economy radiator company

jimmyscot

Hi,

I was just wondering if anyone has heard of 'the economy radiator company', the reason I ask is that our two bedroom house has two storage heaters downstairs and nothing upstairs so they are next to useless. What this company offers is electric heating that is a cheap alternative to gas installations but with a similar running cost. Now calll me a cynic but it all seems to be a bit too good to be true, and you know what they say if it appears too good to be true it probably is. So has anyone ever heard of these guys or used them and can anyone tell me if there claims are true?

Thanks

Jimmy

Mankysteve

You be right is saying its too good to be true. Gas heating is always cheaper, there no way it can be cheaper than gas. A gas boiler would have to waste 77% of the gas it uses to be more expensive than eleci.

Just found there website his number don't make any sense. There no more than glorified Oil radiators there running cost should be on par with them if you want a comparison.

Cardew

Loads of firms are getting in on this [TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM].

Electrical heaters marketed by implying that they 'only cost xp per hour to run' and are somehow cheaper to run - they ain't.

A £20 oil filled radiator or fan heater gives out exactly the same amount of heat for the same running cost as any other electrical heater.

jimmyscot

Thanks for the reply folks, I didn't think it sounded right! Suppose i'll just have to look at getting gas again!

Tartanspartan_2

Ive also been looking at these gel filled electric radiators,i have a property with one ancient storage heater and two panel heaters which ive ripped out and need to replace,these gel filled heaters seemed a good alternative to storage heaters although i am of the same opinion that if it seems too good to be true then it probably is.
I like the look of them etc but they do seem very expensive for what they are - a pimped up oil filled radiator.
I could just install a Dimplex DUOHEAT storage heater and two EPX panel heaters but would prefer something other than storage.

Another company ive been looking into is Heat Electric which are also known as Easy heat,they manufacture water filled electric radiators which look identical to standard wet system radiators but are electric,they look and seem rather good to me,anyone had previous experience of the Easy Heat range ?

Cheers

daveyjp

The only thing you need to check on ANY electric heating is the kWh rating of the appliance. Any talk of efficiency, less power more heat etc is complete nonsense.

It doesn't matter if it is filled with gel, water, oil, gold or rare earth metals, if its rated at 2kWh it will burn two kW of electricity every hour.

cashstrappedchap

Thanks for your input. Really helpful. I did look at heat pumps but the price was way out of my budget with the install. I'm now confused though! My friend says that his heating bills are definitely a lot less than they were last winter when he was using some cheap heaters. The literature that I have says that the Economiser radiators are far more efficient than convector heaters because they have ceramic cells inside that store heat, and that each cell charges up separately at different times. It's not a storage heater though. I now have someone bringing me a radiator to try out for a week with a power consumption meter which seems fair. If it's too good to be true I'll soon find out I guess!

HappyMJ

cashstrappedchap wrote: »

Thanks for your input. Really helpful. I did look at heat pumps but the price was way out of my budget with the install. I'm now confused though! My friend says that his heating bills are definitely a lot less than they were last winter when he was using some cheap heaters. The literature that I have says that the Economiser radiators are far more efficient than convector heaters because they have ceramic cells inside that store heat, and that each cell charges up separately at different times. It's not a storage heater though. I now have someone bringing me a radiator to try out for a week with a power consumption meter which seems fair. If it's too good to be true I'll soon find out I guess!

A heat pump would be cheaper than the prices they want. a 1kw heater from them costs £339 and a small 2.5kw output heat pump which is supposed to use 750W of energy costs £329 plus installation. Installation costs are not very much. But they do have disadvantages i.e they don't work when it's very cold outside. Don't waste your money cashstrappedchap...

Cardew

HappyMJ is absolutely correct.

As said so many times on this forum you will get EXACTLY the same amount of heat, for the same running cost, from a £10 fan heater, a £30 oil filled radiator, a £50 panel heater or Granny's old 1/2/3 bar fire. The reason? all electrical heating is 100% efficient.

Those heaters are just a joke in price and their claims.

You can buy wireless, remote controlled, variable timed devices that will control the thermostatically controlled heaters for very little money.

daveyjp

"The literature that I have says that the Economiser radiators are far more efficient than convector heaters because they have ceramic cells inside that store heat"

Where does this heat come from? The tooth fairy? Never believe the sale brochures from these people, basic physics destroys any sales patter they have.

garryhart

Whilst I agree with posters on here who have mentioned on more than one occasion that all eletric heaters are 100% efficient, there is a significant difference when it comes to the type of heater, how effective it is at heating the space, the quality of the heat produced and the lifecycle cost.

I believe that cheap convection and fan heaters or oil filled radiators are not worth buying even at tuppence ha'penny as they are inefficient at heating space. Consider the principle of a convection heater, it method of heating is to heat the air which then by convection (rising of warm air being replaced by cooler air which is then heated) is an expensive to make a room feel warm.

I have done research in this area and found that panel heaters which use infrared are far more effective and provide a better quality of warmth. These panels ARE more effiecient at providing heat than cheap elctectric convection or fan heaters as well as oil filled radiators. Infrared is a natural warming principle (same as the sun without the damaging UV) as our bodies are able to absorb IR which makes us feel warm.

As infrared does not heat the air there is no convection of air ciruclation meaning that dust and germs are not stirred up around the living environment. Another benefit is that infrared is more effective at heating the fabric of your building which lowers the U value of the walls and re-radiates heat back into the room. This also helps eliminate dampness and mould.

Yes it is right to say that all electric fed heater are 100% efficient in their conversion of elctricty to heat but there is a big difference in how effective they are to meet your heating requirement.