Storage heaters vs other forms of heating

Torry_Quine

Ada3050 wrote: »

I would add, storage heating should be regarded as "background" heat.

It can't be compared to GCH systems as they work differently. Many people who like storage heating are in during the day, me included.

As long as you understand the difference then you can make an informed choice. A quick search will give the information you need.

I don't consider them background heat even in the worst weather of this winter we never had them on full and rarely needed the boost.

grahamc2003 wrote: »

I'm quite happy with mine.

All forms of heating have their pros and cons. The cons of storaae heaters are the relatively uncontrolability and heat loss during the day, which you can't do much about. We need the heat in the day, so it's not a downside to us, but for those out everyday, the house is being kept warm for not much benefit. A lot of the bad publicity comes from old storage heaters which were, and are, crap, with viurtually no controlability, but modern ones are much more controllable, but you have to know just a little about how to operate them correctly.

Storage heaters have zero maintenance. No servicing, no fumes, no co monitors necessary, no certificates, no worries about freezingf if you trake a winter holiday, no replacement every few years - and those aspects, to me, are massive benefits.

So while not being the best thing since sliced bread, they are very acceptable forms of heating which, if correctly sized and operated, should keep you acceptably warm if the ambient temperature is above 2or 3 degrees. (Below that, you're likely to need to suplement your heating later at night).

The tradeoff as I see between modern storage heaters and gas ch are a degree of uncontrollability and slight extra operatiung costs these days vs pretty intrusive maintenance costs and likelyhood of breakdown (It's not just the service - it's the hassle aswell, it has to be arranged, someone has to be in etc etc)

Those are very good points and why I wouln't change to Gas.

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

On the other hand, if you have a power failure during the day you probably have some stored heat from the night before, with storage heaters.

Of course, if you have a power failure during the night, the next day will be a bit frosty.

Hadn't thought of that but it's true and you often need electricity for GCH anyway.

shegar

grahamc2003 wrote: »

OK - Storage heaters have a couple of drawbacks, but gas ch is the perfect heating system with absolutely no possible drawbacks whatsoever, and reports of thousands of people having problems last winter are pure fabrication.

Happy?

I thought I originally gave quite a balanced view of the pros and cons of each system, just as the op requested.

Points taken......theses sort of heating debates can go on forever, its our own choice of heating that we are happy with, you like storage and I like gas...........ive been on GCH for 6 years and have not encountered any of the problems you mentioned, perhaps im the lucky one, I dont know the statistics..........

I do like control over my heating and cant get that with storage heating.......I like to air all my rooms daily, but with storage heating I would not have any heat left by late afternoon by doing so..............you always have to make sure you look at the weather forcast to see what heating setting you will need the next day................with gas you turn it on or off, its more flexible...........

I agree that you dont have to service your heaters, so that a £70 per year saving you have...................BUT you do pay 3 times more for your energy than I do............

A member on here said "they are only background heat".......

I do like my house at 21 degrees from 6 am to 9 pm, and 21 degrees is more than background heat , storage heaters couldnt give me 21 degrees at 9 pm every evening...........

Cardew

shegar wrote: »

I agree that you dont have to service your heaters, so that a £70 per year saving you have...................BUT you do pay 3 times more for your energy than I do............

That is not so.

The heating/hot water, which are the major part of the annual bill, uses Economy 7 which is typically 4.5p/kWh to 5p/kWh.

Gas is generally around 3p/kWh which by the time you factor in the boiler efficiency is close to 4p/kWh

You do pay extra for your 'daytime'(17 hours) electricity - typically 10% to 20% - but you can offset that by running appliances at night.

The pros and cons of both systems have been rehearsed above. IMO the smaller the property, the smaller the price advantage in running costs of gas.

grahamc2003

shegar wrote: »

Points taken......theses sort of heating debates can go on forever, its our own choice of heating that we are happy with, you like storage and I like gas

I didn't realise I was in any sort of debate. I was just pointing out the pros and cons of the two systems as I see them. I don't particularly like storage heaters because of their drawbacks, but then again gas has its drawbacks too.

I'd say a sensible default position is if the place has gas, then keep it. If it has modern storage heaters then keep them. If it has old storage heaters, then weigh up whether it's better to replace them with modern ones, or better to go on gas. But for that decision you have to know the pros and cons of each, and it's certainly not much help to the op to imply gas doesn't have any discadvantages.

Torry_Quine

shegar wrote: »

I do like control over my heating and cant get that with storage heating.......I like to air all my rooms daily, but with storage heating I would not have any heat left by late afternoon by doing so..............you always have to make sure you look at the weather forcast to see what heating setting you will need the next day................with gas you turn it on or off, its more flexible...........


A member on here said "they are only background heat".......

I do like my house at 21 degrees from 6 am to 9 pm, and 21 degrees is more than background heat , storage heaters couldnt give me 21 degrees at 9 pm every evening...........

I agree that you don 't get the control with Storage Heaters but to me that is the only downside.

They aren't simply background heat for me but then I would be sweltered if my home was at such high temperatures, glad I don't have your bills.

shegar

Torry_Quine wrote: »

I agree that you don 't get the control with Storage Heaters but to me that is the only downside.

They aren't simply background heat for me but then I would be sweltered if my home was at such high temperatures, glad I don't have your bills.

You would love my gas bills...:D 8 rads,newish boiler,10 inch loft insulation,newish DG. ,I dont have to draw my curtains to keep draughts out cos its not a draughty bungalow...........my yearly statement came in 2 weeks ago @ £477 per year on actual metre readings.....:j.....I have to have my heating 14 hrs per day and @ 21 degrees because I have a disabled husband thatneeds to be kept warm as he dont move.......

When I had storage heaters at my last home I found them to be expensive, but had no choice because there was no gas in the area.............

Torry_Quine

shegar wrote: »

You would love my gas bills...:D 8 rads,newish boiler,10 inch loft insulation,newish DG. ,I dont have to draw my curtains to keep draughts out cos its not a draughty bungalow...........my yearly statement came in 2 weeks ago @ £477 per year on actual metre readings.....:j.....I have to have my heating 14 hrs per day and @ 21 degrees because I have a disabled husband thatneeds to be kept warm as he dont move.......

When I had storage heaters at my last home I found them to be expensive, but had no choice because there was no gas in the area.............

That sounds good but not having gas I wouldn't really know. Of course you will have electricity as well but glad it doesn't cost a fortune especially for your husband.

Ada3050

Torry_Quine wrote: »

I don't consider them background heat even in the worst weather of this winter we never had them on full and rarely needed the boost.

I should clarify, my old 1930's terrace is some what drafty at times and the back of the house points north west as well so gets little sun in the winter.

Upstairs is warm and toasty with storage heaters, just the down stairs rooms are a bit colder.

readytofly

Wow that was an interesting read! Unfortunately about 60% of the properties in our price range (2 bed flats) have storage heating or electric heaters - the only property i have seen in our price range with GCH is a 1 bed house at the top end of our budget. This is our first home - plan to stay up to 10 years to allow for space for any future babies (we dont want to be moving on again in 5/6years time) so i dont think we will be getting GCH as a replacement.

We also work full time so it does seem a bit silly for the house to be heated while we are out of it for 10/12 hours a day!

I dont want the heating to be a deciding factor on which flat we buy as, but its good be informed about what we need to do about heating bills etc. I like to be warm BUT i do have a Double slanket that keeps me toasty

Thanks for all your views its definitely something to consider.