Anyone used Rointe heaters?

matelodave

I agree with Ectophile, panel heaters, whether, Rointe, Fischer or even B&Q are a bit more controllable insofar as you can heat a single room at a time compared with an electric boiler with radiators bur still very expensive to run.

As Cardew says, solar panels wont do you much good in the winter when you need to heat the place and the days are short and the sun doesn't shine very much. Also it would be a good idea to check the orientation and slope of the roof as well as any shading from trees or even other houses or dormers to see hoe their performance may be affected. Even the houses opposite can shade the panels quite early in the day during December and January when the sun hardly gets above the horizon.

Even our magic heatpump is going to cost us dearly in the winter months now that electricity is so expensive, and no one really knows how much leccy is going to cost when the EPG gets removed next April.

TurkishTutor

BUFF said:

What does the EPC say?
How is hot water heated?

EPC is B 83, hot water will be immersion heater I think, still waiting for more specs. The blurb SAYS the house has more insulation than standard, but I've heard the tales of one house on a new dev being done up to standard, for inspection, then the rest of them being thrown up. I wonder if even modern storage heaters would be better than panel heaters. No gas to site, it's a smallish development, all with electric heating, all with solar panels. I guess it's about cost as I'm sure gas is available on the road this site is off. I am seeing other new builds with gas heating.

BUFF

So, it's barely a B. Call me a cynic but I can't help wondering if they have specified just enough to get a B for marketing purposes whilst keeping costs as low as they can ...

I am sure that Rointe or similar would work OK in a house specified to Passivhaus standard or equivalent (they do on the Continent after all) but suspect that they could be quite expensive to run in the UK in something less good. Do you know if the electricity supply will be single rate or on E7 etc.?

SofasLofas

Hello!

I came across this forum as I’ve been looking into Sunflow electrical radiators. I’m in a flat with very high ceilings and a combination of storage and electric heaters. I have recently come off my ex economy 7 tariff because I work from home so it doesn’t make sense for me, but I’m worried about this in winter because of the storage heaters. Last winter was hellishly expensive and I tended to only run the two storage heaters in the living room (large and open plan).

From reading this forum I think I can rule out paying for the Sunflow radiators, but would like some advice please. Given that I work from home so economy 7 doesn’t suit my lifestyle, am I best to ignore the storage heaters in winter and use the instantaneous electric heaters? I’ve considered purchasing oil filled radiators or even a portable gas filled heater. Would these running costs be the same as the wall-mounted electric heaters I already have?

luvchocolate

I would have thought storage heaters on e7 would be perfect for working from home. 
I had them for 8 years without any problems 

Scot_39

SofasLofas said:

Hello!

I came across this forum as I’ve been looking into Sunflow electrical radiators. I’m in a flat with very high ceilings and a combination of storage and electric heaters. I have recently come off my ex economy 7 tariff because I work from home so it doesn’t make sense for me, but I’m worried about this in winter because of the storage heaters. Last winter was hellishly expensive and I tended to only run the two storage heaters in the living room (large and open plan).

From reading this forum I think I can rule out paying for the Sunflow radiators, but would like some advice please. Given that I work from home so economy 7 doesn’t suit my lifestyle, am I best to ignore the storage heaters in winter and use the instantaneous electric heaters? I’ve considered purchasing oil filled radiators or even a portable gas filled heater. Would these running costs be the same as the wall-mounted electric heaters I already have?

E7 to SR

Moving away from E7 when you were relying on storage heaters seems at best an interesting choice.

Storage heaters work by taking off-peak rate energy into local heat - and distributing it during peak rate energy hours to room.

Anything over around 40% night - easy in winter with NSH as main source of heat - probably more than enough to average out over whole year to stay on E7 for high users - can work out significantly cheaper than day rate.

What was your off-peak / peak split on E7 billing and unit rates - i.e. what was your actual average unit price - compared to single rate - that you have now moved to ?

NSH and Working From Home

An old lossy NSH on E7 - would often leak more heat at night as it charged and early in day than desired - some find that means too hot in day and fine evening - or OK in morning but cold at night etc.

Arguably if working from home - you would at least benefit from daytime heat - whilst if out 10hrs a day at work - that heat would be to some extent wasted by home losses.

A more modern HHR panel - prevents that temperature gradient by not leaking heat when not required - they are local air temperature regulated - like a radiator TRV - and if sized correctly will keep a room at temperature required all day - using off peak rate.

In any case - not sure why you think they don't or won't suit.

Oil Filled Rads

Same as wall panels - unless looking to "heat the person" short term - by having physically close - and not the whole room.

Gas filled ?

You mean like calor etc - you ever had one in a closed space - smell bad enough outside, humidity etc - I wouldn't - regardless of costs.

But then my parents used paraffin heater in downstairs hall in winter to heat it and upstairs a little - the only heat other than living room coal fire - before they got central heating - so each to their own.

Costs - anyone ?

High Ceilings

You thought about a ceiling fan - or a proper air circulation fan (one that air jet projects several feet without too much noise) ?

Or low powered fan(s) and conduit etc.

To stop air pooling at high levels.

Ceiling fans are really common in USA etc - reversing for winter heat saving and summer cooling - lot less so in UK.

SofasLofas

Scot_39 said:

SofasLofas said:

Hello!

I came across this forum as I’ve been looking into Sunflow electrical radiators. I’m in a flat with very high ceilings and a combination of storage and electric heaters. I have recently come off my ex economy 7 tariff because I work from home so it doesn’t make sense for me, but I’m worried about this in winter because of the storage heaters. Last winter was hellishly expensive and I tended to only run the two storage heaters in the living room (large and open plan).

