Can someone help me get my head around the types of heating systems

gemstars

The house I am buying has an electric night storage heating system (which I have never dealt with before). There is no gas to the property. The water is a tank heated by an immersion heater and the 'radiators' (in all the rooms) produce heat by storing it in bricks and releasing it during the day.

I've recieved the fixtures, fittings and contents form and it states:

Immersion Heater - Included
Hot Water Cylinder Jacket - None at Property
Wall Heaters - Included
Night Storage Heater - Included
Complete Central Heating System - None at Property

and this is why I'm confused.... I may have this wrong but I thought that a 'central heating system' is the system which provides heat to the interior of a building, regardless of how it actually works (electric, gas, oil filled radiators etc) so there is therefore a central heating system at the property or is electric storage heating different?

Can someone please let me know:
1. If I my understanding is wrong?
2. If the vendors understanding is wrong?
3. If we're both correct and I'm in for a nasty surprise?!

Thanks!
Gem

cattie

Central heating systems are usually fired by a boiler, whether gas,electric or oil controlled & control the hot water & heating the radiators.

Electric storage heating is something completely different and there is usually a special tarriff for this kind of heating, making it cheaper to operate & store heat at night & more expensive for electricity units used during the day.

Electric heating is very expensive & not as controllable as gas & personally I'd never consider a property that didn't have a gas supply to it.

Lot's of modern apartments are now built with electric storage heating & no gas supply whatsoever, more the pity really, as it's good to at least have the choice of gas or electricity for cooking, heating, hot water etc.

keith969

No, a 'central' heating system is just that - the heating is centralised e.g. has a single boiler. Night storage heaters are effectively a 'distributed' heating system as each one is generating heat.

Personally I would steer clear of night storage heating, it is hottest when you don't need it (at night) and you can't get a sudden boost of heat if you want it.

gemstars

I know the heating system isn't the most popular going but we love the house so wern't going to be put off buy it and I think it will suit our lifestyles fine.

Thanks for helping me understand how it works tho. :-)

Geenie

gemstars wrote: »

I know the heating system isn't the most popular going but we love the house so wern't going to be put off buy it and I think it will suit our lifestyles fine.

Thanks for helping me understand how it works tho. :-)

We have a property we let with storage heaters. It is not ideal for sure, and we will replace in a few years, but they do the business, and tenants have not been put off so far! That said, it is a cobbed, thick walled place with double glazing, wood burners and a range in the kitchen, so is very warm even without their use.

You need to ask to see the EPC....Energy Performance Certificate, which all LL's must provide now. It will give you a guide to what the costs will be for heating the place, and how well insulated it is....a very important factor whatever the heating is provided by! Storage heaters will score low, so be prepared, but we had a 3ft thick cob walled place score low for insulation.....built on straw, mud and cow sh*te...can't get much greener then that surely!

I grew up with storage heaters....the old huge type that had bricks in them and were all the rage in the 70',s Economy 7 ! They were not ideal when it came to 4pm onwards, but we had gas fires in the main rooms, so were very warm.

Back to the insulation. Don't let this type of heating put you off........but do research so you are aware of the costs involved. Good luck OP.

barnaby-bear

gemstars wrote: »

The house I am buying has an electric night storage heating system (which I have never dealt with before). There is no gas to the property. The water is a tank heated by an immersion heater and the 'radiators' (in all the rooms) produce heat by storing it in bricks and releasing it during the day.

Possibly the cr&pest engineering idea ever..... heat up some lumps of concrete at night (assuming very cheap night time electricity tariffs as per 20 years ago but not now)... so you house is warm between about 7-11am when you go out to work anyway but getting cold by the time you come home.... and if it's a warm day at home you can't turn it off you have to open all the windows.....

Davesnave

To get the best from Economy 7 you also need to run things at night that you'd normally run by day. Chief among these is the washing machine, which you can stick on a timer or, like us, use an insomniac.

Get that cylinder lagged pronto when you move in. In this rented place, we had to boost the water heating during the expensive period until we wrapped the tank up with insulation. Made a huge difference.

Finally, the 7 hour cheap electric will vary by an hour as the clocks move forward in the spring and back in the autumn. Our showers are much cheaper at the moment. In the winter nobody could be @rsed to get up in time to 'beat the clock!'