Heating Solutions for a Child's Bedroom

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In summary, Skeptic2 and Phyzguy suggested that Lil questioner try heating the room through the night without using central heating, by using a little halogen heater or an electric/oil heater. They also recommended opening the vent in the room that the baby sleeps in and testing to see if the air blows as strongly in that room as it does in other rooms.
  • #1
dwaring28720
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lil question for anyone who may have any suggestions, I am livin in a house at the moment with my partner and 13 month old daughter, the house is single glazed and is poorly insulated, now winters just around the corner and if last year is anything to go by, then were in for a cold one again, now my baby's bedroom last year got down to 6 degrees at night last year on some days,

i was wondering if anyone had any suggestions as to heating the room through the night without having my central heating on throughout, i was looking at little halogen heaters on ebay but someone i work with mensioned they would work out even more expensive than having my central heating churning away, anyone have any ideas? "and ripping the windows out an puttin double glazin aint an option :smile:"

thanks for any suggestions, there much appreciated before i lay out a fortune for little toys that don't work
 
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  • #2
If it gets that cold in the room it should be possible to find out where the cold is coming in. Are there cracks around the windows? Are there any other cracks to the outside. Even electrical wall outlets are a possibility. After fixing all of those, you might try getting plastic sheets to put over the windows. It's not as good as a double glaze but it's better than just the window by itself. In addition, if you tape it to the frame of the window, it may help stop air leaks around the window.
 
  • #3
For a few dollars you can buy plastic inside storm windows that go over the inside of the windows, then you stretch them tight with a hair dryer. These will help a lot. Once you've done this, I think a small electric space heater just heating one room will be cheaper than heating the whole house with central heating.
 
  • #4
In furtherance of Phyzguy's post, I would recommend an electric/oil heater as opposed to a purely electric one. The heat is a little less "harsh", and the fire hazard is eliminated.
 
  • #5
IMO halogens are a terrible fire danger.
 
  • #6
Why would you let your house cool down to 6oC? I think it is better to keep the central heating on to 16oC during the night, than to let it cool down and having to reheat it in the morning.

In addition to the other suggestions some heavy curtains that drop down to the floor might also help keep the heat in and the cold out.
 
  • #7
Pythagorean said:
IMO halogens are a terrible fire danger.
true, this is a bit of a concern for me, beings as this will be turned on overnight in my child's bedroom, so i will be looking for more along the oil heating just not too sure what the costing is going to be for that over a fairly long period :-/

As for "skeptic2 and phyzguy"'s comments regarding the plastic, I've never come across that before until u mentioned it, I've just looked online an it seems quite cheap, i don't know if that is a reprisentation of the quality but I've ordered some, it can't hurt for that price, and any extra insulation is better than none so ill let you know what that goes.

so are my only options for actually heating the room "halogen/electric heater OR oil filled radiator"?! there must be another option i haven't considered or come across yet, thanks for everyones input into this its much appreciated
 
  • #8
Monique said:
Why would you let your house cool down to 6oC?
its not a question of choice unfortunately at the moment our gas/electricity bills are £219 per month with E.on and that's with the minimum of electrical appliances, it was all caused by the horrible winter last year, and having the heating on for as much as we could afford and now were playing catch up with the balance. hence I am looking for a few little cheats or tips, so i can keep the baby warm during the next winter and save us a few pennies in the process.
 
  • #9
dwaring28720 said:
its not a question of choice unfortunately at the moment our gas/electricity bills are £219 per month with E.on and that's with the minimum of electrical appliances, it was all caused by the horrible winter last year, and having the heating on for as much as we could afford and now were playing catch up with the balance. hence I am looking for a few little cheats or tips, so i can keep the baby warm during the next winter and save us a few pennies in the process.
If you have central heat, make sure the vent in her room is open, test to see if the air blows as strongly as in other rooms. I had one room that had a kink in the conduit and was blocking most of the air flow to one room. At night, close the vents in rooms that aren't being used.

Do check as others have said for insulation problems, you'd be suprised how much cold air will come in through electrial outlets, cap them with those baby-proof caps, if you haven't already.

