Would I be better turning off the storage heaters and buying some oil heaters?

JennyR68

ixwood wrote: »

I've never used oil filled radiators either, but know that the running costs will be the same. All electric heating is 100% efficient (usual electrical waste is heat, which obviously isn't waste in a heater).

The only way to save money with electric heaters is to have them thermostatically controlled and timed/zoned so that you're not heating unused space.

Yes that's true but to try and do that with cheap heaters using plug in timers and room thermometers would be a huge hassle. For some it be best to pay a wee bit extra for heaters that give more control of the settings. I much prefer the walk away and leave it to it approach myself, hence unability to get on with the storage heaters, all the turning down outputs when out etc was just too much bother!

thills

I have been looking at this. Storage heaters really only work for those home during the day, then you pay a lot more to top up. Newer ones, with fans are better, but the fans are noisy & they cost up to £600 each.
I'm going to opt for a combination of convectors & fan heaters. I'm going to install plenty of capacity so the place can heat up quickly when I need it & everything be switched off when I do not. Tariffs like eco 20/20 give you a cheaper weekend rate, for me when I tend to be home.
I don't really expect to run this cheaper than storage heaters, but will be warm when I need to be, not when someone else want's to sell unuseable electricity.

JennyR68

Well you might be pleasantly surprised thills. Running costs weren't our top priority when we changed from storage heaters. We would have quite happily paid a bit extra to be warm! But as it happens it's working out cheaper than on the storage system and E7 tariff even though we still have our water tank to heat, and that's on a single rate meter.

thills

Well, I've never had electric heating before & was hoping to use a heat pump, but that's another story. My mother has an ultramodern small flat, even has tripple glazed windows. It's cold by 4pm, & everything is set up fine. If you up the input, then all you get is a hotter morning, does not last any longer. There is just no control.

ixwood

JennyR68 wrote: »

Yes that's true but to try and do that with cheap heaters using plug in timers and room thermometers would be a huge hassle. For some it be best to pay a wee bit extra for heaters that give more control of the settings. I much prefer the walk away and leave it to it approach myself, hence unability to get on with the storage heaters, all the turning down outputs when out etc was just too much bother!

Huge hassle? What hassle? The oil filled radiators and even cheap fan heaters have thermostat's built in. It's just a case a setting them, as it would be on more expensive versions.

The timing can be done by a simple £3 timer switch, if required (really, why would you want to heat a room when you're not there?). Again, the same amount of setting would be required as on the very expensive models.

So, no hassle at all then really.

And how much exactly is "a wee bit extra"? Would you call 1000% a wee bit extra?

How much did your system cost?

ixwood

thills wrote: »

Well, I've never had electric heating before & was hoping to use a heat pump, but that's another story. My mother has an ultramodern small flat, even has tripple glazed windows. It's cold by 4pm, & everything is set up fine. If you up the input, then all you get is a hotter morning, does not last any longer. There is just no control.

Heat pumps are a different matter all together, as they're using electricity to transfer heat that already exists into the house. They can be a lot more efficient than 100%. You may get 3 or 4 units of heat for each unit of electricity.

A heat pump would be a great investment and genuinely green.

thills

ixwood wrote: »

Heat pumps are a different matter all together, as they're using electricity to transfer heat that already exists into the house. They can be a lot more efficient than 100%. You may get 3 or 4 units of height for each unit of electricity.

A heat pump would be a great investment and genuinely green.

Was my first choice, but planning consent was refused by our council:eek:.
1) To noisy
2) Unsightly

Ada3050

Been looking in to the basic maths of this myself.

So my big storage rads are 3.4kw, 7 hours charge will cost in the region of £1.30. (3.4kw x 7 hours @ 5.5p = £1.30)

A 1kw heater on my econ 7 tariff can be used for 12 hrs for £1.30 assuming its on all the time at 11p per KWh day rates (11p x 12 hrs = £1.30)

So using a stand alone heater for less than 12hrs a day will be cheaper than a storage heater. The savings will be greater if on a standard day time tariff.

It should be easy for anyone to work out the cost if they know the price per unit and the wattage of the appliance.

The savings will be greater if the appliance has a thermostat.

Scoflo

I love my storage heaters. They have never been up to full and apart from the coldest days we never have the output on at all as enough heat comes from the heater as it stores it.

Ada3050

I love mine too, but they are pricey for some peoples pockets.

I tend to use mine from mid november to mid march and top up with the coal fire and convector heaters. I find they retain the heat all day and are over 20yrs old, maybe I am lucky??