Yet another electric heating query ...

Fire_Fox

Firstly I (sort of) understand that 1KW electricity produces 1KW heat. Apologies for the essay!

I have an open plan, all electric two bedroom flat, E7 meter and radiant panel heaters. The flat never falls below 12C due to the benefit of the neighbours so I don't really need a mega powerful heating system. :cool: The flat is 55 square metres, of that the kitchen-living area is 18 square metres.

I have moved, removed or replaced every heater in order to fit furniture in: basically I only have two panel heaters left out of five!! This is not ideal if I come to sell or let the flat as I need to provide a certain amount of heating, however I might live here for many years to come. I want to overhaul the entire system - ideally in stages - and I don't necessarily need to have the same heating solution in each room. A priority is not to take up valuable wall space with heaters.

I need to replace the bathroom and hall flooring, this is likely to be laminate to match the living area so I am considering underfloor heating in those areas. I believe you can get a brand that don't need the floor digging out. Can this even go under laminate? Is this powerful enough to be acceptable if you came to sell or let?

In the kitchen-living area I have looked at storage heaters as this would be cost effective with my E7 tariff. However they are bulky and I would need a tall, thin one which don't seem to exist. There is no wall space for two smaller heaters and I only have one power point to hardwire a heater in. I LOVE the look of these
http://www.glassradiators.co.uk/?page_id=24

BUT they are very expensive, maximum 1KW and no more efficient than the existing panel heater. Are there any other options I haven't thought of? Do these heaters at skirting board height work and are they powerful enough for my room? Could I install these in the kitchen area in the plinths?

In the bedroom I have three large items of wooden furniture (king bed, triple wardrobe, double drawer unit) which all go down to the floor. If I decided to lift the carpet and fit underfloor heating, how would that work with the furniture? I have some wall space in a corner which is quite a distance from the existing socket and again would need a tall thin heater. :mad: Any ideas please?

Thanks for taking the time to read if you got this far!!

HappyMJ

So what's the question? If you have the money go with whatever you like. Forget about resale value people don't care they'll probably just rip it all out anyway just tell them it's cheap to heat due to the heat from neighbours. Whether you spent £1000 or £10 is irrelevant to someone renting or buying they just want a space that is cheap.

Me i'd just stick with the panel heaters but it's your place do what you like.

Fire_Fox

Fire_Fox wrote: »

I have moved, removed or replaced every heater in order to fit furniture in: basically I only have two panel heaters left out of five ... A priority is not to take up valuable wall space with heaters.

Can [underfloor heating] even go under laminate? Is this powerful enough to be acceptable if you came to sell or let?

Are there any other options I haven't thought of? Do these heaters at skirting board height work and are they powerful enough for my room? Could I install these in the kitchen area in the plinths?

If I decided to lift the carpet and fit underfloor heating, how would that work with the furniture? ... Any ideas please?

Does it help if I edit down to just the questions? I don't want to stick with the panel heaters as even the two remaining ones are in the way. Thank you.

thills

Hi Firefox, how well off are you? People do care very much when buying how a place is heated, anyone who has lived in winter, in an all electric place, will probably never buy again without GCH. Similar properties, one with GCH or one without, fetch very different prices, decent heating is just a must have nowdays. You get your money back. T

Inactive

thills wrote: »

Hi Firefox, how well off are you? People do care very much when buying how a place is heated, anyone who has lived in winter, in an all electric place, will probably never buy again without GCH. Similar properties, one with GCH or one without, fetch very different prices, decent heating is just a must have nowdays. You get your money back. T

I would, I actually prefer storage heaters to GCH, no maintenance, no ugly pipes, nothing to go wrong, not really much costlier than gas these days.

The secret is to have good insulation.;)

thills

Yes, it is a personal choice, to be warm when YOU want to be warm and if you wish to pay for it. Insulate enough and you dont need much heat at all. T

Fire_Fox

Thanks for your responses. Finances are not an issue, tho of course I hope for value for money (subjective in this instance)! Neither gas central heating nor additional insulation are an option, I live in a leasehold apartment. I have researched 'tertiary' glazing, but have been unable to identify a system that would fit onto the particular design of windows.

JennyR68

If money not an issue go for the glass heaters, they are gorgeous!:D

albyota

firefox, if it is possible, the lowest capital cost of purchase and install along with comfort and control, would be to descretely install plinth heaters with flow grilles, as the heat is pushed along the floor then the heat rises, much better then panel heaters that heat the ceiling first, then your head, whilst your feet are still cold, and wil cost exactly the same to run. something like this.......built in to bottom of wardrobe, kitchen base unit etc... can be controlled by a time clock or even a room stat.

thills

Fire fox, I also live in a leasehold apartment & although it's not as straight forward, it should be possible to use a heat pump. You do need planning consent, so it dies there if this isn't granted, but so long as you can site it so as to minimise the noise impact to other dwellers & get a quietish unit, it should be OK. They cost a bit, but running costs are very much less than electric central heating - and I don't count storage heater as central heating.T

Katie-Kat-Kins

Hi Firefox, I'm in an all electric place too, we don't have your space constraints so we are sticking with the storage heaters for now as they are cheapest. But if we needed to (or could afford to) replace the heating the first thing we'd consider would be a heat pump.

They are the only form of heating where you will get more than 1kw out for each kw in.

Have a read of the threads and then get some quotes. If you are taking up your flooring anyway it may very well be practical.

Re: underfloor heating, I looked into this for our bathroom, you can get some that goes under your flooring like underlay and works with wooden and tiled floors. However it will run off your daytime electric, and doesn't store so it will be more expensive to run that storage heaters (or a heat pump) it will basically cost the sam eto run as your panel heaters but will be hidden.

I decided that for the bathroom we'd rather have a heated towel rail so we didn't go any further with it.

Resale wise, a lot of people are put off by obviously electric looking heaters on the wall (whether storage or not) they just don't look very nice and many people have had bad experiences with them in the past. Underfloor is hidden and unfamiliar to most so unlikely to put many off. A heat pump though could be an actual selling point.