I would go with the heavy, insulated drapes that Monique suggested.

This is the baby's room, I would not use any heater except those that blow warm air and do not get hot enough on the outside to cause burns, and that also shut off is something is placed too close to them or if they fall over.
 
  • #10
If your house is so drafty it got to 6C last year, you should ensure her bed is warm. Make sure there are good blankets on top and below (btw, this option isn't a good one for smaller infants, but at 13 months there is virtually no danger of sudden infant death, which http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/content/25/2/366.full.pdf" [Broken]).
 
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  • #11
dwaring28720 said:
its not a question of choice unfortunately at the moment our gas/electricity bills are £219 per month with E.on and that's with the minimum of electrical appliances, it was all caused by the horrible winter last year, and having the heating on for as much as we could afford and now were playing catch up with the balance. hence I am looking for a few little cheats or tips, so i can keep the baby warm during the next winter and save us a few pennies in the process.
But what I have heard is that it costs more energy to heat up a house that has cooled down a lot, than it does when you maintain a minimum temperature of about 16oC during the night.
 
  • #12
true,

Also heating by electricity is just about the worst return for the invested energy as most of it is wasted in the heat of the engines in the power plant. Direct burning of fuels inside the house is much better, since almost all the heat return is used from the fuel, but there are hazards with that.

Also it might be worth considering to tackle the thermal isolation problem. You could tape or nail isolation foils on the ceiling and walls for the duration of the winter, for instance aluminium bubble foil, which should not be that expensive. It may not look pretty but that was not the prime objective
 
  • #13
phyzguy said:
For a few dollars you can buy plastic inside storm windows that go over the inside of the windows, then you stretch them tight with a hair dryer. These will help a lot.

This is what we will do with our daughter's room (little E is now 14 months). Her "playroom" is off the back of the house, and probably used to be a "mudroom" for the master bedroom (the owners of the house used it to store wood, then recarpeted and painted it when we moved in). There is no central heat/air in that room, we presently leave the door to our room open. In the winter we aren't planning on heating it, and may close it up for parts of the day if heat loss is high, even with the plastic window and door insulation measures (since we never use the door to the outside and have it deadbolted, we'll be sealing it with heat-sealer tape also).

We won't put any space heater in it though, and will instead just see how cold it gets... maybe shutting it up for cold spells (the weather down here in TN sometimes has harsh snaps, but is fortunately pretty mild). I'd personally be cautious about ANY type of space heater, especially with a toddler in the house.

You might want to think about moving your daughter to a different location, though that view is different for different families. In our case, little E "co-sleeps" in our room -- snuggling with me half the night and rolling into a twin bed pushed up to ours for the other half (since we didn't want to spring for a crib -- and moved one of her older brothers, who is handicapped into a queen, since his twin was getting too small and he was rolling off). Staying in our room, she certainly stays pretty warm, crawling up the king mattress to me for warm-up spells (since here in the summer, her dad keeps the AC blowing), although my sleep routine certainly suffers. :smile: She hates blankets, but tolerates long jammies with feet, although they aren't her favorite.

I think her dad is less keen on the co-sleeping than I, but she's on my side of the bed, and he definitely thinks it has helped make her secure, happy, and confident. He does think it's cute when she wakes up in the morning and drags her favorite stuffed toy "Mr. Shark" up to him, and he likes goodnight, when they play peek-a-boo (though I think this makes it harder to get her to sleep).
 
  • #14
If it's your house and has potential, then I'd bust-out the interior walls, install insulation, then re-do the walls. It's not difficult to install/add insulation in the attic. If it's a raised house, then put insulation between floor joices as well. If you live in northern latitudes and the house has potential, I'd install double-glazed windows. Make sure the central air is flowing right. Sometimes there are butterfly valves in the duct work in the attic that control this. If you have them, make sure they are adjusted right. I would not use any other heater unless I was desperate.
 
