Quantum Electrical heating by Dimplex

madonmanilow

Can anyone please advice in simple language the most economical form of electric heating be it E7 or other types. Some are very new to the market and so feedback is difficult to find.

macman

You answered your own question. E7 is the most economic form of electric heating. Non E7 electricity is the most expensive, at about 3 times more.
All electric heaters are the same efficiency (100%) and cost cost the same to run, if on the same tariff.
Can't put it much more simply than that.

madonmanilow

O K so have you any info. on the newest form of E7 heating beginning with Q (don't know if I,m allowed to name it). Also I,m being bombarded with info. on a certain non E7 heater beginning with R (also don't know if I,m allowed to name this) by electricians who claim they are fitting these rads. all the time and they are far more economical that E7. Gets very confusing and don't want to make the wrong choice knowing very little about it.

Cardew

madonmanilow wrote: »

Can anyone please advice in simple language the most economical form of electric heating be it E7 or other types. Some are very new to the market and so feedback is difficult to find.

It doesn't matter how 'new to the market' any form of electrical might be, they all give out exactly the same amount of heat, for the same running cost.

That statement applies to your granny's 50 year old 1/2/3 bar heater or a radiator filled with any ingredient known to man and costing over £1000.

Storage heaters on an E7 tariff are no more efficient, their advantage is they store heat from electricity costing between a third and half of daytime electricity.

Frankdayank

There are many postings about economy 7 storage heaters with lots of comments about efficiency and operating costs. The point many make is that if you have a 4 kw storage heater it will cost the same to operate no matter how it is made. I do agree with that but what I do not agree with is that the BTU output will be the same for two different storage heaters.

It appears to me that the heating element efficiency, the transfer of heat from the element to the brick and the ability of the brick to absorb the transfered energy would impact the BTU output.

I have been using storage heaters for a number of years in our flat and the problem we have is that in the morning when we wake up our rooms are very warm however in the evening when we sit down to read or watch TV our rooms are very cold.

We adjusted the input and output controls in an attempt to give us more heat in the evenings and these adjustments have helped some.

What I think needs to be considered in a storage heater is the ability to be able to efficiently store heat for the longest period of time and be able to output heat when needed.

While cost is important for me comfort is just as important

What I am looking for is a storage heater that can provide more even heat for a longer period of time than the old storage heaters we are currently using. I do not want to be roasting in the morning when I wake up and I do not want to be freezing when we sit down in the evening.

Anyone have any suggestions?

Cardew

Welcome to the forum.

Firstly the BTu output will be the same from any heater. A Mr A Einstein stated many years ago that you cannot destroy energy.

Your very valid point is that the release rate of that energy(heat) varies and your reservations about storage heaters 'leaking' heat during the day are echoed by many posters on MSE; particularly those at work all day who have a warm flat whilst they are out, but cold in the evenings.

Some posters have stated that the more modern versions of Storage heaters retain the heat better, although I personally have seen no tests to confirm their contention.

macman

And heat retention has nothing to do with efficiency. If an NSH released all it's overnight stored heat in one hour, it would still be no less 'efficient'.
Although it would be somewhat useless...

Richie-from-the-Boro

madonmanilow wrote: »

O K so have you any info. on the newest form of E7 heating beginning with Q (don't know if I,m allowed to name it). Also I,m being bombarded with info. on a certain non E7 heater beginning with R (also don't know if I,m allowed to name this) by electricians who claim they are fitting these rads. all the time and they are far more economical that E7. Gets very confusing and don't want to make the wrong choice knowing very little about it.

There are two kinds of electricity, the cheap kind and the expensive kind. When electricity is made, you use it or lose it, you can't store it. Because it can not be stored, its offered cheap[er] at night to those who can store it. The most cost-effective form of electric central heating uses night storage space and water heaters with an E7 meter on an E7 tariff.

non E7 heater beginning with R

Of course you can mention Rionte by name, and yes electricians will desperately want to install them instead of night store heating. Installing night store space & water heating is hard work, new wiring circuits, heavy heaters to install and very time consuming, Rionte is two screws and a 13a plug not unlike installing a kettle. If I was an electrician I'd be selling them as fast as I could screw them to someone's wall. Next please cha-ching, cha-ching, cha-ching. Rionte is quick to install, hardly any work at all, then pocket the install costs. They have a high margin of profit on a high priced product, pocket the % difference between trade and retail. From an electricians point of view they are a good deal heavily marketed in this country and well supported in you are an accredited installer.

But Rionte does not store the cheap electricity, you will therefore pay about 30% more for your water & heating costs per annum.

they are far more economical that E7

Nonsense, if electricity converts to heat at 100% and you are paying 30% more, they are 30% more expensive to run per kW than the most cost-effective form of electric central heating, night storage heaters. You also get 365 days of available boiling hot water from an E7 PartL night store system.

heating beginning with Q

Of course you can mention Dimplex Quantum by name, they are in my view the current most efficient future proof[ed] night store system available in the UK. Compared to their night store competitors they have better heat retention characteristics and are able to lose heat when not in use. Like Rionte [Rionte is +/- 0.025ºC] they have high levels of control and an electronic thermostat unlike most of their night store competitors who use electro-mechanical thermostats, these electronic thermostat are accurate to an impressive +/- 0.3ºC this smooths out temperature drift and gives much imporoved comfort levels.
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The Rionte system is all about this thermostat and its electronics, you should ask your electrician and anyone else what the length of warranty is. Then pin them down, a miserable 10 years on the aluminium and heating elements and a two year only on the electronics, ask them why Rionte only offer 2 years on the electronics of this very very expensive system. If the electronics go wrong the year after next all that money is screwed to the wall and useless to you.

At the end of the day its your money - you decide, for example your much more important considerations you have not mentioned are your needs, lifestyle and insulation values, these can and will change all decisions. An (1) individual with an uber insulated SAP 100 'A' dwelling at work 5 days might well be better off with Rionte - a (2) pensioner with an uber insulated SAP 100 'A' dwelling at home all day every day will be better off with a Rionte - a (3) pensioner or unemployed individual with an average UK insulated SAP 50 'C or D' dwelling at home all day every day will be better off with a Quantum.
Best of luck !

madonmanilow

Just to add a little about the performance of NSH from personal experience. I am replacing my 20 odd year old NSH heaters soon as they appear to have outrun their useful life and are not working properly. One seems to have a mind of its own and the other a faulty connection to the controls. However, whilst they do kick out heat at night which is not required I still find they are warm during the evening up until about 9-30 to 10.00. I keep the output on 1 until about 7 in the evening and then turn it up. Lots of the heat admittedly has by then dissipated but the property has been kept generally warm. For that reason I am going for the Dimplex CXLS range which has got a convector boost if required. I was tempted with the Quantum but it's still an bit of an unknown quantity and considerably more expensive. Will be interested to hear Quantum users views when they have had sufficient time to evaluate them. Whether my new heaters will prove any more efficient remains to be seen. Proof of the pudding etc.

Cardew

Richie-from-the-Boro wrote: »

Of course you can mention Rionte by name,

Or even Rointe.

Wouldn't want anyone 'Googling' Rointe to miss your post!