From reading this forum I think I can rule out paying for the Sunflow radiators, but would like some advice please. Given that I work from home so economy 7 doesn’t suit my lifestyle, am I best to ignore the storage heaters in winter and use the instantaneous electric heaters? I’ve considered purchasing oil filled radiators or even a portable gas filled heater. Would these running costs be the same as the wall-mounted electric heaters I already have?

E7 to SR

Moving away from E7 when you were relying on storage heaters seems at best an interesting choice.

Storage heaters work by taking off-peak rate energy into local heat - and distributing it during peak rate energy hours to room.

Anything over around 40% night - easy in winter with NSH as main source of heat - probably more than enough to average out over whole year to stay on E7 for high users - can work out significantly cheaper than day rate.

What was your off-peak / peak split on E7 billing and unit rates - i.e. what was your actual average unit price - compared to single rate - that you have now moved to ?

NSH and Working From Home

An old lossy NSH on E7 - would often leak more heat at night as it charged and early in day than desired - some find that means too hot in day and fine evening - or OK in morning but cold at night etc.

Arguably if working from home - you would at least benefit from daytime heat - whilst if out 10hrs a day at work - that heat would be to some extent wasted by home losses.

A more modern HHR panel - prevents that temperature gradient by not leaking heat when not required - they are local air temperature regulated - like a radiator TRV - and if sized correctly will keep a room at temperature required all day - using off peak rate.

I was thinking E7 isn’t appropriate for working from home because the day rate is more expensive and it’s when I’m using most electrical appliances in the house (other than the storage heaters). 

I will probably have to go back to it for winter, but it didn’t make sense for summer while I don’t need the storage heaters on.

On E7 my day rate was 43.595, night rate was 20.721.
Current tariff is 36.229 day and night. 

Looking at a bill from when I was on E7 day useage was 268.000 kWh, night useage was 116.000kWh. 

Fans is an interesting option! Do you have any specific suggestions? Apologies, this is an area in which I really have no knowledge.

thank you for your help! 

SofasLofas

…or I could spend the money I was going to spend on electric radiators to upgrade my old storage heaters to modern ones

matelodave

You could be heating your hot water using off-peak leccy and with a bit of planning you could run the washing machine, dishwasher and even a tumble dryer during the off peak period, even in the summer.

Do you have electric showers, then using them during the off peak period is also worth exploring - you just have to get up a bit earlier but it may be worth it to save a few bob

I dont advocate doing the ironing, vacuuming or even mowing the grass in the middle of the night, but you could shift some of your consumption to take advantage of off-peak electricity if it can save you money and there are a few decent deal out ther for E7 if you search for them.

Heating with peak rate electricity in the winter will make your eyes water, especially if you are working from home and need heat during the day and the evening.

It may be worth exploring High Heat Retention storage heaters, especially for the rooms you are using all day but TBH the only realistic way to heat using peak rate leccy is with a heatpump unless you hide away into one small room and just heat it and nowhere else.

Ceiling fans like this can be installed in place of the existing light and would stir the air up a bit and push some of the heated air back down into the room - https://www.theceilingfancompany.co.uk/ other suppliers are available, Argos or B&Q often have them

markin

SofasLofas said:

Scot_39 said:

SofasLofas said:

Hello!

I came across this forum as I’ve been looking into Sunflow electrical radiators. I’m in a flat with very high ceilings and a combination of storage and electric heaters. I have recently come off my ex economy 7 tariff because I work from home so it doesn’t make sense for me, but I’m worried about this in winter because of the storage heaters. Last winter was hellishly expensive and I tended to only run the two storage heaters in the living room (large and open plan).

From reading this forum I think I can rule out paying for the Sunflow radiators, but would like some advice please. Given that I work from home so economy 7 doesn’t suit my lifestyle, am I best to ignore the storage heaters in winter and use the instantaneous electric heaters? I’ve considered purchasing oil filled radiators or even a portable gas filled heater. Would these running costs be the same as the wall-mounted electric heaters I already have?

E7 to SR

Moving away from E7 when you were relying on storage heaters seems at best an interesting choice.

Storage heaters work by taking off-peak rate energy into local heat - and distributing it during peak rate energy hours to room.

Anything over around 40% night - easy in winter with NSH as main source of heat - probably more than enough to average out over whole year to stay on E7 for high users - can work out significantly cheaper than day rate.

What was your off-peak / peak split on E7 billing and unit rates - i.e. what was your actual average unit price - compared to single rate - that you have now moved to ?

NSH and Working From Home

An old lossy NSH on E7 - would often leak more heat at night as it charged and early in day than desired - some find that means too hot in day and fine evening - or OK in morning but cold at night etc.

Arguably if working from home - you would at least benefit from daytime heat - whilst if out 10hrs a day at work - that heat would be to some extent wasted by home losses.

A more modern HHR panel - prevents that temperature gradient by not leaking heat when not required - they are local air temperature regulated - like a radiator TRV - and if sized correctly will keep a room at temperature required all day - using off peak rate.

I was thinking E7 isn’t appropriate for working from home because the day rate is more expensive and it’s when I’m using most electrical appliances in the house (other than the storage heaters). 

I will probably have to go back to it for winter, but it didn’t make sense for summer while I don’t need the storage heaters on.

On E7 my day rate was 43.595, night rate was 20.721.
Current tariff is 36.229 day and night. 

Looking at a bill from when I was on E7 day useage was 268.000 kWh, night useage was 116.000kWh. 

Fans is an interesting option! Do you have any specific suggestions? Apologies, this is an area in which I really have no knowledge.

thank you for your help! 

You were heating the home all day on day electric and not using the night storage at all or the rates are reversed!