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West Hobart resident Lisa Riddell tells us about her fixed fan heater and describes how changing the type of heating also changed her partner's work routine.
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Shopping around
We bought our place a couple of years ago just before the real estate prices had started to skyrocket. It was a 1927 shop and cottage that needed quite a bit of work. We've done as much work as we possibly can, like stripping, repainting, ripping up carpet and polishing floorboards. Soon we'll be getting professionals in to do some serious renovation work.
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Stir crazy
Like most of the more modest cottages of its time, the floor plan makes the place a bit pokey, so we had the wall knocked down between the front room and what I imagine was a parlour. We probably should have waited until the rest of the renovations were done but we were starting to go stir-crazy in such small rooms. In the parlour was the home's sole heating source, a wood heater.
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Too hot and too messy
Before we knocked the wall down the woodheater made the parlour (which we used as our living room) unbearably hot. Even when we knocked the wall down, it made the area quite stifling – except for the coldest days. Also we felt a bit uncomfortable about polluting the neighbourhood.
I didn't enjoy chopping the wood – especially because I was the only one in the household who ended up doing it! That was because, strangely, over winter my partner would work longer hours and always arrive home after the fire was lit.
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Instant heat
So about twelve months ago we bought a fixed fan heater which is hooked up to a thermostat and timer. It makes a noticeable difference to the room within a couple of minutes of turning it on and, no matter how cold it is, it will be comfortable within about five minutes.
We positioned the heater on a nib wall (a half wall, used to define an area cosmetically) that is in the centre of the room and put a back vent in it so it would warm both halves of the room simultaneously. The only reason we have that wall there is to disguise the fact that the floorboards are different levels where part of the original wall was knocked down! But it ended up working out quite well.
It all looks a bit unusual at the moment, because the fixed fan heater is placed in between the woodheater and an open fireplace. But when we do the renovations the fireplace and the wood heater will disappear and we will reposition the fan heater in the reconfigured lounge room.
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Acclimatising
I've got to admit it took a couple of weeks to get used to the type of heat. It's not as intense, it's a more even background type of warmth. But now we're used to it, it's fine. Our cat must have felt the same way too. At first it just sat in front of the woodheater waiting for me to start it up when I got home. Now, rather than just lying on the hearth, it has taken to lounging throughout the sitting room.
One thing I am still getting used to with the new heater is that when the weather is cold, my partner arrives home before me. Strange, that.
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