Replacing storage heaters

lee1975

We live in an ex-council house and our main source of heat is 5 Dimplex storage heaters on Economy 7 (along with an open fire in the living room - we're hoping to install a wood burning stove here at some point)

We're now in the process of doing the place up and would like to replace the heaters with something a bit more modern. They have to be electric as we're not on gas here.

We've waded through hundreds of websites and are still none the wiser as to what's the best option:

a) sticking with Economy 7 and storage heaters (slightly less ugly ones, if they exist - the Dimplex ones don't seem to have changed much in 30 years)
b) changing to standard (modern) electric heaters - there seems to be loads of choice here, any recommendations?
c) we've been told about electric-powered heaters which are filled with oil, would these cheaper to run than standard electric heaters?

After 5 years of living here we've got used to the storage heaters, we don't touch them in the spring/summer (unlike a lot of people we know with gas central heating!) and only really use two or three of them regularly from October/November to March - mainly to dry washing - although the other two do take the chill off in December and January.

Any advice would be appreciated...

[Deleted User]

Hi,

if you stick with option a, you will have the advantage of the cheap rate night time electricity,

options b and c will use the dearer daytime rate and will not store the heat, which in my opinion, will work out more expensive.

Oil filled heaters guzzle electricity.

penrhyn

All electric heaters are 100% efficient, an oil filled radiator takes no more or less than another heater of the same rating.

lee1975

Thanks.

I need to do some maths I think... Economy 7 may be cheaper at night but as we're only using the heaters for 5 or 6 months of the year I don't know how much we're saving a great deal compared to the standard tariff.

And if anyone knows where I can find storage heaters that don't look like they belong in 1973, I'd be grateful...

penrhyn

Dimplex or Creda.

rogerblack

lee1975 wrote: »

Thanks.

I need to do some maths I think... Economy 7 may be cheaper at night but as we're only using the heaters for 5 or 6 months of the year I don't know how much we're saving a great deal compared to the standard tariff.

And if anyone knows where I can find storage heaters that don't look like they belong in 1973, I'd be grateful...

Paint them!
Black, rectangular, with aluminium sides seems to be quite modern.

Richie-from-the-Boro

lee1975 wrote: »

Thanks.

I need to do some maths I think... Economy 7 may be cheaper at night but as we're only using the heaters for 5 or 6 months of the year I don't know how much we're saving a great deal compared to the standard tariff.

And if anyone knows where I can find storage heaters that don't look like they belong in 1973, I'd be grateful...

Modern versions of storage are better looking, better operating, the modern brick has better heat retention but is no more efficient. Non storage [oil filled panel] are no use whatsoever on an E7 or E10- tariff. If you change your tariff to suit panel or oil filled be prepared for the massive cost to replace the 365 tanks full of boiling water you get at cheap rate.

All storage needs errr storage so they are always going to look like '1973' sized lumps, they have between 4 and 16 bricks in them. The capacity to store cheap heat from electricity, and store cheap hot water should be taken into account along with the cost of replacement with a similar / different heating system. BTW rogerblack's comment is worthy, the top & front come off with just a couple of small screws, you could rub them down and spray with heat proof cheaply in one day .. .. give them a whole new life.

NOTE: Watch out for the asbestos insulation and 'bag' the heater for the period that the fronts are off.

rogerblack

Richie-from-the-Boro wrote: »

Modern versions of storage are better looking, better operating, the modern brick has better heat retention but is no more efficient. Non storage [oil filled panel] are no use whatsoever on an E7 or E10- tarif
.

'No more efficient' is both true and false.
1kWh of electricity will always make the same amount of heat, yes.
However, efficiency is total electricity / wasted. (Well, times 100)
A modern heater may lose considerably less with the baffles closed, so have more available in the evening.
If heat is not desired during the day, then the amount of that heat that escapes the house before the occupants return is waste,
A better insulated heater may maximise available stored heat later in the day.

Richie-from-the-Boro

rogerblack wrote: »

'No more efficient' is both true and false.
1kWh of electricity will always make the same amount of heat, yes.
However, efficiency is total electricity / wasted. (Well, times 100)
A modern heater may lose considerably less with the baffles closed, so have more available in the evening.
If heat is not desired during the day, then the amount of that heat that escapes the house before the occupants return is waste,
A better insulated heater may maximise available stored heat later in the day.

- they've been trying relatively unsuccessfully for years to do that
- thermal resistance of the insulation value has improved, but not in my opinion significantly
- if you have any tables / evidence to the contrary - show me - I've never seen any empirical figures

Modern bricks have a better thermal capacity than the older ones, and so the heater is slightly smaller for the same storage & output. Heat is released (1) through the core by air circulation and (2) through the insulation. A heater installed 50 years ago was 100% efficient and its still the same 100% efficient today, its just old big and ugly, but its efficiency does not get less as they get older, its still 100%, and all 100% of the heat they produce goes into the room. No greenhouse gas's no carbon dioxide, no poisons, maintenance free, anyone with a screwdriver only can dismantle them, the bricks are in high demand and make the best pizza ovens in the world, even your own back garden. In that case there's no need to change the old, old does not mean bad and useless, it just means old. You are never going to change big, even a brand new one that is dual and very much more effective at quick and more flexible heating is still going to be big, you can however make ugly and old into smart and new with a can of spray paint.

On the issue of the amount of heat that escapes I've been preaching for years in this group that (1) sufficient storage and (2) keep the damper closed always is the most cost effective way to use this form of stored heat, most people don't store sufficient in the first place or they would never need to open the damper. The old power station night time imbalance of capacity that led to cheap rate night rate storage [ hence the name ] is outdated anyway, many modern night storage heaters can be remotely controlled, in fact controlled any time there is overcapacity even during the day, smart meters already exist, the heater only needs to draw for four and a half hours of a 24 hour cycle and a smart meter can deliver that 20% requirement in any amount of variables any time day or night. You could even remotely control them yourself with your mobile.

The tech exists its up to the industry to get it together, if we had already done something about it the German snake~oil~sellers would not have the hold they do in this country.

If the reps from the leccy companies come across this post get a grip you could carve out a whole new massive market segment by delivering truly flexible 24 hour system.

macman

lee1975 wrote: »

Thanks.

I need to do some maths I think... Economy 7 may be cheaper at night but as we're only using the heaters for 5 or 6 months of the year I don't know how much we're saving a great deal compared to the standard tariff.

And if anyone knows where I can find storage heaters that don't look like they belong in 1973, I'd be grateful...

If you put your kWh consumption into any comp site, first with the peak rate/cheap rate E7 % split, and then with single rate, it will tell you in seconds. You may use the storage heaters for 'only' 5 or 6m of the year, but you are also heating your hot water all year round on cheap rate E7 via an immersion heater (I presume), so this will form a large part of your overall consumption. Typically you only need to use 30% on cheap rate to make E7 viable, depending on rate and region. So do the maths.
By all means install panel heaters or oil filled rads to look nicer, but your bills may well double or treble.

Pincher

More Insulation.

Heat Pump for day time top up.

MVHR to reduce heat loss during ventilation.