Wet electric central heating

peat · 15 July 2005 at 6:24AM

I live in a stone built mid-terrace three bedroom house and am planning getting central heating installed. I do not have access to mains gas and have decided against oil for a number of reasons including the way the oil price seems to be going. I am considering wet electric central heating run on an Economy 10 tarriff but am struggling to get unbiased info on true running costs, best makes of boilers etc. Most of the info I can glean comes from folk who are trying to sell me their product. Can anyone in MSE-land advise or point me in the right direction.
Cheers
Peat

scattycat_3 · 15 July 2005 at 1:34PM

Hi peat, might duplicate this on the DIY board, but at mo, as it is specifically about consumption cost I will leave it here.
(The problem with duplicated threads is that replies only go on the thread/board they are posted on and you end up with two completely seperate sets of replies ).

Unfortunately the answer is comparable to a length of string .

Your design should tell you roughly the consumption in Killowatt hours, efficiency slightly higher than condensing gas boiler. Your personal circumstances are the unknowns. Your best bet is to work out what it would cost say for a Specific number of KWH using gas and electricity off peak tariffs, and use the % extra to guess the cost from published gas heating averages.
There are sites that will give the average KWHs required to heat different sorts of houses in differnt parts of UK, Maybe U-Switch has somethig you can use.

Discussion at IEE
http://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=125974&page=1

Boler prices and sizes, I think Heatrae Sadia may have bought Amptec. ( a long established UK company who specialise in systems you are thinking about )

http://www.discountedheating.co.uk/shop/acatalog/Electric_Boilers.html

http://www.inspiredheating.co.uk/acatalog/Electroheat_Amptec_Electric_Boilers.html

Rushed reply so hope it is of some help.

SCat

peat · 15 July 2005 at 2:30PM

Scattycat, thanks for the reply. From what I can gather from research so far, the boiler types which you gave links for are the instant heat type which would not be suitable for a system hoping to use off-peak economy tarriffs. The type of system I was planning is a conventional boiler system with hot water storage.
I was hoping someone out there would have had a few years experience of this type of system and be able to advise accordingly.

gustav · 15 July 2005 at 8:00PM

Have you considered a Gas Tank in the Garden, and having gas delivered?
This could work out cheaper than electric in the long run.
My mum lives out in the sticks and uses this system and found the engineers etc really helpful.
She planted flowers etc round the tank to make it look pretty.
Not sure who else does this, but try Calor first.

scattycat_3 · 15 July 2005 at 8:20PM

Peat, The Amptec and other examples ARE definitely central heating boilers, I studied them years ago when installing central heating but went for gas condensing on running costs. Their size in Killowatts (max 12KW is regulated by the current carrying capacity of the wiring in a domestic installation. (230 volts, 50 ish amps, Main fuse is usually 100amps so you wouldnt want to blow that).They are have a small cross section but are long ( basically a heater wrapped round a pipe), have no ventilation requirements and are 99.9% efficient, but must be used on off peak tariffs, (if you want to eat) so generally feed a hot water store (thermal store http://www.centralheating.co.uk/index/fuseaction/site.articleDetail/con_id/5207) which can be used for daytime heating as well as hot water. In your position I would consider using solar heating as well. Heat from sun during day and from grid at night. alternatively as Gustav mentioned LPG is an alternative.

Proof if needed:-
http://www.inspiredheating.co.uk/acatalog/ELECTRIC_CENTRAL_HEATING_BOILERS.html

peat · 16 July 2005 at 7:13AM

I believe that LPG is expensive now and only likely to rise as oil price rises, if I were to go down the road of a tank in the garden I would probably opt for oil.
Scattycat I sit corrected. I thought they were for simple heat on demand like a combi boiler, I can't see any reference to a timing system to ensure that only off-peak power is used - obviously more research needed. I have thought about solar and may go down that route at a later date as an add-on.
Incidentally, with reference to your statement about 12kw being max rating, I did get a quote for a system allegedly suitable for single phase which had a 14.4kw rated boiler!

rosscobley · 19 July 2005 at 9:59AM

If you are going for a wet heating system then eco 10 is about the best meter to go on as it gives you a boost in the day. The cost of running the system will depend on loads of diffencet factors so its a bit of a guessing game. They are a few other type of meters that you can go on but it depends on what area you live in. The eco 10 meters has a built in time switch that will switch on the boiler at the off peak time with out you touching it.

peat · 20 July 2005 at 6:06AM

rosscobley
I am located in the Scottish Hydro area and I believe the do run an Economy 10 tarriff, I,m currently trying to find out more. I'm a bit surprised that I haven't had any replies along the lines " I've had a system running with a
X boiler for Y years and it's great/pathetic"
Cheers
Peat

rosscobley · 20 July 2005 at 9:33AM

Ok as far as i can see there are 2 tariffs that could be of use to u. They are

Total Heating Total Control: ex vat
Non D/D D/D

standard rate 7.50 7.05
Heating rate 4.16 3.19
Service charge 25.45 25.45

Economy 10: ex vat

standard rate 7.76 7.29
off peck rate 4.34 4.08
Service charge 16.39 16.39

Im going to find out time for you in a bit i would say that the econ 10 will be best but i will check

peat · 21 July 2005 at 6:04AM

Thanks for that - I have contacted Scottish and Southern who are going to send me more info.

Vikingfan · 22 July 2005 at 12:12PM

Stay away from Calor.
They are one big rip off my Gas bill is now £130 a month, 4 bed medium sized house.
And the price you pay depends on where you live.

Wet electric central heating

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free