Storage Heaters vs Oil or Convection Heaters?

HarmonyAngel_2

Hi all

I've been having a real good read through the post's before posting myself but still have a question.

I've read it said in dozen's of post's that with electric, basically it doesn't matter which type of electric heating, they're all going to cost the same, ie, expensive ~ or have I misunderstood?

My query is that I'm in the process of moving into my new home (rented) & the heating is storage heater's plus open fire's. My neighbour's have said that I might as well set fire to £5 notes if I'm going to use the storage heater's & recommended I got a multi-fuel stove (which I planned to anyway) plus get a couple of oil filled heater's. Are my neighbour's right about the storage heater's? I know that they're more expensive to run but what about the oil filled heater's? Is it just another waste of money to go & get the oil heater's?

My plan had been to get a multi-fuel stove with an Eco Fan for downstair's, use the fire in the bedroom (safely of course) along with my electric blanket & hopefully get away with using just the bathroom storage heater.

I'd be very grateful of some advice as I was about to go out & buy a couple of oil filled heater's until I came on here last night & now I'm not sure what to do?

Due to disability I'm at home almost all of the time & one thing my body no longer likes is the cold :rolleyes: At the moment whilst I'm in the middle of going back & forth taking things up, due to how cold it is I've left the kitchen heater on (the input turner is broken so unsure of how high it's set but think high & output on no. 2) plus the bedroom one which is on no. 3 In, no. 1 or 2 Out.

I'm terrified of a big electric bill & hope to be able to rely on the fire's.

Anyway, I'm rambling :rolleyes: Any advice very gratefully received :cheesy:

HarmonyAngel
:A

HarmonyAngel_2

Anyone? Is it a waste of money to get a couple of oil filled radiator's in replace of the storage heater's or would it work out better?

I know it must seem frustrating people keep asking the same question but even after going through lots of post's I'm still not 100% sure of the answer? The only thing I know is that all forms of portable electric heating cost the same but what about oil radiator's vs storage heater's?

I really will be very grateful for any replies

:A

paceinternet

First, you should find out what electricity tariff you are on and compare alternatives on the web sites.
Next you should start taking daily meter readings with different heaters running and understand how much each is costing you.

There are many problems with storage heaters, but they have their place in some situations. The worst issue is that if you are on an E7 electrical tariff, then your daytime units are more expensive than if you are on a normal tariff.
However, this varies daramtically with different providers, so there is no simple answer. To make it even more difficult, BG has just introduced a new tariff called Web Saver 1 (an online tariff) which for some areas of the country has a much more competitive daytime tariff, so making storage heaters worth considering.

A._Badger

A lot depends on the size of the property. A decent sized multifuel stove can kick out a lot of heat and if you are around to keep it alight all day, and if your new house isn't particularly big, you may find it generates enough heat to avoid having to use the storage radiators at all - though you may want to supplement certain rooms with a small electric heater from time to tme.

My best advice would be to get a quote from a local stove supplier. Explain what you are trying to do and see wat he suggests. Of course, you don't want a stove that's too powerful, or it'll drive you out of the roim it's in, but a small house can often be comfortably warmed by a single stove.

Hope that's some help.

Cardew

If your house is rented, to buy and install a multi-fuel stove will cost quite a bit - and will the owner allow it?

Paceinternet in post #3 has summed it up really.

Untill you have been in the house for a while, and got some consumption figures for night and day rates, it will be difficult to guage which is the best method.

The new BG websaver is more competitive for an economy 7 tariff than their BG Click 6 tariff(but not for their normal(24/7) tariff.)

Either way heating with electricity will not be cheap, and if you are in the house all day(and like it warm) your storage heaters will run out of heat - but at least that heat will have been a lot cheaper.

Belnahua

I'd go with oil heaters. I've found that a couple of 2,5Kw will heat the downstairs nicely. What's more interesting, is once they're up to temperature, they only draw 2Kw for both of them!

HarmonyAngel_2

paceinternet wrote: »

First, you should find out what electricity tariff you are on and compare alternatives on the web sites. Next you should start taking daily meter readings with different heaters running and understand how much each is costing you.

There are many problems with storage heaters, but they have their place in some situations. The worst issue is that if you are on an E7 electrical tariff, then your daytime units are more expensive than if you are on a normal tariff.
However, this varies daramtically with different providers, so there is no simple answer. To make it even more difficult, BG has just introduced a new tariff called Web Saver 1 (an online tariff) which for some areas of the country has a much more competitive daytime tariff, so making storage heaters worth considering.

Many thanks for your reply. All I know at the moment is who the electric is with (E-ON), I think it's E7 as there are 4 reading's on the meter reading's (the estate agent took them for they & I on key hand over day).

I'll phone E-ON to confirm my tariff & I will also have a look on BG website. I've been with BG as a gas customer for a few year's & managed to get onto what is now called their Essential's Tarriff back in the summer, it would be good if they do have a good tarriff, especially for the daytime.

Thanks again

:A

HarmonyAngel_2

A._Badger wrote: »

A lot depends on the size of the property. A decent sized multifuel stove can kick out a lot of heat and if you are around to keep it alight all day, and if your new house isn't particularly big, you may find it generates enough heat to avoid having to use the storage radiators at all - though you may want to supplement certain rooms with a small electric heater from time to tme.

My best advice would be to get a quote from a local stove supplier. Explain what you are trying to do and see wat he suggests. Of course, you don't want a stove that's too powerful, or it'll drive you out of the roim it's in, but a small house can often be comfortably warmed by a single stove.

Hope that's some help.

