I have a house which has a central heating and cooling system which I assume uses a heat pump. This central heating system is not zoned so when I turn it on, I need to heat the entire house.
I live alone so I generally occupy my bedroom or my living room and I have a small electric heater which can adequately heat up this room.
I'm wondering, how do I figure out at what point is it cost effective to use the central heating unit vs the electric heater?
Is it possible to work out roughly that say with everything being equal (eg. all rooms having the same insulation, the same desired temperature) if the room I was heating took up a certain percentage of the total area of my house, would it be better to use the central heating or the electric heater?
How much more efficient is a heat pump compared to generating heat from electricity?