Heaters

gfmalan said:
Get the heater, but dont buy the bottle, get yourself a 9kg bottle that you swop, they ask a deposit, the bottle is never yours or your problem, and pay R175 for gas only, take empty in, walk out with full one, no need to wait.
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This model only takes a 3kg or 4.5kg cylinder.
 
hj2k_x said:
I'm always worried gas will explode. Also it has an odour. Not sure if good for newborns? Also, it's expensive
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Not if it's outside somewhere far(ish) away. The odour is added specifically so you can smell the gas. Shouldn't be more harmful than a fart.
 
Rouxenator said:
Fireplace
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I want to disagree but not sure if I am right

In our new house, we inherited every type of device. We brought the oil heaters.

This year tried, gas, wood burning fireplace, and oil heaters, wall panels

We buying wood at R15 a bag. We go through a 1.5 bags a day if not more. We use both fast burning wood (40 bucks a bag) and the dense stuff which is all dried out so this can't be a problem.

The fireplace running whole day should warm the immediate area and surrounding open plan rooms which is quite large maybe about 50-60sqm yet it's doesn't seem to do so. Only the area with fireplace is warm.

I had thought gas was expensive so tried the fireplace as a result. The amount of wood we've gone through this year doesn't seem to justify cost and hassle of maintaining it.

Last night , put on the gas heater in lounge. It was on 2 panels for about 4 hours ... walked into other side of house and then back into open plan area - I actually felt that the heat transferred better across the open plan area with gas as it was warm in the entire open plan area .. wierd - gonna try it again tonight - should also be cheaper if I only need to replace 9kg gas every two weeks.

We have an inverter ac in the lounge but never thought about using it for heating - does it really use less electricity than a normal oil heater or wall panel heater (which is not entirely good at warming up rooms ?

Also we have a heat pump for the geyser which we've never used due to worrying about cost.. Is it really more efficient at providing hot water (if we only run geyser for 80 mins a day) ? Can the same heat pump be converted to provide heat in the house? May never use it for the geyser again ... hence why I am asking.
 
Fireplace is hit and miss. It's designed to suck out the smoke even though this doesn't work 100% and you'll still have to clean soot off everything but at the same time it sucks out the heat. Actually it's the heat rising which sucks out the smoke.

Inverters and heatpumps are about the most efficient as they don't create heat but transfer it from elsewhere. Typically it uses between 25-50% of the amount of heat that is transferred.
 
Totally agree with the hit & miss in terms of design.

We have a built-in Jetmaster knockoff which has an intake at the bottom and one at the top that produces hot air. It heats up the whole house and the consumption is not that bad. After 10 years it is starting to burn through in places and I am very tempted to replace it either with a loose standing genuine Jetmaster, like the classic Hex, or a wood stove. The idea is to have as much of the chimney pipe exposed for more heat. The stove will consume a lot less wood and produce plenty of heat.

To put this in perspective, and to prove that design is everything, we had a plain old open "hole in the wall" fire place at our holiday house and you could literally burn a bakkie load of wood in a night and the heat would not be that great as most of it when up the chimney. One that leaked on the second floor so it was a poor chimney too. My old man got tired of all the bakkie loads of wood he had to take there or pay to have delivered and put in a small wood stove with exposed chimney pipe. Now with almost a 10th of the wood the heat is much better.

I'll probably go with the Hex cause sometimes I like go big.

...and back on topic, we recently had to house sit and they had one of these : http://www.bidorbuy.co.za/item/289625140/Alva_3_Panel_Infrared_Gas_Heater.html
Very good alternative to a fireplace.
 
We have a free standing jetmaster and it's awesome. Only problem is it doesn't often get cold enough to justify using it.
 
bwana said:
We have a free standing jetmaster and it's awesome. Only problem is it doesn't often get cold enough to justify using it.
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The Hex or a newer model? Since I saw a Hex for the first time as a kid I knew I had to own one someday.
 
Rouxenator said:
The Hex or a newer model? Since I saw a Hex for the first time as a kid I knew I had to own one someday.
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If I had to guess it's a hex. I've had the house for 18 years now so it's at least that old
 
Gas is more expensive compared with its calorific output than wood.

Cheapest is a heat pump
Next is an enclosed wood stove
Then an anthracite heater
Next oil-filled electric heater
Then a gas heater

These statistics are all available from UK magazines like "Which" where the homework has been carefully done over years and years
 
chrisc said:
Gas is more expensive compared with its calorific output than wood.

Cheapest is a heat pump
Next is an enclosed wood stove
Then an anthracite heater
Next oil-filled electric heater
Then a gas heater

These statistics are all available from UK magazines like "Which" where the homework has been carefully done over years and years
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What happens if one puts anthracite in a enclosed wood stove? Air blows from below... will the stove actually get damaged/warp/ bring the whole place down??
 
InternetLuddite said:
What happens if one puts anthracite in a enclosed wood stove? Air blows from below... will the stove actually get damaged/warp/ bring the whole place down??
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I think if you add too much at once it will become too hot and damage. Right now my wood burning combustion stove is burning with 5 pieces of wood and Im wearing shorts only and the sliding door is open.
 
The_Mowgs said:
I think if you add too much at once it will become too hot and damage. Right now my wood burning combustion stove is burning with 5 pieces of wood and Im wearing shorts only and the sliding door is open.
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pics? Size?
 
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