Replacing Storage Heaters with Electric Underfloor Heating

rathga

Hi all

I currently own a 2-bed flat in London that has economy 7 storage heaters, and I'm planning a bit of a refurb (new kitchen, bathrooms, new wooden floors etc.). As part of this I will be putting electric underfloor heating in the bathrooms and kitchen (which currently only have little fan heaters), and I am also considering doing the same in the lounge, bedrooms and hall which currently have storage heaters and portable oil-filled radiators.

The logic for doing so would be:
- Storage heaters don't look very pretty
- I am not in the house during the day, and the storage heaters aren't very warm by the evening
- It would be good to have some sort of 'central' heating control, instead of setting each heater individually
- I'll need to sort something out for the bedrooms anyway, which don't have any 'proper' heating right now

My short list of concerns/questions is:
- Is it going to be really expensive to run compared to Economy 7? I figure I won't get the cheap electricity, but I will be able to only switch on the heating when I need it (i.e. early morning and late evening). I estimate I spend about £2/day on heating in winter at the moment
- I will be installing under engineered wooden floors in places. Will this decrease efficiency?
- It would be nice to retain carpets in bedrooms, but I'm not sure underfloor heating will work very well under them at all ?

I am wondering if anyone has replaced storage heaters with electric underfloor before and could offer some advice. Would be great if someone with electric underfloor as their main heating system could comment on their setup and running costs ?

Many thanks in advance

Owain_Moneysaver

It will be more expensive than E7 to run, on the assumption that most of your heating and hot water is currently charged at the off-peak tariff rates.

Electric underfloor heating is okay for bare feet warmth in bathrooms, but fairly useless as the main heating source. Unless you have exceptional floor insulation the downstairs neighbours will get a lot of the heat.

Look at something like Dimplex Duoheat which, although more expensive than ordinary storage heaters, allows you to use storage and panel heaters together with a centralised programmer.

If you just want storage heaters that retain more heat to the evening then look at fan-assisted storage heaters - they are bulkier and more expensive than ordinary ones though.

rathga

Thanks Owain, but a few thoughts:

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

It will be more expensive than E7 to run, on the assumption that most of your heating and hot water is currently charged at the off-peak tariff rates.

Potentially the water would remain so.

Firstly, I should mention that I am fine for UFH to be a bit more expensive as it seems to be a better solution with more control vs the storage heaters - just want to make sure it's not super expensive. As I mention in my post, I'm not sure if it would work out much more expensive as whilst the underfloor would be peak electricity I would only need it on for a few hours a day. The storage heaters right now are on all night, release most of the heat during the day when no-one is in, and are coolish in the evening and need to be supplemented with oil heaters and fan heaters anyway.

Would be great if someone who has electric underfloor could comment on their running costs?

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

Electric underfloor heating is okay for bare feet warmth in bathrooms, but fairly useless as the main heating source. Unless you have exceptional floor insulation the downstairs neighbours will get a lot of the heat.

Why do you say it is useless? Surely it would just be like having a massive panel heater under your feet? I have seen newbuild Barrat developments with electric underfloor heating as main source and it seems ok?

I am ground floor, with a few feet of concrete below me and then a garage. As it's concrete floor, I believe it is recommended to have some thermal mats underneath the heating elements.

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

Look at something like Dimplex Duoheat which, although more expensive than ordinary storage heaters, allows you to use storage and panel heaters together with a centralised programmer.

If you just want storage heaters that retain more heat to the evening then look at fan-assisted storage heaters - they are bulkier and more expensive than ordinary ones though.

I have looked at Duoheat but they seem to be the worst of both worlds. They appear to be a low spec storage heater (and therefore probably even colder in the evenings than what I have now) combined with a low spec panel heater. I have fan heaters attached to my storage heaters at the moment, which seems to be about the same thing but at least the storage heater part is a good one (though a little noisier I guess!)

eco-friendly_2

Have you considered something like [URL="http://www.mrcentralheating.com/boilers-electric.html] this."][/url]this. ?

Owain_Moneysaver

rathga wrote: »

Firstly, I should mention that I am fine for UFH to be a bit more expensive as it seems to be a better solution with more control vs the storage heaters - just want to make sure it's not super expensive.

If you look at the price difference between off-peak and peak electricity, peak can be 2-4 times the off-peak rate.

rathga wrote: »

Why do you say it is useless? Surely it would just be like having a massive panel heater under your feet? I have seen newbuild Barrat developments with electric underfloor heating as main source and it seems ok?

In a new build very well-insulated property perhaps. Or are you sure that it isn't night storage heating, which uses the floor slab as the storage heater?

rathga wrote: »

I am ground floor, with a few feet of concrete below me and then a garage. As it's concrete floor, I believe it is recommended to have some thermal mats underneath the heating elements.

No, it would be recommended to have about 12" of expanded polystyrene. Otherwise you will be heating the floor slab.

rjay

Hi rathga,

In a very similar position to you - what decision did you make ?

Richard.

rathga

I'm probably going for underfloor in the tiled areas (kitchen bathrooms) and probably stick with storage heaters in the other rooms (or may replace with convector/panel heaters, which should be more efficient given I only need heat in evenings).

Still not completely off the cards to do the whole flat underfloor though. But have found it extremely difficult to get good info on running costs etc. for the various systems.

minibbb

I heard today about a new system thats been launched, the panasonic air conditioning unit that provides you with cold/warm temperatures as you wish.

The builder im using for my flat renovation suggested it as apparently its v cheap to run and a new government system makes it free to install as its so green and efficient. Dont know much else as its apparently just coming out but worth a thought.

Mankysteve

Its called an air source heat pump. They produce about 3kwh of heat for every 1kwh of eleci used and as your builder has stated can run air con. There plenty of post here about them. Just note they require a unit outside the property and if your not the lease holder(is that right term) the lease holder may object to you fitting one.