New dimplex electric radiators v gas

suey2

Good morning all,

We are just about to move house and are buying an older bungalow that at present has no gas supply, a friend who is an electrician has mentioned a new 'radiator' heating system using a new Dimplex electric radiator/storage heater combined system. Has anyone had these installed, are they cost effective.? We can have the gas mains run to the house but wonder if might be more energy and cost effective to use this new system instead of the standard gas central heating. Any help would be so appreciated.
Many thanks
Sue

researcher

My mother-in-law has just had heating installed under the 'warmfront' grant scheme (she's 90). She lives in a small bungalow, and interestingly they installed a storage radiator system (with economy 7), as it would be much cost effective than gas. They assured us this would be cheaper for her to run than a gas system. No bills yet! But they look very nice, and there were no floors to dig-up so the installation was quick, clean and problem free. Her electricity company installed the e7 box for free.



She has now gone all electric, so we are having her gas supply terminated, so one less bill for her to pay.

penrhyn

Assuming that both gas and electric heating systems are as efficient as each other then it comes down to running costs, even with the latest round of price rises electricity costs 3 times more than gas per kwh.
I had economy 7 storage heating in a small two bedroom flat, it was nice and warm in the morning when I went out to work but I often needed to put another heater on in the evening as the bricks had all gone cold by then.

suey2

Hiya Researcher,

Thank you for your reply :beer: . Did your grandmother have the new Dimplex system or standard storage heaters.? Im not sure but I don't think that standard heaters can be turned down can they,? I believe that the new system can be controlled and then backed up wth another electric panel if it gets really cold.?
Sue~

suey2

Sorry I meant to put Mother-in-Law.!!!!!!!!!!

researcher

suey2 wrote:

Hiya Researcher,

Thank you for your reply :beer: . Did your grandmother have the new Dimplex system or standard storage heaters.? Im not sure but I don't think that standard heaters can be turned down can they,? I believe that the new system can be controlled and then backed up wth another electric panel if it gets really cold.?
Sue~

They can be controlled/turned off individually.

researcher

suey2 wrote:

Sorry I meant to put Mother-in-Law.!!!!!!!!!!

Don't worry it's because I look far to young too have a M-i-L who's 90 :rotfl:

speedy_gonzalez

We're just about to replace our storage heater. If there anywhere I can find any info on this Dimplex system - cost etc?

suey2

The new dimplex system is called. 'Duoheat radiators', please folow the link below. Hope this helps.

http://www.dimplex.co.uk/consumer/duoheat.htm

Sue~

Cardew

There was a thread some while ago that gave a link to a Daily Telegraph article that said people should look hard at these new systems.

The argument was that you save a lot on having no boiler maintenace costs(£180 approx) That modern condensing boilers are stuffed full of electronics and do not have the extended life of earlier boilers. If you budgetted for a life of 10 years or so, the cost of a £2,000 boiler would be a further £200 pa. So £380 pa would go along way to offsetting the extra you might pay over gas CH.

Above figures from memory so cannot guarantee they are correct - but you get the drift.

It was a well reasoned article.

Newbird

Any updates on this system?? their (dimplex) website says a 10% reduction in running cost compared to old style heaters. That doesnt seem a huge improvement, (ok, not to be sniffed at, but not enough to compell me to install them right now!) and they use peak time power to boost heat, which I don't like the idea of.