Anyone used Rointe heaters?

Richie-from-the-Boro

Matt_Pug_106 wrote: »

It's not actually been outlined if it's worth purchasing them or not unless your in the trade and can made £'s off them.

They have pro's and con's but I'd much prefer something that can be bolted to the wall rather than pushed around on wheels.

HiYa Matt,

Most, but not all of the #433 posts in this thread clearly hold the opinion that they are not worth buying when so many alternatives produce the same heat for a tiny fraction of the comparative unit product cost. If your home isn't on the gas grid, or for whatever reason you choose to use electricity for space & water heating, the most cost-effective form of electric central heating uses an E7 or E10 supply tariff and night storage heaters. If for whatever reason you are core tariff and can not avail yourself of the cheaper night store systems, all panel heaters screw to the wall.

Matt_Pug_106

I'm stuck with electricity as the only option which is a shame. Also currently on an E7 tarrif but I can't see this being a benefit unless we go for storage heaters. We've ruled these out due to be at work in the day when the heat is most likely used up.

We've priced up the Rointe rad's and it's coming to aprox £1100. I just can't see the standalone rad's having the some power or am I being brainwashed?

And thanks for the replies both

Richie-from-the-Boro

Matt_Pug_106 wrote: »

And thanks for the replies both

currently on an E7 tariff but I can't see this being a benefit unless we go for storage heaters

- not always the case, but in the absence of other details agreed

ruled these out due to be at work in the day when the heat is most likely used up

- not the case, most of the UK have night store and are at work all day, and it works for them
- night store does leak heat during the day, older ones leak a lot newer ones 20% less
- most 'leak' is down to user error, you wouldn't go to bed or work in the winter and leave your front door open
- but many many people go to bed or work and leave the damper open and write comment about the useless heater
- they should write comment about useless clueless householders not knowing how to use their own heating system

when the heat is most likely used up

- brainwashed possibly, but nevertheless untrue a totally inaccurate statement
- a frighten[er] quote straight from the double glazing salesman's book of pressure selling techniques
- if you have any comparative evidence that most of the heat is used up show me
- any cheap heat radiated during the day is in the room meaning less expensive heat is needed to bring the room up to ?°C later
- how much heat is leeched from the room is a much more important calculation

We've priced up the Rointe rad's

- size dependant each one is about 4 times the price of night store and 11 times the price of panel heating
- each requires a core tariff of twice to three times the E7 tariff electricity to be taken into consideration
- all your water heating needs will also be 2-3 times the kW cost of hot water supply

I just can't see the standalone rad's having the some power or am I being brainwashed?

- I don't know what this means !
- if you mean you Rointe's attempt to compare itself to storage heating
- it can not be compared, it stores nothing, so that's you being brainwashed
- REM, apple-sweet & red, lemon-yellow & sour, 1 sweet & 1 sour, a different design, so no comparison

Insulation and lifestyle is a lot to do with your question. A pensioner home alone all day will need all day comfortable heat at the cheapest rate. A Matt_Pug_106 couple will need the cheapest delivery of a 5 hour only burst of heat in the evenings and all day at weekends. Both will benefit from good insulation. My general observation without getting into ~U~ values has always been that a dwelling with a SAP / EPC of less than C is not a good candidate for the Rointe [or other similar] systems. In your case if you do not want storage heating and water, then you want a non-E7 core tariff.

So we are left with your deeper question is is it worth paying 11 times the £ price for Rointe panel heaters compared with others that do the same job, this is a purely aesthetic question, like wallpaper and carpet choice and has nothing whatever to do with heating but to do with decor, that then is a personal judgement for your household.

Matt_Pug_106

My assumption on storage heaters comes from the old style ones that take up a lot of space. I’m sure the newer ones are a lot better and indeed more efficient however I was concerned I’d still want to top up the heat late in the evening.

When I looked into the newer style Dimplex storage heaters they didn’t seem to be that much cheaper, maybe I looked at the wrong thing? We also have very limited space so maybe ruled them out without properly thinking about it.

The property is very small and also very old so I think the loss of heat will be significant but we’ve been trying to sort this.

The whole thing is all new to us so we’re trying to do the right thing first time around so this is really helpful. I’ve talked myself out of the Rointe and any other over priced unit so that’s a good start!

