Would electric heating be a deal breaker for you?

molerat

googler wrote: »

Take a long look at your 'gas' boiler and tell us - is it connected to an electricity supply point?

With the assistance of a car battery and an inverter my gas CH will still run, I don't think it would power a storage heater though

puddy

googler wrote: »

.... and here was I, thinking the thread was about heating....

yep, and the kitchen diner would be fully heated by the cooker at the very least, also giving me lots of hot water by boiling, making hot water bottles and tea and soup

internal heating, something people seem to have forgotton these days. i saw a news special the other day about a family that have lived for 6 months or something without their central heating working, unfortunate and inconvenient but the way the family was talking (wearing i might add, just a normal top and thin cardie), you'd think that they'd been held in a POW camp or something,, people survived years ago without central heating by doing the things im talking about above

blondie4281

I lived in a two bed house with electric storage heaters for 5 years until last year. We paid £60 per month on electric all year round. We only had to use 1 heater to heat the whole house. We wouldn't worry about storage heaters in the future. We now have gas heating and our combined gas and electric is more than we used to pay in just electric.

Fire_Fox

London_Town wrote: »

I'm researching a forthcoming house move and have idenified a small development I like, that just happens to be electrically heated. The homes are 2 bed terraces and semi's, built around 1994.

The other homes I have been considering are all gas centrally heated. I'm trying to decide whether electric heating should be a deal breaker for me. With the gas heated houses which were built in the 1980's, I'm budgeting for a new boiler, new radiators and a powerflush. This alone will be a few thousand pounds. Then there will be the ongoing maintenance of a gas fired central heating system.

While I appreciate that a kwhr of electricity is more expensive than a kwhr of gas, looking at whole life system costs, which is cheaper? I'll be living alone in a very frugal manner may I add.

I wondered if anyone had bought a home with electric heating and bitterly regretted it? Maybe modern electric heating is alot cheaper to run and more efficient than the old storage heaters you used to hear about.

I know energy costs are going to rise sharply over the next decade, so I'm a little scared of ending up in an electrically heated house I can't afford to heat by 2015.

Any experience or constructive advice would be greatly appreciated.

Saying modern electric heating is more efficient doesn't mean you get more heat for the money, it's just that newer storage heaters don't leak as much heat in the day which is important for those working nine to five. A KWH of electric is around three times the price of gas. :eek:

Your first issue with either system is how well insulated is the property? If the property has (or has the capacity for) double insulated loft, cavity wall insulation and triple glazing then you will be able to reduce your bills substantially. You can also put blackout or thermal lining on curtains: both really help to retain heat. This site has lots of ideas on how to energy save in a normal house:
http://www.theyellowhouse.org.uk/

If you have good insulation and the benefit of neighbours heating, you may well be able to get away with only heating one or two rooms of the house in winter. I have an all electric flat and never heat the bedroom: only using my double duvet and electric underblanket with an overnight setting in the winter. I sleep in a t-shirt at most so it definitely isn't cold and the heated blanket costs pennies to run.

Also do you have the capacity to install a air source heat pump or ground source heat pump? These 'borrow' hat from the outside (even in winter!) and cut your electricity bills by two thirds, but they do cost a couple of £K at present. There may be grants for this sort of improvement in time. :cool:

And I honestly cannot remember when I was last subjected to a power failure - is it a problem in certain areas or something??

googler

molerat wrote: »

With the assistance of a car battery and an inverter my gas CH will still run, I don't think it would power a storage heater though

So you have a plug-in for your inverter, at the supply point to the boiler.....? Or you're going to disconnect the boiler when the power's down to hard-wire it to your inverter?

Is that legal?

Mankysteve

Yeah there no laws as such just legislation about how things should be done, a copper cant arest you for not wiring things up properly in your house is just that it you kill injure someone then a expect a trip to the local nick. As long as the boiler supply is isolated from the main so he's not feeding into the grid, not much will happen.


Electic heating would only be a deal breaker if there was no Gas at all. mainly because I don't like cooking on electric and storage heaters have other disadvantages compared to gas heating.

redlady_1

I agree with blondie. Everyone slags electric heating but I loved my all electric house - and I dont do cold! My bills in the winter were about £100 per month. I think if you have old storage heaters and dont know how to work them, then that is the main problem.

sunshinetours

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Saying modern electric heating is more efficient doesn't mean you get more heat for the money, it's just that newer storage heaters don't leak as much heat in the day which is important for those working nine to five. A KWH of electric is around three times the price of gas. :eek:

Your first issue with either system is how well insulated is the property? If the property has (or has the capacity for) double insulated loft, cavity wall insulation and triple glazing then you will be able to reduce your bills substantially. You can also put blackout or thermal lining on curtains: both really help to retain heat. This site has lots of ideas on how to energy save in a normal house:
http://www.theyellowhouse.org.uk/

If you have good insulation and the benefit of neighbours heating, you may well be able to get away with only heating one or two rooms of the house in winter. I have an all electric flat and never heat the bedroom: only using my double duvet and electric underblanket with an overnight setting in the winter. I sleep in a t-shirt at most so it definitely isn't cold and the heated blanket costs pennies to run.

Also do you have the capacity to install a air source heat pump or ground source heat pump? These 'borrow' hat from the outside (even in winter!) and cut your electricity bills by two thirds, but they do cost a couple of £K at present. There may be grants for this sort of improvement in time. :cool:

And I honestly cannot remember when I was last subjected to a power failure - is it a problem in certain areas or something??

Assuming main's gas wasn't financially viable for the houses on that estate then the above would be absolutely key. A mid terrace that has well insulated loft space and good douvble glazing probably wouldn't take a great deal of heating due to the thermal effect from your neighbours either side. A semi or end terrace wouldn't work as well as one side would be exposed fully

Also if you are questioning the wisdom of buying an all electric house and given some of the answers here - you have to expect that any future buyers will also question that

Finally if the development was built without gas for cost reasons I would be wondeering what other cost saving measures were made by the developer?

Gwhiz

I've had both and I would NEVER have electric again. However, to the OP, is it a deal breaker for YOU?

sarah_elton

We have a top floor, 1980s two bedroom flat. It's well insulated, generally keeps itself warm. There's no gas - all heating and cooking is electric. We only have two heaters, one in the lounge and one in the main bedroom.

Our summer quarter electricity bill is usually under £100.

Just had the bill for this winter's quarter - £409 :eek:

In general, I don't have a problem with electric heating. Storage heaters are a bit of a pain in that they get very hot overnight (I hate being hot while sleeping) then a lot of the heat has dissipated by the following evening when you need it. But I replaced my storage heaters a couple of years ago and it wasn't so bad after that, so those in a new build should be ok.

For a two bedroom property (you probably have the same number of rooms as us) it's ok - I wouldn't want it in a house any bigger than that.

But watch out for any cold winters like the one we just had.