storage heaters v panel heaters

daveyjp

Cardew is 100% correct.

A 2kw heater will give out 2kw of heat whether the heater costs £10 or £1000.

JennyR68

Cardew wrote: »

Firstly I am not recommending storage heater or suggesting anyone retains them. I am well aware how many people dislike them.

The £35 Aldi oil filled radiator and the £11 fan heater have thermostats. In fact I am not aware of an oil filled radiator or fan heater that doesn't have a thermostat.

Lots of these radiators advertised, with such claims as yours, are filled with 'magic' gel, clay etc and retain heat for some while, as of course do oil filled radiators.

However you don't get 'ought for nought'. If they have properties that retain heat, then they take longer to heat up.

Heat output is measured in British Thermal Units(Btu) - or joules.

What I am stating is that if you supply your radiators with, say, 2 kWh of electricity they will produce a heat output of xxxxBtu.

Any other type of electrical heater will also produce a heat output of exactly the same xxxxBtu.

The only difference is the way they deliver that heat. A fan heater will produce almost 'instant' heat, but no residual heat. An oil filled heater or your radiators will be slower to start producing heat but will have more residual heat.

The end result though is they all will have produced the same amount of heat for the same cost.

What is "affordable to run" is in the eye of the beholder. If you are happy with your costs then fine. However there is no more expensive way to heat than on a normal electricity tariff.

What is undeniable however is that you could have got heaters producing exactly the same amount of 'affordable' heat with heaters costing a fraction of the price.

As said earlier I really am not trying to 'put you down' about your choice of heating. However this is a money-saving forum and lots of people - apparently like yourself - are taken in by these websites and their carefully worded adverts that imply their heaters are endowed with 'special' properties that somehow produce more heat than other heaters - and quite simply they don't.

Your enthusiasm for your system might persuade others to buy something which they could obtain for a fraction of the price.

There are a few other qualified people on this forum(like myself) who will confirm what I say is accurate.

Sorry.

I wasn't 'taken in' by anything, the heaters are far easier to control, far more aesthetic and as you said before it's a lifestyle choice. They suit me and the fact they are a best seller in the highlands and islands of scotland seem to indicate they suit a lot of people who are not known for throwing their money away. Unlike many of the gas users on here I'm heating my house constantly at a price I can afford and in a manner that suits me, i'll continue to recommend it to whoever I think may appreciate the option. I trust no one would blindly spend money on my word alone and would work out the value of the system to themselves before they bought it.

Jonesya

tiddly_widdly wrote: »

thanks everyone. Im going to look into it all. I need to cut my electricity bill. I dont have any other option as the village doesnt have anything else.

There is better option - a heat pump. They work by pumping heat from outside (either the air or the ground - air source / ground source) into your home and because they are a pump, they produce more heat than they consume in electricity. Depending on the heat source (air or ground) and model, most have a Coefficient of Performance (CoP) of 3 or more. This means that for every unit of electricity the heat pump uses you get 3 units out - eg. compared to a standard heater you only need 1/3 of the electricity.

Downside to them is the increased purchase cost but if your considering spending high-hundreds/thousand on new electric heaters then they would be worth investigating further.

space_rider

My ex husband is in the process of changing his 20 year old storage heaters for a fancy kind of electric radiators. I personally can`t see how they can use less electricity than his storage heater as they use peak electricity as well as off peak. He has bought an energy monitor and is monitoring how much they are costing him to run. He does not have and would not have gas in the house. At least if one of his heaters break down he has plenty of others, if my gas boiler were to fail, I would be stuck with whatever I can find to heat the house! I was happy with the storage heaters when I lived in the house and would not be put off by storage heaters. I know how to use them efficiently and I was happy with the running costs.

Premier_2

JennyR68 wrote: »

... I'm heating my house constantly at a price I can afford and in a manner that suits me, i'll continue to recommend it to whoever I think may appreciate the option. ...

You are welcome to spend your own money however you like.

However, this site is all about moneysaving and those requesting help and advice come to this site usually on that basis.;)

Robert2009

42kw per day for all 5 radiators

if paying 11p per kWh costs £4.62 per day.

I am using 130 kWh per day for heating and hot water (on 24/7 at present) which is costing me £3.90 and 12 kWh of electricity at 10p per kWh costs £1.20 so I am at present paying £5.10 per day so I suppose JennyR68's 42 kWh per day for heating is comparable with gas CH at this time of the year.


Rob

JennyR68

Premier wrote: »

You are welcome to spend your own money however you like.

However, this site is all about moneysaving and those requesting help and advice come to this site usually on that basis.;)

Yes and I personally am saving money, and others can too, can't see the problem with that. And actually for someone who is deliberating on whether to install storage heaters or not I think you'll find their saving money too with that option, the individual radiators are far cheaper than a new storage heater, never mind the running costs. Not everyone wants big old oil fired radiators to trip over on their floor or cheap nasty looking panel heaters. People of all sorts frequent this forum, not just breadline scrimp and save every last penny to survive. One man's 'economy' is different from anothers and I think you should leave well alone and stop 'judging' other people's choices.

Premier_2

JennyR68 wrote: »

Yes and I personally am saving money, and others can too, can't see the problem with that. ....

We've seen evidence of your mathematical skills previously

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=2188221

How can you be saving money when you are paying a typical cost of 10p -14p per kWh for electricity, when a E7 customer will be paying about 1/3 - 1/2 that price off peak for storage heating ???

john1

The thermal mass of the structure should be considered in any form of heating

As previous posters suggest with any electric heaters at the point of use they are all 100%* efficient regardless of type and manufactures claims It is only their heat output delivery method which differs

I use modern storage heaters fitted ONLY to internal walls (not on any external wall and defiantly not under windows)

The use of the internal wall, assuming brick /block, is used as a additional heat storage area. Stud partition walls don’t have any thermal mass to speak of. My internal block walls get quite warm.

The whole house is warm and its structure together with the storage heaters act as a “heat flywheel” Currently the temperature in the living area (120cubic mtr.) is 21C outside +1C. Only felt slightly colder one evening, when the outside temperature dropped to -6C

I am on an E10 tariff and find them very good The latest night store heaters have insulation and thermostatic controls which are second to none but obviously are bulkier than panel heaters.

Re costs my “On Peak” tariffs Primary costs are around 20.02p per kWh for an initial amount followed by secondary units at 10.05p each kWh ( The initial primary charge per unit is to cover supplier meter equipment cost etc)

My “Off Peak” storage heating tariff (E10) is available for 10 hrs every day 3hrs afternoon 2hrs evening 8-10pm 5 hrs early morning 2-7am and costs 5.81p per kWh with a standing charge of 9.16p per day

All in all I’m happy with my storage heaters but may not be everybody’s choice.

*However transmission losses occur between power station and appliance

JennyR68

Premier wrote: »

We've seen evidence of your mathematical skills previously

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=2188221

How can you be saving money when you are paying a typical cost of 10p -14p per kWh for electricity, when a E7 customer will be paying about 1/3 - 1/2 that price off peak for storage heating ???

old E7 rates 4.2p n 13.6 d

52 night units used £2.18 but all day units 13p so average day units of 25 = £3.25 Total £5.43 Quite a bit of day units is additional top up oil fired heaters on evening btw. Average unit costs 7.11p

tariff on at the moment (changed price promise june 2010 E7 to same but single rate) 10p per unit.

13 night units £1.30 + 38 day units £3.80 = £5.10 (saving already)

new cheap as I can find rate, 51 @7.8p = £3.97 :j

Satisfaction reducing carbon footprint by 26 units a day? Priceless.