Electricity advice needed for first time home owner

Chris_J_B

Hello,

I have recently bought my first home, a 2 bedroom apartment. It has horrible big old electric storage heaters, which I want to immediately rip out as they are awful to look at. There is 1 in the hallway, 1 in the lounge, 1 in the main bedroom, and an electric panel heater in the small bedroom. There is no gas.

I have been reading bits of various threads on this site over the last few weeks, and was thinking of getting new, and modern looking, electric panel heaters installed, instead of the storage heaters, which would mean switching from economy 7 to standard electricity I have learnt.

I am not sure how complicated storage heaters are to use when you want heat, and I'm not exactly sure how they work full stop!

My thinking for what I want is that the heating will be off all of the time when it is mild in spring/summer, and turned on when necessary, manually, and in autumn/winter when it is cold I want to set a timer for the heating to come on for an hour before I get up in the morning, to warm the apartment up before work, then it would be off during the day when I am at work, and then on for an hour before I get home from work to warm the place up again. I am using to living with parents where we had gas central heating, and the house was heated the same way.

Can I do the same with storage heaters and panel heaters? And can you get small/thin storage heaters, like the panel heaters? I really don't want the big bulky things in the apartment.

I have read posts on this forum where people suggest the portable (oil filled) heaters on wheels instead of storage/panel heaters, so I am not sure how to proceed!

I don't mind paying slightly more to have a better looking apartment if panel heaters are more expensive to run than storage heaters..

Please advise..

Thanks in advance.

Chris.

penrhyn

Storage heaters are simplicity itself.
They comprise a heat store which is a pile of bricks, with a heating element.
They run on cheap night rate electricity and charge up for 7 hours over night.
The hot bricks then release their heat during the day.
There is a simple internal flap mechanism designed to retain some of the heat so the unit continues to work into the evening. There is a thermostat to regulate the charge.
The newer ones are about 6inches thick.

Using panel heaters may be more suitable for you depends on your life style.

Don't get taken in by firms that will try selling you expensive super efficient panel heaters.
With electricity 1Kw in gives 1 Kw output whether you have a £20 fan heater or £200 panel heater.

Chris_J_B

Hi,

Thanks for that.

Yes I was nearly taken in by somebody at a local electrical store praising Rointe. Then I read on here that they are a waste of money. Their heaters are approx £300-£400, whereas panel heaters are approx £150..