Electric Central Heating - Please Help!

newflatowner

Hi there! I've just bought and moved into a lovely 1 bedroom flat in Edinburgh - very pleased with it but is has nada heating....burrrrrr! I had a friend who works for Scottish Gas come round and have a look for installing gas and after lots of mmmmmm'ing he said that: floors (new laminate) would be wrecked, boiler in prominent place in living room (not nice sight adn may "devalue" flat) and would be very messy.

He then suggested Aztec electric heating - easy to install, quiet and easy to run. My concern is the COST of the bills. I would ony need 2 (maybe 3) radiators AND a towl rail for the bathroom so not a lot of power required - my friend reckoned about 2 KW for the size of the flat. There is also new hot water immersion in the flat as well which is very efficient.

Does anybody use this currently?? If so, I would love to hear from you. Also, anyone who values property - is this a big turn off to potential buyers?? (I know that landlords love this heating as they dont need to get gas certificates!)

Please feel free to email me privatly or post away!

Many thanks in advance,

R

Cardew

Modern storage heating(with Economy 7 electricity) makes a lot of sense for smaller properties as it is cheap to install and does not need annual servicing.

I don't know what your friend means by 2kW, unless it is the size of each radiator.

To a certain extent you need to 'plan' your heating the day before - but it is not the end of the world if you need to top up your heating in the evenings with full rate electricity.

newflatowner

Hi Cardew, thanks for your message. I dont think my initial message was clear - it's not storage heating that I'm looking at - it's central heating, but instead of being heated by a gas powered boiler - it would be by an electric boiler. It has been explained to me as being like a "big kettle" (!) where the cold water passes through, is heated and goes under the floors to the radiators (like GCH) It is thermostat controlled so is not boiling up gallons of water when not required.

Apologies if anyone thought I was talking about storage heating.

Any thoughts on the ECH/big kettkle heating?!

Cardew

Hi,
I believe the system you are asking for information about is known generically as 'wet electric CH' and there are different types - some with hot water storage facilities for the heating.

There was some discussion here that gives some links for further info.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=73072

However it will not be cheap to install and you will be using a lot of electricity at 'standard' rates so will be very expensive to run.

My comment in post #2 above is still a valid alternative suggestion though!

newflatowner

Yeah, I know it'll be a bit more expensive but the hassle of putting in GCH will be huge. I reckon if I try and get a capped rate electricity provider it may help, as well as working m-f, the heating will only be on in the evenings and some of the weekend - I have double glazing as well - thanks for your help so far.

Does anyone have this type of heating currently?

R

peat

further info here
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=254013

newflatowner

Hi Peat, thanks for the link - I had a wee look at that yesterday. I'm so confused over this!! I went to see a friend last night who has the wet electric CH and she said that she pays £30 per month DD for her electricity and it works out fine. I really like the idea of the leccy heating due to no need for massive upheaval, flue on outside wall etc but am worried about massive bills. There seems to very mixed messages about it - some people love it and some people very uspset about bills. Decisions decisions.......!

dfh4np

This might be an option for you, I am looking to replace my storage heaters and came across these heaters @ http://www.calo-confort.co.uk/index.html
They are easy to install and cheap to run on an economy 10 tariff, they are marketed as 3 hours power gives 12 hours heat.

I am just waiting for scottish power to change meters so i can change suppliers to scottish hydro.

There was a bit about them in the daily mirror

http://www.dealec.co.uk/acatalog/images/DailyMirror.jpg


DFH4NP

space_rider

Be careful about getting heaters for the economy 10 meter as that tariff is only available in certain areas..Check with your supplier to make sure they can support the economy 10 tariff

Bertie's_mum

Out of choice in the future we wouldn't choose wet electric central heating again. When we can afford we will change to oil which will be more economical and manageable for us. As mentioned earlier, we have lived in our current house for 2 years with ever increasing electric bills. One time we were £900 in debit, now presently £400 in debit, but it will shoot up again in the winter.

We have just had an analyser thingie fitted to our meter cupboard which will monitor the heating, lights etc. for 6 days, so we'll see.

We've just had our boiler serviced also and 3 radiators have valves which are not working, which means they are boiling hot when the heating is on, but also draining the electricity (making the boiler fire up etc.). This will be rectified today hopefully - this might have had a bearing on consuming so much elec. but we'll see..

Anyway, the upshot is that sometimes the boiler is not set up correctly (apparently) and so you have to be careful and check that with the engineer.

Lots to consider I expect on what to choose... but this is my personal view on wet electric central heating...

newflatowner

Hi Berties Mum, and thanks for your comment. How many radiators do you have with your wet electric CH? As I mentioned before, I only need 3 so I'm hoping that that will keep the costs down. I have spoken to a couple of house builders who say that Trianco boilers are good for small property's so I'm feeling a little more persuaded. Sorry to hear that you costs have gone up - seems to be par for the course for everyone - gas and electricity!