bedroom space heating

21 years ago

Hi all,

DH's 89 yo dad moved in with us and he is always very cold. He saved us a bundle in air conditioning costs this summer, but the dogs sure were hot! ;-)

Well, now we are in heating season and we got our first electric bill. We are up 44% in electric costs for the last month. Now, it was a hot month, so some of that is cooling cost, but most is probably heating his room to sauna-like conditions. His joints hurt, especially in his hands, and he is in far less pain with his room toasty warm. He wears winter gloves out here in the rest of the house, but then has to take them off to eat, read the paper,etc. I do not begrudge him his toasty room, but would like to do it more logically. Wearing more covers won't work, he can barely lift a light poly-fill comforter, a cotton blanket is beyond him.

We are moving sometime in the next two months to a little larger house without steps (for Dad and Me). His room is 10 x 15 and has two outside walls. The house is brick, so putting in a stovepipe exhaust through the wall is probably not a great idea. Given his age, I expect that we'll need the room to have extra heat for 10 years or less, so want something that will be a fairly reversible installation. It also must be safe. He is thinking clearly now, but that may or may not last.

What would you do to super-heat his room? We are using one of those oil-filled electric radiators right now.

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Comments (6)

Xanndra
21 years ago
What about an electric blanket?
begreen1
21 years ago
I am a little confused. Are you looking for a temporary solution for your current home or is the 10 x 15 room in the new home you are moving to?
Will you own the new home? If yes, put your money into good insulation, caulking and windows for his room. For the elderly, electric heat is probably the safest way to go.
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Nancy in Mich
Original Author
21 years ago
Thanks, yes, it is for the new place. We'll have our GC investigate the insulation situation better once we are in, and do the draft-inspection, too. He's ramping all of the steps for us and replacing the sliding glass door. I'll probably stick with the electric heater, I was just hoping there was something I had not thought of.

Xandra, he's not in bed much and I can't get him to use a throw, they feel too heavy to him. If he's cold in bed, I'll get a matress pad with heat. I love ours. You turn it on to get the sheets toasty and turn it off before sleep. By the time the room cools down from the cold night, the body heat of three dogs and two humans is keeping the room rather warm.
mikesj
21 years ago
Good luck with your situation- it sounds challenging to say the least.

My wife and I love our electric mattress pad for just the same reasons.

We also have a portable electric oil radiator that works very well. It keeps our bedroom nice and toasty and saves us since we can turn the thermostat down for the rest of the house. The great part of it is that when we can get around to getting a better heating system going, all we have to do is put it away.

Again, good luck!
glassquilt
21 years ago
Can you put radiant heating in the floor in his room? It would keep his feet warm and make the entire space very comfortable.
I once was in a motel that had some sort of radiant heat from the ceiling. The top surfaces in the room were warm but the lower 'air' wasn't very warm. Didn't like it much.
jasper_60103
21 years ago
yeah, my father in-law suffers from arthritis. He wears thermal underwear even in the summer. Besides the thermals, I would suggest a pair of battery heated socks and gloves.
-jasper