Richie-from-the-Boro

Matt_Pug_106 wrote: »

The whole thing is all new to us so we’re trying to do the right thing first time around so this is really helpful. I’ve talked myself out of the Rointe and any other over priced unit so that’s a good start!

assumption on storage heaters comes from the old style ones that take up a lot of space

- they do, as do the newer ones, only slightly slimmer
- they always will be they .. .. .. bulk store cheap rate heat
- the alternative is sexy slim non-storage and expensive rate heat

the newer ones are a lot better and indeed more efficient

- some makers now use nano-blanket insulation and a better damper so less leak from convection and radiation
- some newer ones have smaller size because they use denser bricks holding the same quantity of stored heat
- some newer ones have more comfort with improved central control and much more responsive electronic thermostats

I’d still want to top up the heat late in the evening

- the DimplexDUO range of storage heaters have central control and an additional 13a panel radiator built into the front for top-up's
- alternatively an E10 tariff will give you an automatic top up to both your water to nonDUO storage heaters
- again you could have a 13a panel heater to do a similar top-up job to Rionte for less than £100

they didn't seem to be that much cheaper, maybe I looked at the wrong thing

- no I'm sure you looked at the right thing and the right price
- you just did not take into account that an output similar to a night store heater would take 2 of the Rionte big panel heaters
- their £622.00 - 1.6W panel heater only outputs a half of the heat a night store heater puts out
- you would need to run your space heating day & night to keep it up to °C temp at full core rate price electricity
- and still have to boil a copper kettle for a bath

I think the loss of heat will be significant

- this would impact on any heating type, every penny spent here is a pound well saved elsewhere

You know if the place is as very small as you say and you improve on the SAP / EPC to B or thereabouts you would be a candidate for any system including Rionte, but then Rionte would still cost more 4 times the price of night store and 11 times the price of panel heating and would not give you any hot water. If that bungalow has even one open fireplace, you might as well do nothing at all, it will all be a waste of time & money. Best of luck Matt_Pug_106.

Cardew

Richie-from-the-Boro wrote: »

-
- their £622.00 - 1.6W panel heater only

.

I believe that price is ex-vat, so £746 with VAT.

Richie-from-the-Boro

Cardew wrote: »

I believe that price is ex-vat, so £746 with VAT.

Ta M8, I've found the best way to guesstimate a price is per room. Most rooms even using their own convoluted RTC and elements calc seems to indicate that two of their heaters plus a controller are needed for an average UK SAP living room at 21°C. Have a look at the bottom of the pdf, what do you think ?

Andy_WSM

Richie-from-the-Boro wrote: »

Have a look at the bottom of the pdf, what do you think ?

I think the brochure is meaningless twaddle!

"Equivalent consumption/no consumption" - tested in an "independent laboratory, maintaining a room temperature of 21C"...So, what was the temperature outside of the room? 20C? 0C? -5C? Without knowing that and how the room was constructed - windows, doors, building material / insulation, then the whole page about "efficiency" is meaningless, absolutely worthless.

I could put any electric heater set to 21C in my garden in the middle of Summer and get better "consumption/no consumption" figures frankly

Cardew

As a matter of interest, has anyone read the Delivery Conditions - No 3 of General Terms and Conditions at end of document.(sorry can't cut and paste)

Our goods are deemed delivered when they are placed on the lorry in our warehouses in UK, except for offers with special conditions, and our liability as a haulier ends at that point. The fact that we hire the transport and pay the costs thereof does not entail the acceptance of the risks therein.

It seems to me that if damaged goods arrive at a customer, Rointe have no responsibility.

Am I reading it correctly?

Richie-from-the-Boro

Cardew wrote: »

As a matter of interest, has anyone read the Delivery Conditions - No 3 of General Terms and Conditions at end of document.(sorry can't cut and paste)


It seems to me that if damaged goods arrive at a customer, Rointe have no responsibility.

Am I reading it correctly?

That too is the way I read it, they then make it even more ambiguous with the 'received pending checking' statement.

- they claim in their tech docs that their 600RAD is 1600W that runs at a 'stat-ed' [7A] 640W
- the same tech doc menions a K Series RAD test that gives a room squared Rionte supplied heat requirement
- but have beautifully absent test details, so the efficacy of their testing can not be reviewed this time
- as such their claims are just that claims without evidence, in particular at what voltage in the world was the test ?
- - 1400 watts in the UK at 230v translates to 1596 watts at the 244v that their old BSRIA test used
- no mention of the cooling applied to 21°C chamber, if their claimed 560W per hour input was matched by cooling
- then any input number matched by any cooling number would use the same 560W to counteract the cooling
- if you put three of these in matched by the same cooling you would still use only 560W

As far as I can see they are using their old BSRIA test outcomes [no new test] unmodified, which suits me just fine.