Electric Heating Recommendation

lauxy

We live in a house with GCH and radiators. We also own the flat next door (this is a simplification of the situation because the full story is long winded)

We are currently in the process of knocking a hole in the wall to expand our downstairs into the other property. The new rooms do not have gas or a boiler and no heating to speak of (there was an electric fire which we have taken out)

We don't want to extend our heating system into the new space as it has it's own meters and if we ever sell we will be changing everything back into two properties. There are 3 rooms to heat a large 4x5m lounge a back kitchen/utility 3mx2m and a small toilet cloakroom. There is another room that I use as a studio but only once a week and I have a portable heater for when it is really cold in the winter.

What I would like to know is what electric heating solution would be best for our situation. And can anyone recommend a cheap model. We are on a normal electricity tariff so storage heaters wouldn't be an option I don't think. I want something that will look ok and be as effective as a GCH radiator. We will be having some kind of solid fuel fire in the large room for very cold evenings but I don't want to rely on that for our heating. The property is very old with thick stone walls which we are insulating with kingspan as part of the building works.

Thanks! Laura

macman

Cheap panel heaters (convectors). All electric heaters are the same efficiency (100%) so just buy the cheapest. However, on standard rate this will still cost you more than 3 times as much per kWh than gas.
If you don't merge the two supplies then you will of course be paying 2 lots of standing charges.

lauxy

Thanks, it is complicated by the fact that I use the main portion of the next door property to run my business. The business pays the electricity bill. I suppose we could extend our central heating to incorporate the new property but I would imagine this would be incredibly costly and even taking into account the extra cost of heating with electricity rather than gas it would be a while before we made the money back. It would all need turning back if we decide to sell both the properties. Although I doubt we are likely move for some time as we like where we live.