Electric Heating

OneWickedSon

Hello folks,

I'm looking for some advice about my home heating.

I live in an area with no main gas. I cannot have LPG or Oil as, though I own my home, it's ex-council, and there is nowhere suitable to install a tank.

I currently have a small immersion heater for the hot water, two large (old) storage heaters (on e7) , a third small storage heater (e7) an electic towel rail and three convection panel heaters on the standard mains.

We live in a very small, 60's build house - three small bedrooms - but the two upstairs ones are basically a converted attic. Our electricity bills are somewhere between big and astronomical. (We got notified a few months ago that EDF wanted to increase the DD to £200 per month.)

This made us check everything out. It turned out our rotary-style night rate timer was wrong. I guess this wouldn't have caused a big issue if we weren't using panel heaters / fan heaters; but during winter we get damn cold and need them.

This got fixed today by an Engineer from SSE. He's fitted a new combo meter and time switch - so I guess that's sorted. (I'll tackle EDF about the billing as an aside).

Crucially, I need to modernise the heating in this house. I'll like to replace the storage heaters and panel heaters as they must be early 80's jobs at least. The engineer mentioned gel based heaters, but reading posts on here, I'm not sure. I can accept that electricity is expensive and to heat a home with it is not going to be cheap, but if the heaters I have a bit decrepit, I'm sure spending some money on new stuff would be good.

I also need to consider that in a couple of years we want to sell the property - so this is important to get right. I'd like to think whatever I put in will add value to the house.

Any thoughts?


Thanks!

Cardew

Any decision you make must be based on the understanding that your current electrical system is 100% efficient at producing heat and any new electrical heating system will not produce more heat for the same running costs.

The advantage of new storage heaters is that they will not 'leak' heat as badly as your present storage heaters and have better controls; but not produce more heat(for the same running costs)

For most people in an all electric house, storage heaters on an Economy 7 tariff will give lower running costs than panel heaters, or radiators filled with any ingredient known to man!!

If the layout of your house is suitable you might like to consider an 'air to air' Air Source Heat Pump(ASHP) - sometimes refered to as a Refridgeration Unit. They blow warm air and can produce around three units of heat for one unit input. - Note: not to be confused with 'air to water' ASHPs that are much more expensive to install.

However above all the most cost effective way to reduce bills is insulate, insulate, insulate - and then add some more!

OneWickedSon

Thanks. The physics is understood! I'd not heard of ASHP; so thanks for that. My initial concern would be that I'd have nowhere to put it. The only wall "available" is a darkened gable end which might not have enough space for air flow. Not impossible maybe. At 6 to 10k, though - I'd say it's over my budget. 2 to 3k is going to be my max if I'm to do anything for winter.

Any recommendations on Storage heaters; if indeed they are best for my situation?

Insulation - is tricky. The cavity between the roof space and upstairs bedrooms is stuffed with traditional fibre glass. There are no cavity walls! (Plaster on brick - nice!). There is a space under the floor (About .8 - 1.2m) which is not insulated. We have carpets, but do you reckon it's worth insulating UNDER my house?

Cardew

OneWickedSon wrote: »

At 6 to 10k, though - I'd say it's over my budget. 2 to 3k is going to be my max if I'm to do anything for winter.

£6k to £10k is for a Air to water ASHP. i.e. it transfers heat to water that goes to radiators.

The simpler Air to Air ASHP is much cheaper. - they just blow warm air. As you have a very small house just one unit blowing in warm air.

HappyMJ

OneWickedSon wrote: »

Any recommendations on Storage heaters; if indeed they are best for my situation?

Insulation - is tricky. The cavity between the roof space and upstairs bedrooms is stuffed with traditional fibre glass. There are no cavity walls! (Plaster on brick - nice!). There is a space under the floor (About .8 - 1.2m) which is not insulated. We have carpets, but do you reckon it's worth insulating UNDER my house?

Automatic ones...such as http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/DXXLS18N.html if you are feeling like doing a bit of work then get them off Ebay they go for very very cheap. Then employ an electrician to install them. See here... A whole house worth 5 of them for £150 http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Dimplex-Xlsn-Storage-heaters-x-5-good-condition-/120747672074?pt=UK_Home_Garden_Hearing_Cooling_Air&hash=item1c1d1f420a

I wouldn't bother insulating the floor.

OneWickedSon

Cardew wrote: »

£6k to £10k is for a Air to water ASHP. i.e. it transfers heat to water that goes to radiators.

The simpler Air to Air ASHP is much cheaper. - they just blow warm air. As you have a very small house just one unit blowing in warm air.

Well I'll be sure to check it out; as it sounds quite good. :cool:

Owain_Moneysaver

60s built house with no cavity walls? Very unlikely.

Having brick inner leaf doesn't mean you don't have a cavity. There are fixed price deals/grants around for cavity wall insulation (see Energy Saving Trust) and it would be worth doing (and getting the certificate to wave to prospective house buyers).

If you really have solid external walls, then drylining (internal cladding) might be worthwhile. Marmox board can give good insulation without knocking inches off the room sizes. Kingspan is thicker but even more insulating. Drylining is much more cost effective if you can do it yourself at the same time as you would be redecorating anyway.

OneWickedSon

Thanks for the responses. It would be nice to hear from anyone who has had Air to Air installed for an idea of cost. There don't appear to be too many people up here that do it; though I've found a couple.

Yes, I do plan to sell as the house is too small for a family - but heating throughout the year is a problem. In the summer, upstairs gets VERY hot (even for Aberdeen) and in we struggle to heat the house properly. I think sorting the drafts has helped; but the heaters we have are the wrong size for each room and need to be changed. If I'm looking to spend £300-£500 per storage heater, it would be interesting as a comparison to see an Air-to-Air solution cost.

I'm pretty sure we have solid, concrete block walls. We were having problems three years ago with water ingress in our downstairs bedroom; mould, damp and patches of boss plaster meant we had to re-plaster a whole section of wall - and this went straight onto the concrete block. I'm pretty sure I was told it was solid by the chap that did it. Guess i can check that.