if on 24/7.

Edited April 27, 20233 yr by Scorp007

25 minutes ago, tvic said:

Unexpectedly I found that  air conditioners are a good option for heating. A good AC has a heating COP of around 3 and the distribution of warm air makes it more effective. We have a very cold house in winter and a few ACs are able to heat it up with way less power usage than any other electrical hearing device.

 

Its important though to get an inverter AC with a good COP.

This remains the best option after the elec blanket 🤔🤔

1 minute ago, Scorp007 said:

This remains the best option after the elec blanket 🤔🤔

The problem with electric blanket is that you can not wrap it around you when you go to the lounge to watch a movie or to the dining area when you want to have a nice meal 😀. The AC will warm the entire area for everyone to enjoy 

What about insulation in the roof? Does anybody have any experiences or data about that? I don't think it would be a complete solution, but what difference does the heat rentention make?

I think trying to insulate your house should be the first move. We have ceiling insulation and it does make a difference. Make sure all the breeze blocks are sealed off if you have an older house. Also make sure the windows and doors are air tight if you can. This makes a massive difference in the amount of heat your house retains.

 

We use mid range samsung aircons - I cant remember the model exactly. I think the kw usage per AC is about 0.6kw to 1kw when its running and the room is already warmed up a bit. It sounds like a lot but compared to most other heaters it isnt that  much. In the same rooms we have used 3 big oil heaters and it didnt warm up the room.

Edited April 27, 20233 yr by tvic

Currently there is a very interesting chat about Rocket mass heaters on the AVforum.

https://www.avforums.co.za/threads/rocket-stove-mass-heater-for-those-really-chilly-mornings.104735/#post-1144834

I have thought about using a car radiator and a 12v fan  connected to my solar geyser with a circulation pump. I wond if it will work. 

9 hours ago, tvic said:

I think trying to insulate your house should be the first move

Carpets, wood and vinyl flooring feels much warmer than tiles.

20 minutes ago, Vaal said:

I have thought about using a car radiator and a 12v fan  connected to my solar geyser with a circulation pump. I wond if it will work. 

It will work but then you would need a second geyser for your bathing needs.

28 minutes ago, frivan said:

It will work but then you would need a second geyser for your bathing needs.

We are 2 in the house with a 300L PV geyser on the roof which regularly reach 90deg according to the display. Most of the time there is more than enough warm water. LoL

Build a thermal sand battery.  You use solar panels to electrically heat sand.  At night, the hot sand then releases the heat.
 

 

On 2023/04/27 at 10:39 PM, Vaal said:

We are 2 in the house with a 300L PV geyser on the roof which regularly reach 90deg according to the display. Most of the time there is more than enough warm water. LoL

90º is worryingly high... me thinks. Those levels of heat tend to have a negative effective on the rubber parts of your geyser PV system... just keep an eye on it.