Alternatives to night storage heating

sher99

I have a 1-bed flat with Dimplex XLS12 night storage heating. I spent most of last winter using a blanket despite having the heating on max input, min output (during day) and max output in the evening when I needed it - it just isn't effective for my needs and I have no desire to repeat this winter.

I am trying to decide whether to change to a combi night storage heater ( which are a lot thicker than what I currently have (and pretty costly) or go for slimmer electric thermapanel radiators . Not sure how using the radiators for an hour or two in the evening at the day rate compares to 7 hrs maximum charge of night storage on night rate using E7.

Has anyone done this or know if it's worthwhile? The cost of the electric rads are £180 each vs £350 for combi storage.

Any help would be much appreciated!

Thanks

Cardew

You face the classic dilemma with storage heating. i.e. heat 'leaked' during the day and runs out in the evening.

The problem with any comparison is that there are so many variables. i.e. your hours out of flat, size and insulation properties of flat, how warm you like property.

If you switch to a single rate tariff(as you are charged a premium for 17 hours on an Economy 7 tariff) then your hot water costs will increase.

You could buy a cheap(£10 or so) 3kW fan heater and experiment. i.e. turn off storage heater for a couple of days and use fan heater - noting meter readings - and then compare for a similar period with the storage heater on.

pokadot

hi- we are facing a similar problem- our night storage heaters are very old- we were thinking of try a new one just for this winter just to see if they would retain more heat throughout the day that could be used in the evening- does anyone have any experience of new/ modern night storage heaters?