Need suggestions re: heaters

[lorijds]

We are in the process of purchasing a house that has a funky heating set up. Main portion of the house has baseboard water heat. A single, large family room added on back has a gas wall heater that is a fire hazard and we need to replace. The basement has an ancient gas heater that basically sits in the middle of the main room and blows heat; the further away you are, the less heat you have. The basement heater is truly ancient, I think it's 60 years old. It scares the crap out of me, and I want to get rid of it, as well.

So, how do we heat these rooms on a limited budget? There are two bedrooms in the basement that our children will be using, and then there is the large family room (400 ish sq ft, I estimate).

I'm not opposed to simply using space heaters in the basement. The kids are older teens, and probably won't be living with us that much longer. When they move on, the basement won't be used much, just as guest rooms, storage, that sort of thing. If a space heater can keep their bedrooms comfortable while they're sleeping, that seems sufficient. Also, they have down comforters and are used to sleeping in cold weather (we tend to keep our home cool in the winter, around 58-62 at noc). Do space heaters seem reasonable in this situation?

The family room will be used a lot, and has large north facing windows, so I imagine even a couple of space heaters wouldn't cut it, and that doesn't seem very economical or efficient, anyway. Any suggestions for this room?

Thanks in advance!

[tiqa]

I think space heaters would be fine.  When I was growing up my grandparents had a house that was basically two rooms connected by a hallway, and a bathroom and kitchen off those.  The kitchen was heated by the oven if it was on, and the bathroom had a space heater - but the two other rooms (they weren't bedrooms or living rooms or anything specific) were heated by radiators.  They were just fine.  The hallway was always freezing, but oh well.

I'm not sure what you were planning on doing for the 400 sq foot family room, though... Maybe a space heater in each corner?  Is that efficient?  I dunno...

[swede]

Originally Posted by lorijds 

We are in the process of purchasing a house that has a funky heating set up. Main portion of the house has baseboard water heat. A single, large family room added on back has a gas wall heater that is a fire hazard and we need to replace. The basement has an ancient gas heater that basically sits in the middle of the main room and blows heat; the further away you are, the less heat you have. The basement heater is truly ancient, I think it's 60 years old. It scares the crap out of me, and I want to get rid of it, as well.
So, how do we heat these rooms on a limited budget? There are two bedrooms in the basement that our children will be using, and then there is the large family room (400 ish sq ft, I estimate).
I'm not opposed to simply using space heaters in the basement. The kids are older teens, and probably won't be living with us that much longer. When they move on, the basement won't be used much, just as guest rooms, storage, that sort of thing. If a space heater can keep their bedrooms comfortable while they're sleeping, that seems sufficient. Also, they have down comforters and are used to sleeping in cold weather (we tend to keep our home cool in the winter, around 58-62 at noc). Do space heaters seem reasonable in this situation?
The family room will be used a lot, and has large north facing windows, so I imagine even a couple of space heaters wouldn't cut it, and that doesn't seem very economical or efficient, anyway. Any suggestions for this room?
Thanks in advance!

In our old hose we had a family room that was approx 400 feet (  a rectangle) and we had heat in teat room - but it was in the ceiling (split level) so it never kept the room warm.  We used a space heater (a "nice"' one from Costco) and it was fine for when we were in the room.  The room was always cold when we first went in.  We used the room a lot, and it helped when we were all there together (body heat :)

[gillibean]

We have this heater in two of our bedrooms.  http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/browse/3/HouseHome/1/HeatingAirConditioning/PortableBaseboardHeaters/PRD~0435952P/Garrison+Mica+Heater.jsp?locale=en  We heat with wood but the bedrooms farthest away from the stove can get a little chilly.  We really like that they can be mounted on the wall and that they have a built-in thermostat.  My only complaint is if they get unplugged or the power goes out, the default temperature setting is 35 (celcius).  I wish the default was more around 22.

If we didn't already have the ones we do, I'd be tempted to get this one. http://www.homehardware.ca/en/rec/index.htm/Heating-Ventilation-Cooling-Home-Comfort/Heating/Heaters/Portable-Convection/400-Watt-Wall-Mount-Panel-Convection-Heater/_/N-ntmanZ2pqfZ67l/Ne-67nZlqb7/No-96/Ntk-All_EN/R-I3836072?Ntt=heater&Num=0