  • #15
thanks for all the replies guys I am going to give the window film a go for sure, and were looking into insulated drapes, an just seeing how much the temperature drops in the room, after weighing up the pro's and cons of using a heater we've decided to just go for insulating and filling in anything that may cause a draft, thanks for the comments about the electrical outlets, i just popped into take a look and there definitely is a draft coming from the empty sockets.

the mrs is also a big believer in co sleeping and has made it clear if it does get a bit to harsh in the lil ones room, then she'll be moving the baby into the bed with her an shovin me into the cold and hostile babys room for the duration "oh joy"
 
  • #16
jackmell said:
If it's your house and has potential, then I'd bust-out the interior walls, install insulation, then re-do the walls. It's not difficult to install/add insulation in the attic. If it's a raised house, then put insulation between floor joices as well. If you live in northern latitudes and the house has potential, I'd install double-glazed windows. Make sure the central air is flowing right. Sometimes there are butterfly valves in the duct work in the attic that control this. If you have them, make sure they are adjusted right. I would not use any other heater unless I was desperate.

all valid suggestions unfortunately its privately rented so we haven't got that option, although we did put down a fresh layer of insulation in the attic back in april, which was more out of necessity as when, we ventured up there for the first time, we discovered ... there was none. We did discuss with the landlord about replacing the windows with double glazed units, as conveniently i work for an alluminium window firm and mensioned that i could do all the work my self, but he turned down the offer stating that now isn't the best time to be spending money on none essentials "us freezing to death wouldn't be high up on his list of priorities by the looks of it".
 
  • #17
dwaring28720 said:
thanks for all the replies guys I am going to give the window film a go for sure, and were looking into insulated drapes, an just seeing how much the temperature drops in the room, after weighing up the pro's and cons of using a heater we've decided to just go for insulating and filling in anything that may cause a draft, thanks for the comments about the electrical outlets, i just popped into take a look and there definitely is a draft coming from the empty sockets.

the mrs is also a big believer in co sleeping and has made it clear if it does get a bit to harsh in the lil ones room, then she'll be moving the baby into the bed with her an shovin me into the cold and hostile babys room for the duration "oh joy"

Lol...!
 
  • #18
All the more reason to get this problem fixed :biggrin:
 
  • #19
If you have the duct vents, figure out which other vents use the same duct. Close them (or at least some of them) at night so more heat goes to the child's room.

Insulation is probably a problem as well. When it does get cold, feel the floor and walls to figure out where the problem is. A throw rug can give you extra insulation for the floor, although usually the leak is in an awkard spot, like right up against a wall, so placing an extra rug on the floor won't add to the aesthetic properties of the room.
 
  • #20
dwaring28720 said:
the mrs is also a big believer in co sleeping and has made it clear if it does get a bit to harsh in the lil ones room, then she'll be moving the baby into the bed with her an shovin me into the cold and hostile babys room for the duration "oh joy"

why not co sleep with the baby as well?
 
  • #21
Pythagorean said:
why not co sleep with the baby as well?

Yes! What's this thing about putting little kids away for the night. They are not clothes to be hung in the closet. When did this idea start? Unless you are planning a night of sex or are too drunk you might smother then, why put them up?
 
  • #22
Phrak said:
Yes! What's this thing about putting little kids away for the night. They are not clothes to be hung in the closet. When did this idea start? Unless you are planning a night of sex or are too drunk you might smother then, why put them up?

Co sleeping is genuinely awesome. I love waking up with my daughter all giggly and playful.
 
  • #23
Pythagorean said:
Co sleeping is genuinely awesome. I love waking up with my daughter all giggly and playful.

That's very cool, Pythagorean. I didn't know you were a daddy. How old now?

My little boy, not so little, now that he's eight!, gets in our bed almost every night. He's on autopilot. If he wakes up in his own bed, he makes his way to ours, and doesn't recall anything about it. I think I have about 3 more years of elbows and knees in my ribs at odd hours before he wants to sleep in his own bed.

There is somewhat a downside to what has been called 'co-sleeping', but I would never deny him to snuggle his mommy at night except to carefully move him off to his own bed when he's still asleep and I'm getting sore and shell-shocked from the abuse.
 
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  • #24
She's nearly 11 months.

