This winter should I stop using night storage heaters?

richkingly

Hi,

I had a read through other posts and it seems similar questions to mine often crop up, me and my wife live in a small one bedroom flat that is all electric.

Our heating is provided through night storage heaters but these seem like a waste of electricity to me. We're out all day and when we're home in the evening they're not really giving out any heat any more so we feel cold.

This winter I was thinking of ignoring the storage heaters in the week (when we're out all day) and using them only for the weekends. During the week I thought in the evening we could use an electric heater/fan heater or one of those oil filled radiators.

Does this sound sensible or will I be racking up an even bigger electric bill?

dh50uk

I have had 2 flats with Storage heaters.

The 1st I left them gathering dust and just used an electric heater for the living room when we were actually at home, the bill was manageable but obviously the other rooms were a bit cold but I don't recall it being a major hassle, for cold nights in the winter we would bring the electric heater in to the bedroom on low. It was OK the UK has pretty mild winters bar the odd night.

The 2nd flat we had was a small 1 bedroom with 3 storage heaters and we decided to use them. We ran up a massive debt with the power company over the winter and ended up paying £200+ per month.

Personally I would never take another property with storage heaters, like you say by the time you actually need the heat its all gone and the cost is excessive, but then it depends on your circumstances and the property.

My rationale would be a fairly economical electric heater in one room at a time (when you are home) will save you money versus a full system of storage heating for the whole property.

grey_lady

I have 2 storage heaters and 2 normal electric heaters in my 2 bed flat,
I to have run up a large bill which i'm now paying off although thankly it's not as bad as £200 a month.

I ended up keeping the smaller storage heater switched off all the time,
the two electric heaters in the bedrooms i would switch on and off as i needed to, the larger storage heater i left on - but at quite low settings all the time. For top up heat i use a halogen heater - this seems to be much cheaper than the fan heater or the normal electric heaters.

hth

Rabiddog_2

How dos a Halogen heater work? I presume its run off lectric so cant really see it being any more efficient than other types of electric heating. Do you have any web links? argos cat maybe?

whatatwit

I personally think that the oil filled rads are more efficient than a halogen heater, in that they continue to give out heat after they have been turned off, but they do take a bit longer to heat up.
Halogen is instant and yes, it runs off electric.
I think the comparison is down to actual Kwh usage of each heater and if you prefer the glow of halogen to a white rad.

Cardew

It is important that people realise that no electrical heater is any more efficient than another electrical heater - they are all 100% efficient.

So you get exactly the same amount of heat for your money regardless of the type of electrical heater*; so there is no difference in economy - you get what you pay for!

The only difference is the way it delivers the heat.

* excluding heat pumps.

Ada3050

Dont forget that if set to low they will provide a background heat to keep the flat damp free. I had a flat with storage heating and I tried the same as you, after a few days it started to get damp. You could use the portable heating in the evenings to top up if it gets colder.
The common mistake people make with night storage heating is they try to use it like central heating, if its used as a background heating then you should be able to keep warm most times of the day with a bit of top up heating.

paceinternet

Do remember though that each heater may be costing something every night to recharge.
Up to 3kw x 7 hours x E7 at 5p per kwh, so around £1 per heater per night.