Anyone used Rointe heaters?

lstar337

Cardew wrote: »

As far as I am aware nobody in this thread has questioned the quality of Rointe's products, and at least they publish a price list:

http://rointe.co.uk/downloads/Rointe-price-list-TOR15V1-UK.pdf

As far as electric heaters go, the are quite attractive in my humble opinion.

The prices make them prohibitive for somebody like me though, I just don't have enough money to enjoy a pretty heater. Luckily I have GCH now anyway.

Richie-from-the-Boro

I have questioned the price ratio / quality of Rionte products, the hi-build warranty of 10 years has always been reflected in the hi-price, but the only bit that can go wrong, the electronics, have until recently been limited to 2 years. The new Kyros range has 3 years on the electronics and 20 years on the body.

matelodave

AFAIK the Rointe heaters are fluid filled, jsut like an oil filled rad. I dont know if its a magic fliud, like the magic dust/clay or whatever in a Fischer heater but it wont make the heater any hotter or use any less leccy than a cheapie from Argos or Home Bargains's etc.

The the timer/thermostat might be a bit more accurate than a bi-metallic one in a £30 Argos unit but it will still produce the same amount of heat to fill the same space and cost the same to run as an Argos heater of the same rating

I agree that they look a bit nicer but is aesthetics worth another £300 to £400 to get the same result.

Richie-from-the-Boro

That's would be x20 (ish) more than Argos. The accuracy of the stat is obfuscation, nothing whatsoever to do with kW use which is precisely the same, its an academic and technical measurement argument on felt 'comfort', whilst it's true that an accurate stat will give less periods in measured time of maintained specific heat - what is a period ?. Is it 1 millisecond ? 5 whole seconds ? certainly not a whole minute or a half hour ?. Honestly which reasonably grounded objective person would notice !

Sandra_Robertson

Hi! Is there anyone out there who can update me on Rointe electric heaters as I am buying a property with old fashioned storage heaters! I have looked at the possibility of having gas installed but am being quoted well over £5000 for this to happen! Any advice would be appreciated!

lstar337

Sandra_Robertson wrote: »

Hi! Is there anyone out there who can update me on Rointe electric heaters as I am buying a property with old fashioned storage heaters! I have looked at the possibility of having gas installed but am being quoted well over £5000 for this to happen! Any advice would be appreciated!

Rointe heaters are simple, wall mountable, electric convector heaters with a somewhat sophisticated thermostat/timer control system.

The control system looks good enough and allows a significant level of control, and I quite like the styling of them. They are not ugly in my opinion.

They are expensive to run however, using direct electric at ~12p/unit.

The website shows no prices per unit, which to me means they must be expensive. Why hide the price if it is reasonable?

You are unhappy with a £5000 gas install cost, so I assume you are looking to no spend a fortune. I wouldn't be surprised if you found that a whole property install of Rointe heaters was close to that, but with a sales person pushing a heavy discount for an on-the-spot sale.

Now for your options.

1. Stick with Night Storage and learn how to use it as efficiently as possible.

This is the cheapest solution overall. Make sure all your current heaters are working, and check your E7 water tank. If you set it all up correctly (and your heaters are a large enough capacity for the space), then you should get heat all day long and hot water too, for a running cost similar to gas.

Note: This works best if you get a competitive E7 tariff and learn how to make full use of your E7 hours.


2. Switch to direct electric, with an increase in monthly costs.

If you want to install direct electric wall mount heaters in each room, then I would go with a well respected brand like Dimplex where you should be looking to pay around £120 for each heater. (I would expect the Rointe to be around £600/heater)

NOTE: With Rointe (or any direct electric heater) you will need to re-wire sections of your property, and switch to a single rate electricity meter. Also, your hot water requirements will cost roughly 300% more than before.

3. Install gas for the quote you have.

Fairly self explanatory. This will offer the most control for the best price.

NOTE: Make sure that gas is readily accessible in the building as a new connection to the grid could dwarf the cost of getting gas central heating installed.

Further notes:

Make sure your insulation is up to scratch as less heat lost means less heat needed to keep the place warm.

Make sure your hot water tank is well insulated, for the same reason as above.

Installing gas central heating where it has never been before can be pretty disruptive and lead to things like unsightly pipes all over the place if done on-the-cheap. On the plus side, if it is done well it will surely increase the value of the property by some amount as properties with GCH are more attractive to potential buyers.

danwa9

Hi all,

I'm sorry to drag up an old thread (please do direct me to a more appropriate thread if there is one) but we currently live in a house that has already had Rointe heaters installed across the house.

We moved in 18 months ago and knew it was electric only before we bought the house. Water is heated with immersion tank and heaters are all Rointe K. We wanted to trial the way it was/is to see how we got on. After two poor winters, we found our electricity bills were incredibly high. The rooms heated ok but with an open Plan lounge, we felt heating was slow to gain during colder weather, despite costing a lot. House has decent insulation too.

Even being on economy 7 for the immersion tank can't hide from the heaters that use up energy during peak times (unavoidable if you want heat during 'normal human hours'! ����).

Looked into so many options and recently found something that piqued my interest - electric boilers. For some reason I'd never heard of one or even knew they were available (could be a huge idiot here I know). My wife and I are expecting our second child imminently and already have a 15month old son, so wanted to keep our house warm, with hot water when required and mostly, an efficient system.

The question I now want to ask to anyone who can help - would an electric boiler that will give us CH and hot water be a better option than our current situation? I'm inclined to believe it would and would give more value to the property but really want some advice if it's possible.

Thanks in advance!

P.S. - gas and oil would require installation of tanks to be placed outsell which we don't feel would benefit the house with a modest garden.

danwa9

Found a thread that didn't speak highly of an electric combi boiler. Having read some thoughts on it has really made me think twice. Any further advice or guidance would be hugely appreciated!

Richie-from-the-Boro

Advice, yes go E7 NSCH.

Electric boilers are even more expensive than Rointe + pipework + water transport and heat loss + maintenance + servicing costs etc. You are indeed in a 'cleft stick' ripping out the Rointe is a pointless excersise in futility. Reality however demands E7 and an uneasy compromise can be found if you have a (partL complient) immersion system with a 'water controller' on the best E7 tariff for your area code and E7 wiring and corresponding CU, consider installing a supplimentary 3.4kW night store heater in your living area where your family spend the bulk of your time.

You could extend at any time, treating the idea as modular any time, any year, finance dependant. Best of luck - more questions - ask !

danwa9

Thanks for your advice! Really do appreciate it.

So in short, we should avoid the electric combi boiler at all costs?