Night storage heaters - any good?

Astara

I've just seen a flat that only had 2 night storage heaters in the 2 bedrooms and no other heating. Does anyone have any experience of these heaters or electic heating in general? How warm are they and are they expensive to run? Also I think I would need more than 2 so would you recommend these or any other type of electric heating?

Many thanks!:)

boliston

There is no way I would ever buy a property with storage heaters as my last flat had them and they were a bit of a nightmare.

They were always baking hot in the morning but come the evening then they were not giving out much heat so I had to switch on the expensive convector switch.

Also these flats will often have electric hobs as well which I disliked as well. They often have electric showers which are very lame compared with a shower that feeds off a combi boiler.

shegar

boliston wrote: »

There is no way I would ever buy a property with storage heaters as my last flat had them and they were a bit of a nightmare.

They were always baking hot in the morning but come the evening then they were not giving out much heat so I had to switch on the expensive convector switch.

Also these flats will often have electric hobs as well which I disliked as well. They often have electric showers which are very lame compared with a shower that feeds off a combi boiler.

Couldnt agree more with your post,Id never ever buy a property with storage heaters ever again ,expensive, uneconomical, should never have been invented.!!!

eco-friendly_2

Storage heaters are basically an uncontrolable box of bricks with a few kettle elements chucked inside.

They are the PITS:eek:

frank.hopper

Astara

Thanks everyone! That's a shame as I liked the flat but I also like being warm!

Snippa

I had them in one flat and they weren't too bad. They charged up at night when it was cheaper, and gave out heat during the day. The problem was that they weren't controllable, so they gave out heat while you were at work, and might be cold by evening. But the flat was always warm enough, and they could be turned on if it was chilly.

I wouldn't choose them, but wouldn't reject a flat because of them either.

Torry_Quine

Am I the only one who likes them, finds them very easy to use and always have enough heat to last for the full day and evening. Wouldn't ever consider having gas installed as I know where I am with electricity.

GrannyKnits_2

Hi Astara we moved in to our house 18 months ago. The village has no gas so it was a choice between oil-fired ch or storage heaters. This is 2nd winter and i still can't get used to them. Down-side is you need to be able to guess weather in advance. If you wack heat up at night and it's warm next day then you're v.warm and vise versa. They are better now than years ago but....

We have a large one in lounge which i keep turned up high and it is really warm. The one in hall is on all time too but hardly any heat at all. I keep BR doors open so any heat from it goes upstairs. The ones in each bedroom we rarely have on as DS and DD say it gives them dry/sore throats/blocked noses. :undecided The heat is very dry. (These were all new when we moved in).
Given a choice i would go for CH every time but as you only have them in bedroom this may not be too much of problem. You would deffin. need some other form of heating downstairs and could prob. get away with the ones in BR's. Hope this helps, Granny

Astara

Thanks GrannyKnits, Torry Quinn and Snippa for your experiences! The 2 in the bedroom looked very small and old but would get something new for the living room if I did buy this flat. I work from home so sounds like it would be ok in the day time but I also sometimes work late in the evening so wondering if it would be cold by midnight?

Bikertov

Does the flat have ANY gas, or is it all electric ?

I had a flat a while ago, with gas water heater, but no heating at all. It was too expensive at the time to install Gas Central Heating, so I put in stroage heaters. After about 8 years, I got fed up, ripped them out and went for a new boiler, and full central heating.

The problem is, as others have said, you can't really control them, and have no 'instant' heat in the evening when you really need it. Some storage heaters have a 'day' setting, but that is just a convector-type heater built in.

Storage heaters can be expensive to run, but if yo uget a good deal on the flat, it can be offset.

So remember, if there is gas in the flat, you can upgrade the heating later if you want ...