Heating costs

bouicca21

My daughter is thinking of buying a (very) small flat (1 bed). A couple she is considering are in fairly recently (10-15 years) built blocks, but don't have central heating; they have electric storage radiators instead. The EPCs indicate pretty good insulation.

Neither of us have any experience of living with this kind of heating. We don't know whether this will be expensive to run. If it is it's a deal breaker.

Any advice?

motherofstudents

They are very common in flats but personaly I don;t like them. The epc will probably be ok in a relatively new build. The heaters are probably efficicient and the insulation will mean the flat is warm but what I don't like is that you have to plan in advance when you want heat.

For example, last Sunday was hot we did not need our gas central heating on. Monday was cold so we turned the heating on. Now, if we had storage heaters we would have needed to look at the weather forecast on Saturday which hopefully would have said it is going to be hot on Sunday so we wouldn't switch them on. Then on Sunday the weather forecast would hopefully say it is going to be cold......we would switch them on to store heat overnight so we would have heating on Monday.

Some people like them but I think most people agree that they are not the easiest thing to use. They work on stored heat so use cheap electricity overnight which is stored until you use it the following day. During very cold weather you may need a fire for supplementary heating as the heat can run out.

To answer your question, I don;t think they are too expensive to run and it wouldn't be a deal breaker for me if the flat was suitable in every other way. But I prefer normal central heating as it is more controllable. If your daughter is out at work all day, and only has them on in the evening they should not run out. Hope that helps.

bouicca21

Thanks - that is very useful. I'll pass it on to her.

cattie

Personally I would never buy a property with electric heating if it didn't have a gas supply so I could put in gas central heating. I don't even bother viewing properties that are all electric to be honest as it would just be wasting my & the vendors time.

So, electric heating will limit the market when selling as some people will be put off but if she likes the flat & it has good insulation then it needn't be a deal breaker. Ask the vendor what their winter heating bills are like to get an idea of how much the place will cost to heat.

tilly78_2

I currently live in a 1 bed top floor flat with storage heaters.

The first winter i was in the property i struggled to get the right temperature as i was worried about the cost. However I now use them right and have no problem with them, I am not stingy with what electric i use and only pay £30 a month for my electric (I only have elec, no gas).

I have 3 storage heaters in my flat - however i only use the one in the lounge and bedroom. Just make sure she props the doors open during day and the heat will circulate throughout the flat. Also if the flat is fitted with an immersion heater, this is also a cost saver - as i have a instant heat electric shower i only turn on the immersion heater every now and again and boil a kettle to do the washing up.

If she is worried about the costs, invest in a energy monitor as it will help her keep track of what she is spending.

I was anti storage heaters, however now i won't say no to another flat with storage heaters especially if it was my dream flat.

shegar

cattie wrote: »

Personally I would never buy a property with electric heating if it didn't have a gas supply so I could put in gas central heating. I don't even bother viewing properties that are all electric to be honest as it would just be wasting my & the vendors time.

So, electric heating will limit the market when selling as some people will be put off but if she likes the flat & it has good insulation then it needn't be a deal breaker. Ask the vendor what their winter heating bills are like to get an idea of how much the place will cost to heat.

I hate the dam things and would never buy a house with them in, so yea to me its a deal breaker......When we were looking for a place 6 yrs ago I told the agents dont even consider homes with storage , Ive had them in previous homes and said never again........But then thats my opinion..

dimbo61

more amd more flats are having electric only heating as NO chance of a gas explosion!
If its a good system and well maintained then you should have no problems

ognum

landlord friends of mine love flats with electric heating and no gas, one less thing to get done as a landlord However, they don't pay the heating bills!