Is there anyone out there who likes their storage heaters?

Flibertigibit

I'm in the throes of deciding whether to change my heating from panel heaters to storage heaters (no choice of gas as in an all-electric flat) and been doing loads of research, during which I reckon I've come across 1% of satisfied users of storage heaters, be it the old-fashioned kind or the "improved" more modern ones. I do realise that part of the problem may bes because some people don't learn how to use them to their best advantage, so education is part (a small part?) of the answer.......So this is your chance to champion the storage heater - are you brave enough to stick your head above the parapet!!??

penrhyn

I used to live in a flat with storage heaters, after some fiddling with the charge and output controls I could maintain a reasonable temperature during the day although by the middle of the evening there was not much heat left.
The newer storage heaters had better controls than the older ones, and these days you can get dual wired ones to give a bit of a boost (all be it on day rate)
The other thing is to try and predict the weather (seaweed or pine cone, or my favorite weather stone see below:rotfl:) so you can reduce the charge or increase it as required.

Cardew

Hi Flibertigibit,

Interesting thread you have started. Whilst you may increase the percentage from 1% they will still be very unpopular.

In your case, where you would need to install storage heaters, I suspect the odds are stacked against you.

A._Badger

Count me among the 99 per cent. I have had several flats with the hateful things - from the most ancient and primitive to the most 'advanced'. They were all absolute (expensive) rubbish.

In the last flat I found them in (a holiday home) I simply switched them off and installed a small multifuel stove. It was far more fun and a far more pleasant source of affordable, controllable, heat.

Premier_2

Well count me in that 1% (if you ask outside of MSE, you'll likely find that proportion to be much, much larger )

Had more than one flat with storage heaters. It would have been damn cold without them, and very expensive if we'd have used normal rate electricity which is typically 2 - 3 times the price of off peak electricity.

You just need to know how to adjust them, and modern ones are very controllable.
By modern, I mean less than 25 years old!
I had some older than that in one property. Huge, ugly, dark brown things and not very controllable ... but not cause for the apparent hysteria many on this site appear to have about storage heaters.

PasturesNew

I had one in the last flat I rented. Never used one, no idea how to use them - so I didn't bother. I used a fan heater instead when I needed heat.

As I understand it, for most people, coming in at 6-8pm at night after being at work all day, the heat will have disappeared.

And - it looked scarey. I was too scared to use it, it looked horrid and I bet if I'd turned it on it would have smelt of burning dust as I bet nobody'd used it for decades.

dannymccann

Hate the things, we turned down a dream rental property at a great price at the time because it had storage heaters

Be_Happy

Well I love mine. Over last 40 years as homeowners we've moved numerous times and had equal amounts of houses with gas central heating and electric storage heaters.

Agreed you don't have the high temperatures of gas heating in the evenings, but you have a constant warmth throughout the day. A quick blast from our coal effect electric fire in the evenings and we find its thermostat is cutting out regularly showing that the room is quickly being brought back to full heat. In gas heating you have alternating spells of cold and heat. At my sister's you sit freezing because she controls the gas heating time clocks rigidly and you have to wait until the heating comes on.

There is so much prejudice against storage heaters because people usually come across the old models, not the new ones which are very much more efficient. If you were to compare old gas boilers to modern gas boilers you would come across the differences. Yes you do have to learn how to control them and you can't make instant changes if the weather changes suddenly.

As far as cost goes, we have 6 storage heaters in our 3 bedroom end-terrace and we pay £90 a month DD. Last year we were in credit at the year end and so far this year, we are well in credit.

Having said this a mixture of storage heaters and panel heaters can often work out best for a lifestyle. Our son and his wife work all day. They have storage heater in hall and sitting room, with panel heaters on timers throughout house and they are happy with this.

Flibertigibit

Whilst I appreciate people taking time to reply, the whole point of this thread is to give people who don't hate their storage heaters an opportunity for their voices to be heard about the clamour of negativity! I already know many people hate them and why (I've read thread after thread on that during my research) so please don't feel you need to tell me again.

"Be Happy" - you may have solved my dilemma! I am at home most of the time as I'm retired, so I will appreciate the daytime heat from storage heaters, and I too have an electric fire in the sitting room if things get chilly in the evening - though I do suspect that's partly if people don't get the balance right and have their "output" control set too high during the daytime. I do know that storage heaters, like indeed most electric cookers, are not as responsive and flexible as their gas equivalents, but I am stuck with all electric unless I want to move (which I don't). But the sentence in your post that really struck me was "Having said this a mixture of storage heaters and panel heaters can often work out best for a lifestyle." I am not out at work all day like your son and his wife, but I don't need the bedrooms to be that hot all day, so the whole idea might be more affordable and just as satisfactory if I keep the existing panel heaters in those rooms (they are on a timer anyway) and just have storage heaters put in the hall and sitting room. Now that seems such an obvious idea, but for some reason, until now, I've be thinking in terms of all or nothing!

moiramoi

Hi - am pulling my hair out over which storage heaters to go for myself I live in a three bedroom ex-council house - grew up with storage heaters and had them removed two years ago as house was always cold. However am prepared to admit this may have been because didn't use properly. Anyway was considering DuoHeat radiators but I spoke to a consultant at Dimplex and she said that on the Help Desk the DuoHeat 'n' range radiators get the most complaints and problems - not sure if you can run them only on Economy 7 - - one electrician wanted me to go with him and install them and he said they have the same number of bricks as standard storage heaters but both Dimplex and another electrician said this was not the case and that normal storage heaters do indeed have more bricks and throw out more heat than DuoHeat on Econ 7 tarrif to boot.
Energy Savings Trust recommend automatic fan assisted storage heaters so although horrible to look at am considering a 3.4 kw for the hall to heat hall and landing as have plug in heater for bedrooms which only use when am in room and for short period to heat up before I go to bed and get up.
I was considering XLS Dimplex automatic storage 2.5k and 1.5kw for another smaller room downstairs because can't stand a low noise fan in these rooms and also they look nicer than the fan heater storage ones. Some seem to like the convector storage heaters - not sure if convector storage heater have fewer bricks than the XLS slimline automatic storage heaters?
One thing is sure - house is unbearably cold with just plug-in heaters - much better to have storage heaters to get some basic overall heating that runs on econ7.....

Flibertigibit

It's a nightmare! Whatever I do will cost money both to put in and run, and could turn out an expensive mistake if I don't choose wisely. The storage heaters I am considering are the Creda Sensor Plus ones - this is their selling bumph "The UK's best selling storage heater, the TSR Sensor Plus combines two separate in-built sensors - its 'Multi-sense' system - to automatically control heat storage and desired room temperature. Working on any low-cost tariff, the Multi-sense system saves up to 15% of the energy used by ordinary storage heaters, with little or no adjustment of controls required."

I was interested in the Duoheat at first but decided they are just a bit of a gimmick. Yes, the "storage part" does run on Economy 7 but the "boost" doesn't (assuming you will be needing that outside Econ 7 times). In any case, if it gets chilly in the evening I have got a fan in-built to my electric fire in the sitting room, so could use that if I wanted a boost. I didn't know about the possibility that they have less bricks than standard storage heaters, but if so it's even more of a con because it will cool down more quickly and need the fan (at expensive daytime rates) to be used more. I find it VERY odd that a Dimplex consultant told you that Duoheat have more complaints and problems!!