She crawls all over us at night now that she's entering the toddler stage.

I was absolutely Frightened about cosleeping at first, but I couldn't see it any other way now.
 
  • #25
Pythagorean said:
She's nearly 11 months.

She crawls all over us at night now that she's entering the toddler stage.

I was absolutely Frightened about cosleeping at first, but I couldn't see it any other way now.

Babies take comfort in their mother and father's. But be careful! If you think you might smother them, they can sleep close-by. Do you have any pictures? I love the little ones. Just this evening one daddy, new to our neighbourhood, was taking his ~2 year old out. Daddy was so confused. He thought I was staring at him, while I was actually admiring his little boy.

My wife's niece had a little boy about 4 months ago. He's chocolate on the lower half and creamier on the top half and doesn't whine much at all. He loves to stand up--with help, of course.

I held him up from tipping over while he put weight on his legs and you could see the thrill in his face to be standing.
 
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  • #26
I could have sworn I posted in this thread... odd...

Anyways, I sympathize a lot with dwaring. I too am a renter and we live in an old summer home which has been slightly converted (heat, hot water, some insulation, etc). So when the wind blows off the Atlantic for 3 months in winter, it can get nasty.

I would like to second Danger's support for the oil/electric combination heaters. We put one in each of our children's bedrooms. The ones I own look like a water radiator and plug into a standard outlet. They have a heating element contained within the metal radiator which heats the oil. It puts out a good amount of heat and I don't see a huge hit to the electric bill using them.

I would also recommend putting plastic sheeting on the windows. This makes a huge difference. Without these, my upstairs would not be habitable from December to February.

Other things to consider doing:
- can you make the kids rooms smaller so you have less to heat? One way to do this is to hang some sturdy blankets from the ceiling.
- consider putting blankets or tapestries on the external walls. The external walls will seep heat out of the room very quickly if they are poorly insulated.
- plug any drafts. This made a big improvement in the house I am in right now. We had a ton of uninsulated cracks going directly outside in a few closets. Some expanding spray foam does the trick nicely.

Good luck.
 
  • #27
Norman said:
I could have sworn I posted in this thread... odd...

I get that a lot, as well!

I would like to second Danger's support for the oil/electric combination heaters.

I third the motion. The bathroom off the master bedroom gets very cold in the winter. Half an hour before I take a shower, I just turn on the heater and it's toasty warm for showertime. :)

As I primarily use only one room in the house, I'm seriously considering getting a second heater for my small living room/kitchen, which combined is 600 square feet, with 20 feet of exterior wall. I think it'd be cheaper than the gas-fired central heat, which has to keep 1,100 square feet warm, including 80 feet of exterior wall!
 

1. How can I safely heat my child's bedroom?

There are a few ways to safely heat your child's bedroom. One option is to use a space heater with built-in safety features, such as automatic shut-off if the heater tips over. Another option is to use a programmable thermostat to regulate the temperature and turn off the heating source when the desired temperature is reached.

2. What is the ideal temperature to heat my child's bedroom to?

The ideal temperature for a child's bedroom is between 68-72 degrees Fahrenheit. It is important to not let the temperature get too high as it can increase the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Additionally, keeping the room too warm can also make it difficult for children to fall asleep.

3. Should I use a humidifier in my child's heated bedroom?

It is recommended to use a humidifier in your child's bedroom if the air is too dry. Dry air can cause discomfort and irritate the respiratory system, especially in young children. However, it is important to monitor the humidity levels and keep them between 30-50% to prevent mold growth.

4. Can I use an electric blanket to heat my child's bedroom?

No, it is not recommended to use an electric blanket to heat your child's bedroom. Electric blankets can pose a fire hazard and can also overheat children, increasing the risk of burns. It is safer to use a space heater or a heating source that has built-in safety features.

5. Are there any alternatives to using traditional heating methods in my child's bedroom?

Yes, there are alternative ways to heat a child's bedroom. Some options include using a heated mattress pad, heated slippers or socks, or a heated stuffed animal. These alternatives can provide localized heat and can be turned off once the child falls asleep for added safety.

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