Kalirel - what has been your experience?

isobel81

Hi everyone

I thought I would start this thread as I have found next to no reviews on the internet about this "revolutionary" heating system from France.

My experience has been that they are not the energy-efficient, low-running-cost heating system that I was mislead to believe. Indeed my energy bill has soared in the last 2 years since I had them installed.

Obviously there have been price increases in that time, but my actual consumption has risen by 50% from 6,660kWhs per annum to 9,660kWhs per annum. In 2005-6 my average monthly usage was £33; now it is £103. Not all of it is down to price increases!

So has anyone else installed these heaters and found them good? Or found them bad like me? Maybe they work best on a specific tariff or maybe I would be better with a different meter?

What is your experience or opinion of Kalirel?

Isobel :rotfl:

Cardew

As posted on several other threads, Kalirel and allof these systems with 'magic' gel/clay/magicform pads etc that run on daytime electricity are the most expensive form of heating available, and put out exactly the same heat(for the money) as any other electrical heater including your £10 1 bar fir and £20 oil filled radiator.

This is an absolutely undeniable fact - not a matter of opinion. Their websites are outrageous!

You are renting so can afford to be objective. Unfortunately you will usually find that anyone who has paid £thousands for a system will hate to admit that they have bought a 'pup'.

As an example you will find people who have bought a magnet to place on their car fuel line and will swear blind it has improved their fuel consumption by 50%!!!!!

There will of course be the odd post by someone who thinks they are the greatest thing since sliced bread - no connection with the company of course!!!

isobel81

Cardew wrote: »

You are renting so can afford to be objective. Unfortunately you will usually find that anyone who has paid £thousands for a system will hate to admit that they have bought a 'pup'

Unfortunately my parents and landlords are one and the same, so I feel a bit sorry for them as they were mislead by the adverts. They thought they were doing me a favour and improving their property at the same time. Unwittingly, they did neither.

So, until I am able to move out and find a place to rent with more affordable heating, it is me that I feel sorry for!

Compliance_Queen

I am about to order Kalirel heaters to replace my current storage and convector heaters. Only feedback I found on the interent was here - not very encouraging! Now I don't know what to do
This is a plea, does anyone else have any feedback on Kalirel heating, is it good or is it bad? Please, either save me from making an expensive mistake or, allow me to buy with confidence.
In order to get maximum efficiency it needs to be operated with Economy 10. For maximum control it should be used in conjunction with the Cyclope programmer. It even gives a read out of how much elecricity each heater is using.
A friend has already got it - she just hasn't used it yet. She's not much help! So, I am begging for information, hope you can help.
Thanks!

KimYeovil

The name sounds like a technology Norrin Radd and Galactus use. Neither of them seem prudent with their energy bills.

Cardew

Compliance_Queen wrote: »

I am about to order Kalirel heaters to replace my current storage and convector heaters. Only feedback I found on the interent was here - not very encouraging! Now I don't know what to do
This is a plea, does anyone else have any feedback on Kalirel heating, is it good or is it bad? Please, either save me from making an expensive mistake or, allow me to buy with confidence.
In order to get maximum efficiency it needs to be operated with Economy 10. For maximum control it should be used in conjunction with the Cyclope programmer. It even gives a read out of how much elecricity each heater is using.
A friend has already got it - she just hasn't used it yet. She's not much help! So, I am begging for information, hope you can help.
Thanks!

Well I said my bit in the post above.

It cannot be over-emphasised that these heaters give out exactly the same heat for your money as the cheapest of electrical heater.

All Economy 10 does is give you some cheap electricity for periods in the day, but you pay extra for all the rest of your electricity for the remainder of the day. (i.e. for 14 hours)

If you need heat during the Economy 10 periods, you can still get it for exactly the same price with a £20 oil filled heater.

You can 'program' the times for £20 heaters to operate with a simple plug in timer and the heaters all have a thermostat to control the temperature.

Do you mind saying how much the system costs? I have heard of quotes of well over £1000 for a small system.

Compliance_Queen

The cost is as much or as little as you want to spend.
The heaters come in three different designs which can be controlled by the Cyclope programmer (provided you purchased the Cyclope compatible heaters) or; the Classic range, which means one can't operate the entire heating system by remote control from an armchair.
There is an official website with a full retail price list - and loads of others (all of them selling it, none reviewing it - spookily).
It's suposed to be very 'green', very 'economical' and, most important of all, 'money saving'! I am sure that they would not be allowed to produce cost comparison charts and include sweeping statements such as 'Kalirel heaters are around 2/3rds of the running costs of night storage heaters for the same heat output', in their literature if they were not true. That said, it certainly hasn't been poor Isobel's experience!
Maybe I should go to the woods and gather some twigs and fir cones to get me through winter? Ha!:rotfl:

Cardew

You can virtually say want you want on the Internet without comeback. - Apparently Paris Hilton will be dying to meet me if I take the right chemicals!!

There is really no use in keep repeating myself except to say once again that a £20 oil filled radiator from Argos or where ever will produce exactly the same amount of heat for exactly the same amount of money as a Kalirel heater.

That is indisputable!

If you want to pay £hundreds/thousands more to fit a fancy electrical 'system' that produces no more heat - then that is your choice.

hudsonriggott

isobel81 wrote: »

Hi everyone

I thought I would start this thread as I have found next to no reviews on the internet about this "revolutionary" heating system from France.

My experience has been that they are not the energy-efficient, low-running-cost heating system that I was mislead to believe. Indeed my energy bill has soared in the last 2 years since I had them installed.

Obviously there have been price increases in that time, but my actual consumption has risen by 50% from 6,660kWhs per annum to 9,660kWhs per annum. In 2005-6 my average monthly usage was £33; now it is £103. Not all of it is down to price increases!

So has anyone else installed these heaters and found them good? Or found them bad like me? Maybe they work best on a specific tariff or maybe I would be better with a different meter?

What is your experience or opinion of Kalirel?

Isobel :rotfl:Go to my website ecoheatingcompany.co.uk for loads of information

gc_bus

I think that they can be good in a smallish very well insulated property on Economy 10 if you can make the best use of the 'low rate' periods that this offers. Also to consider is that there is no annual maintenance to pay for either unlike gas/oil. I also think that the price difference between gas and electricity will become less and less as the years go by.

chywoon

Hi all, I bought several heaters 2 years ago and have to say up untill now have been very pleased with them my power bills are reasonable and certainly much better than when I had storage heaters in. However I now find that one of them has a thermostat malfunction. It is caput! Garantee useless! The company I bought from has dissapeared and I have been unable to find another to replace it, so that now means when I find something similar I will have yet more holes in my tiled bathroom. Unless someone out there knows where I can get a replacement?