Many thanks for your reply. I've had a multi-fuel stove before & talking to my Dad (who knows them more than well) I'll be looking at one that kicks out upto approx 5-7kw, that with the Ecofan will at the very least this will keep the downstairs heated. My plan, especially during the colder times would be to keep it alight pretty much all of the time. In addition I'll be using the bedroom fire at night which would leave just the bathroom needing to be heated where there is a storage heater or if it will be cheaper, an oil fired radiator.

Many thanks again for your reply

:A

HarmonyAngel_2

Cardew wrote: »

If your house is rented, to buy and install a multi-fuel stove will cost quite a bit - and will the owner allow it?

Paceinternet in post #3 has summed it up really.

Untill you have been in the house for a while, and got some consumption figures for night and day rates, it will be difficult to guage which is the best method.

The new BG websaver is more competitive for an economy 7 tariff than their BG Click 6 tariff(but not for their normal(24/7) tariff.)

Either way heating with electricity will not be cheap, and if you are in the house all day(and like it warm) your storage heaters will run out of heat - but at least that heat will have been a lot cheaper.

Hi & many thanks for your reply Yes I'm allowed to put in a multi-fuel stove, I knew my neighbour's already had & I asked the estate owner if it would be ok to which he agreed. The cottage is a 2 bed estate cottage that I should be able to live in for as long as I wish. My Dad will be fitting the stove so that is a major cost saved & should I leave the cottage I will be able to take it with me ensuring that I leave a fully working fireplace.

One thing I've noticed with the 2 storage heater's I have on at the moment, although both are on low, they're still hot in the evening, that said the latest I've been there until has been about 7pm. The dial does tell you the number to set for afternoon boost but they're set just below that. The estate owner has said something about the previous tenant having the storage heater's on an afternoon boost so I'm not sure if that's the setting or something to do with E-ON?

Thanks again for your reply, as above, I will have a look on the BG website & also find out exactly what tarriff I'm currently on when I call in a few day's to set up my DD.

Happy New Year :T

:A

HarmonyAngel_2

Belnahua wrote: »

I'd go with oil heaters. I've found that a couple of 2,5Kw will heat the downstairs nicely. What's more interesting, is once they're up to temperature, they only draw 2Kw for both of them!

Many thanks, your reply is appreciated

:A

whitevanwoman

I live in a 2 up 2 down victorian terraced and my only source of heating is my multifuel stove in the kitchen. It's a 5kw stove with a boiler fitted to do my hot water and so 2kw of heat is used for the boiler and 3kw of heat is for heating the rooms downstairs. Except during the past few days when it has been about minus 8 at night (I live in the north) I try to manage during the day without the fire, lighting it about 4pm. Within an hour the kitchen is toasty warm and the chill has gone off the front room. During the winter I virtually live in the kitchen and only really use the front room in the summer. I also find that despite having no heating, the bedroom above the kitchen also gets quite warm from the heat in the chimney breast and the hot water pipes under the floorboards. I manage without heating in the bathroom by having baths during the winter instead of showers - the steam heats up the bathroom & I always have loads of hot water. I like the way a really hot bath keeps you feeling warm for ages afterwards. I have an electric shower that I only really use during the summer when I don't use the stove much.

I have taken weekly meter readings for the past year and have discovered that I actually use much more elec during the summer than during the winter - I presume this is due to using the immersion heater for the odd half hour to heat water and to using the elec shower because the stove is not lit.

However, the cost of coal is now astronomical - when I moved here 5 years ago it was £6.40 a bag, it's now £14.20 a bag and over the past year it has gone up almost on a monthly basis. During winter, if you want your stove going during the day aswell as in the evening and overnight you need to reckon on at least a bag of coal a week, supplemented by wood, and anything else burnable. I salvage wood from wherever I can (I've even demolished a shed for someone for the wood) and chainsaw it up myself, a job which I enjoy doing but which accounts for a day's work each week.
A trailer of ready cut logs usually costs £40 - 50 and should last a couple of months during the winter if used combined with coal. But you will need to stack it and store it somewhere dry. And make sure that the length of the logs is not too big for your stove.

In my freezing front bedroom where its 6 degrees at present, extra blankets and hot bean bags are essential. It's tough at first but you actually get used to living in a colder house, and I now have hot sweats in centrally heated houses.

Alot of my problem is that I have the original rattly draughty sash windows so I'm losing vast amounts of heat through those. I use a blind aswell as thick curtains as I can't afford nor really want new windows. I've bought some plastic film window insulation which I'm going to use over the windows. I think good insulation is as good as an extra heater - I felt a draught in the kitchen the other night coming from the cat flap so I have made a cat flap curtain and noticed the difference!

I think a 5 -7 kw stove would be more than enough to heat your cottage - in fact it might be worth looking at a 3 or 5 kw stove max as you might find that during the summer you want some heat for an hour or so in the evening but a higher kw stove would be too much.

I have a plug in halogen heater which I use in emergencies (like no dry wood) or when I come in late and its not worth lighting the stove for an hour before I go to bed. I think that's quite cheap to run as it doesn't seem to make a huge difference to my elec use.

I've got a device which measures the amount of elec and the cost of the elec used by an elec appliance so I'll try it on my halogen heater and on the mini oil heater I've got (but never use) and will let you know the results.

If you receive a disability benefit or disability premium for council tax or income support, you should qualifty for loft insulation and help towards heating through the Warm Front scheme ( http://www.warmfront.co.uk/ ). That includes replacing open fires with enclosed stoves so check their website out before you buy and fit your stove as you may be able to get financial help towards it.

Good luck, stay warm. You can't beat a wool jumper :-)