The One-Room Survivable Heating Pattern for an Elder in a Cold Snap

SIMULATED, NOT MEASURED. A steady-state heat-loss model of one typical room (4.0 x 3.5 x 2.4 m) in an older house (whole-house coefficient 300 W/K) prices three heating strategies for a sedentary elder living alone: (A) whole-house gas at 16 C, (B) one room electrically at 18 C (WHO guideline minimum), and (C) one room at 16 C plus near-body heating. At 0 C outside costs are GBP 8.13, 7.81 and 7.11 per day; A and B flip ranking at +4.3 C outside. Under B the unheated rest of the house reaches 0 C at -2.7 C outside and a stated 6 m pipe run freezes in about 13.9 hours, so B must be modified below -2.7 C. On a GBP 3.00/day budget a leakier room (effective 90.4 W/K) cannot be held at 18 C at -5 C by any arrangement (GBP 12.97/day electric, GBP 3.52/day gas). All numbers from the included Python model.