Electric heating: storage heaters or radiators?

bmeaden

Hi - I recently moved into a 2 bed warehouse conversion. It was converted about 15 years ago, had high ceilings and seems well insulated. It currently has storage heaters on economy 7, and I am looking into changing this to electric radiators on a standard tarrif. My thinking is that I live on my own, and am out of the flat Mon-Fri from 6.30am to 6.30pm approx, so don't get any benefit from the storage heaters warming the place while I'm at work. And I'm guessing that they will be cooling down or off by the time I'm back from work?

I've red many things about the pros and cons of eco 7, but I'm still a little unsure. I saw you need to use 40% of your electric between the cheap 7 hour window for the system to be of benefit, but I can't see myself doing this. As the flat is well insulated I'm guessing I'll have the heating on for an hour in the morning and maybe 2-3 in the evening, which to my mind would use less electric than the storage heaters being on for so long, combined with my other uses like washing machine, tv etc, at the moment I think the 'peak' costs would outweight the off-peak benefits.

But I'm still a little confused, so any help/advice would be greatly appreciated as I haven't yet fully decided what is best. Also, would I need to add a better timing unit for the hot water, so its only on a little in the morning and evening, rather than on the current eco7 timings?

Thanks Ben

macman

Before you go to all the expense of replacing the heaters and rewiring, I would suggest that you see out a first winter-that will enable you to see what proportion you are using on cheap rate once the heatng goes on. 33% is a typical break even for E7.
A modern storage heater should be more flexible and enable you to alter the settings in order to retain more heat for evening use.
But I doubt that a warehouse conversion is well insulated, presumably no cavity walls, and high ceilings.

jalexa

bmeaden wrote: »

Also, would I need to add a better timing unit for the hot water, so its only on a little in the morning and evening, rather than on the current eco7 timings?

On the heating I agree with the previous poster's "wait and see" advice, however on the water heating, the only "consumption" once heated is the cylinder losses and your usage.

The cylinder "should" be well lagged and a "proper" Economy 7 installation should have a main element on cheap-rate only and a top-up element connected via a "standard" E7 timer which allows a manual day-time boost.

Check that your system has all these elements. Might be an idea to switch off your radiators for a day two and see how much energy the overnight water heating is using (all consumption overnight is "cheap" but the water heating will be the biggest load).

HalloweenJack

with the storage heaters dont forget to turn the `boost` to minimum (max damping) when your out and turn it up when your in - to maximise the length of time they give off heat