Storage Heaters in New House??

Dicky2K

Evening All, Hope everybody is well...

Strait to the point, Im brickin it now..
Just moved into my new house, a 2 bedroomed bungalow (Old solid wall one).
It is however Double Glazed.
No Gas.. Just electric..
But we've got whats called Economy 7 ?? (I have no idea with this home stuff, this is my first house by myself).. I work away all week and am only home 2 nights a week, other half hardly uses anything electrical at home and wen she does its all turned off strait after (telly, lights etc)..
But i've been warned about these storage heaters.. we have 4 in total, two large, two small and a boiler thingy in the cupboard (with two switches, one saying daywith a timer attached, and one saying night without a timer..)

... just basically trying to work out what kinda of electric bill i can expect because of this "economy" 7 heating system..

I've heard so many things about them im scared to even use them...

Magentasue

They use a huge amount of electricity overnight. Econ7 gives you seven hours of cheap(er) electricity at night when the heater 'store' energy as heat. Gradually during the day, heat leaches out. Bad things:

Older models hopelessly expensive - use so much electricity and then all heat gone by the evening.
You have to predict tomorrow's need for heat.
Electricity is so much more expensive than gas.

To give you an idea, we use 13-16kwh a day and it costs us about £600 a year (we now have gas heating and hot water). You will use much less than this because there are six of us. You need to work out your average daytime use and cost it. Do the same for night - this'll be water heating, fridge etc. Then, one night soon, when bad weather's forecast, try running your storage heaters one night and read your off-peak meter - you'll have a rough idea of how much they'll cost every night.

Dicky2K

How much is a kwh then? money wise?

Magentasue

Check your tariff. Mine work out about 11p. Usually 10-15p. Nearer 15p for day rate on Econ 7. About 5p for off-peak I think.

Check your supplier's website for prices if you're not sure.

Dicky2K

Thanks..- Hey i just done an energ rating check thingy and that said that i should upgrade the Storage heaters as i have the older chunky things - any ideas' how i'd go abotu doing that.. reckons i can save about £150 a year in leccky..

Magentasue

Really don't know. Would never move into a house without gas, or the potential to install gas central heating but we do stay in houses a long time so it's worthwhile to install. If you're renting though, I'd consider moving before next winter. For me, the cost of storage heaters is bad enough but the fact that you pay so much for an inefficient heating system is worse.

Dicky2K

Hrmm.. Ok, thanks for the advice, I might try a few different avenues, might try to get some sort of grant to maybe upgrade them, worth a try..