Home Heating NZ

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Winter has begun and you are finding yourself increasing feeling the cold. Frosty mornings and deathly chilly evenings are a part of Kiwi life in winter. Most people do not have the luxury of having central heating in New Zealand, and solar heating and sophisticated gas heating systems are still a very expensive option, even for new homes. Home heating is important but can get very costly, so use this guide to find the best home heating solutions for your home.

Assess your home

Think about the areas you use and do not use in winter. There is no point is heating your entire home when you only use some of the rooms at one time. Decide which rooms you want to use, and make a point to close off all other rooms unless needed. For example, if you have more than one sitting room or lounge, make a point to close one off during winter.

Which rooms should I close off during winter?

• Spare bedrooms - if no one is sleeping in them, close them up.
• Hallways - while you still need to use your hallways there is little point in trying to heat such long spaces, or heating them to try and distribute the heat throughout connecting rooms - as this will require a lot of electricity, and much of it will be wasted.
• Rooms with many windows - they might be light and bright, but do not retain heat - it is sucked out through the glass.
• The Laundry - do your ironing and folding in a room you are already heating, do not heat the laundry for just a short amount of time.

Once you know which rooms you will be needing to heat, make sure you will get the most out of heating them. Draughts can blow away 20% of warm air in your home, so make sure they are not coming under any doors. They are more common if you have wooden floors, so get a ‘draft snake' to put at the foot of the door.

Make sure you have good curtains. Ideally, they should be bigger than the window frame, and close fitting so warm air cannot escape. If you have thin or older curtains, they could benefit from thermal linings. You can buy thermal fabric yourself and attach it to the back of your curtains if you are handy with a sewing machine, or you can go to a curtains and blinds dealer.

Before you even think about paying for heat, make the most of the sun! If you are lucky enough to have a couple of rooms that bask in the afternoon sun in winter, close the curtains as soon as the sun goes down to keep the day's natural heat in.

I've limited myself to the rooms my family needs to use. Curtain and closed and drafts are gone. Now what?

Find the best heating solution for your home. There are several types of heaters and other heating fixtures,all of which have their benefits and flaws.

Electric heaters

Electric heaters are relatively cheap to purchase, and easy to move around. Great when you want to heat one room at a time - such as your lounge in the evening, then your bedroom for the night. A great benefit of electric heaters is the timer function, meaning you can heat a room sporadically, for periods of your choice. An ideal schedule for your electric heater on a timer could be:

• 6-7am: Heat your bedroom area to avoid freezing when you wake up - nothing makes you want to stay in bed all day like a chill in the air inside.

• 4-6pm: Warm your home before you get home from work. Turn off your heater when you start cooking dinner - heat from the oven or stove will fill up the room.

• 8-10pm: Give your sitting area a boost for when you cuddle up on the couch.

• 10-11pm: Take the chill off your bedroom before you go to sleep.

Wood Burners

Modern wood burners produce limited air pollution and are much more efficient that their open fire counterparts, which are now banned in some parts of New Zealand.

The cost of firewood for a winter season will be less costly than electricity bills, and the allure of a real fire adds a great cozy atmosphere to your home. On the downside, wood burners can be very time consuming. You will need to chop your wood into usable pieces regularly, and lighting the fire every day can take at least 10 minutes to get going.

Unless you have an open plan house, you may need to think about how to distribute the heat around the whole house. Wood burners often produce much too much heat for just one room, and you may need fans or a ducting system to get the heat to other rooms.

Gas Fires and Gas Heaters

If you desire a flame effect but do not want the hassle of dealing with wood (and mess!) a flued gas fire may be right for you. Flued gas fires can be fitted into existing fireplaces, and are a reasonably economical way to heat one room in your home. They do not produce nearly the same amount of heat as a traditional wood burner, so are not good for attempting to heat several spaces. Because flued gas fires work to expel emissions through your chimney, they are a safe gas option.

Portable LPG heaters are an inexpensive alterative, and produce enough heat for medium sized rooms. However, as there is no vent or chimney to get rid of gas emissions, you will need to have a well ventilated room - this means keeping a window open when the heater is on. Without ventilation, chemicals such as carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide will be released into your home, which will be harmful to your health.

Heat Pumps

While these can be expensive to install, they are the most electricity-efficient of all home heating devices. They heat a room in minutes, and can even heat several connecting areas at once. As a bonus, they cool in the summer as well.

While an electric heater will average 1 kilowatt of heat for every 1 kilowatt of electricity used, heat pumps can average up to 5 kilowatts of heat for every 1 kilowatt of electricity.

The prices for heat pumps are decreasing rapidly, so for energy efficiency at its best, they are a great investment for your home.

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Family images from Flickr: Fireplace, Kids Classroom and Hands.