Keep or ditch the storage heaters???

laxeylady

We are waiting to complete on our new home. At the moment it is heated by storage heaters, of which I am very wary. So the question is do I try them and see how I get on or ditch them straight away so I can get on with redecorating and carpeting after putting in central heating? Hubby is totally against central heating (we have it in our current home and its costing a fortune to run). The new house also has an aga in the kitchen which also heats the water, a gas fire in the dining room and a multi fuel stove in the sitting room, so our downstairs heating is sorted really. Any advice would be greatly appreciated by this MSE virgin.

Cardew

Welcome to the forum.

If your new home has storage heating, then it should be on an Economy 7 tariff - or one of the variations of cheap rate electricity(E10 etc)

If you do decide to retain storage heating, then you need to remain on economy 7; however be aware that you pay a higher rate for your daytime electricity(the other 17 hours.)

If you ditch storage heaters, then you will probably need to ditch the Economy 7 tariff as it is very difficullt to make the tariff worthwhile.

With the heating you have I wouldn't have thought storage heaters would be required. Generally they are very unpopular.

Unless you have storage heating

laxeylady

Thanks Cardew!

But if we don't stick with the storage heaters, what could we use to heat the upstairs rooms without it costing a fortune to run? I'm not too bothered about the bedrooms being warm when we go to bed, but the kids do a lot in their own space, and I don't want them getting chill blains while they do their homework! It would be daft to install central heating just for this purpose though.

Cardew

There is no simple solution. All electrical heating costs the same to run, in that you get exactly the same heat output for the same consumption - and it is very expensive. The only advantage of storage heating is you get the power at the cheap rate.

However if your house has an Aga, separate dining room and sitting room, it presumably is a reasonably expensive house??

It will undoubtedly enhance the value of the house to have gas CH fitted. That will also give you a rock solid excuse to get on with decorating and new carpets etc - which in my experience ladies find a huge thrill!!

Andy_WSM

Cardew wrote: »

That will also give you a rock solid excuse to get on with decorating and new carpets etc - which in my experience ladies find a huge thrill!!

LOL :rotfl:

laxeylady

Chance would be a fine thing!! We have bought a farmhouse, with a 50 year old aga (originally oil but converted to gas), its certainly nowt fancy! We want to try and keep our other living expenses as low as possible, because the mortgage terrifies us. I just thought that perhaps the solution was to make more of what is already in place, for instance could any radiators be run from the multifuel burning stove perhaps? Unfortunately I don't know the make or size of it, so will have to investigate further if we actually ever get moved in. I have never known anyone speak in favour of storage heaters so I guess they will have to go.

markharding557

I think oil or gas are the only realistic options for central heating,coal is expensive or storage heaters on ec7,
my mother and partner have storage heating and they don't do too badly with them

A._Badger

laxeylady wrote: »

Chance would be a fine thing!! We have bought a farmhouse, with a 50 year old aga (originally oil but converted to gas), its certainly nowt fancy! We want to try and keep our other living expenses as low as possible, because the mortgage terrifies us. I just thought that perhaps the solution was to make more of what is already in place, for instance could any radiators be run from the multifuel burning stove perhaps? Unfortunately I don't know the make or size of it, so will have to investigate further if we actually ever get moved in. I have never known anyone speak in favour of storage heaters so I guess they will have to go.

Having had several flats with storage radiators over the years, I'm firmly in the 'anything else is better' camp, because they are expensive to run and pretty much uncontrollable.

However, you are in a good position as you have options, so why not move in and see how you get on? One option would be to take advantage of the Aga and MF stove to keep the downstairs warm and just use the radiators in your childrens' bedrooms. You don't have to use them all, you can pick and choose which ones you switch on, as well as how you set them.

FWIW, my advice (and I was in your position a couple of years ago, when I bought an old farmhouse) would be to wait and see how you get on, making your decisions as you go and with the advantage of your own experience.

Hope that helps.

cally6008

wait and see how things go, you may find that you get enough heat coming off the aga and the MF stove that downstairs is toasty warm whilst upstairs is at a nice warm but not too hot temperature

Pincher

If you are going to lift the floorboards for GCH, then you have the possibility of under floor heating, which prefers warm water, as opposed to hot water from a boiler. Ground source heating typically uses Economy 7 electricity to extract ground heat into a thermal store (water tank). This is not the same as storage heating, where you use the electricity to heat the water. You can supplement this with thermal solar panel.

You should ask around for cheap sources of wood, saw dust briquettes, etc. If I had a farmhouse, I would make a wood burning stove/fireplace a centrepiece, and preferrably use it to heat some water, and possibly central heating. The carbon footprint debate seems to regard wood burning as carbon neutral, because trees fix carbon.

laxeylady

Thanks guys, I think I will wait and see how we get on like you suggest. Perhaps just running the upstairs heaters would be sufficiently affordable. I will see what options I have regarding the stove, because its already installed and options for a back boiler after the fact seem pretty slim. Hubby will not contemplate gch after the running expenses we have suffered in our current home, so we'll have to wait and see.