Electric heating system

surfchick106

Hi,

Was after some advice - we are in the middle of purchasing our first home (yay) but where we are buying there is no mains gas supply - so we are looking at electric heating system throughout the house. I was wondering if anyone had any advice or experience in having this kind of heating - avoiding the use of traditional storage heaters - being the most cost effective/sustainable means. Have researched alot of German product online but some first hand experience advice from someone would be much appreciated. Our budget is not huge being our first home but want to get it right and am prepared to spend a bit more to get it right. We will have 3 bedrooms, 2 living/dining room, and a kitchen with part conservatory.

Thank you.

penrhyn

The most cost effective solution without looking at heat pumps would be storage heaters.

Richie-from-the-Boro

surfchick106 wrote: »

. Have researched a lot of German product online but some first hand experience advice from someone would be much appreciated.

- is a vague description for a product comparison
- if you put your own word >German< in the search bar at the TRHS of this forum
- and read the first half dozen or so searches, then come back with your questions
- your eventual answer will be more than twice the upfront costs and more than twice the running costs
- a night store kW is half the price of a day rate kW, night store will always be half the price [ish]

This group are well aware of every maker and UK distributor of 'infrared' heating panels.

Cardew

surfchick106 wrote: »

Have researched alot of German product online but some first hand experience advice from someone would be much appreciated. .

As suggested above you should search MSE about these 'German' heaters filled with clay and other exotic materials.

The only important fact that should emerge from your research is that their claims should be taken with a pinch of salt.

It cannot be repeated often enough that ALL electrical heaters give out EXACTLY the same amount of heat for the same running costs. It doesnt matter if it is a £10 fan heater, a £20 oil filled radiator or a £1,000+ radiator filled with any substance known to mankind(and cases made from any material) they are all 100% efficient.

Many of these firms have fallen foul of the Advertising Standards Authority so they now carefully word their adverts to imply they are cheaper to run - but they ain't!

You asking for someone with experience of the heaters, will usually get a response from a vested interest.

Whilst storage heating is the cheapest solution for running costs, they clearly do have disadvantages. However if you do intend to get panel heaters/electrical radiators then do not fall for the claims of these companies. Firms like Dimplex etc have reasonable priced solutions.

southerndave

We have and ALL electric house and it is the warmest and most cost effective house I have ever lived in.

We have old 70s night storage heaters which I 'overhauled' myself (they are very simple things), which included spray painting them with radiator paint to make them modern in appearance and to blend into our decor. They work perfectly and are cheap as chips to run.

The only downside is the need to keep and eye on the weather to decided how many and when to have them on, and in the spring/autumn when it is warm during the day but there is a nip in the air at night. During these times we either add a layer of clothing (the cheapest heating of all!) or we have a portable oil filled radiator which we put on for an hour just to take the edge off.

3-bed house, three people, ALL electric and we spend an average of around £100 month on bills running the usual appliances like dishwasher, washing machine, etc. We are on Economy7 and can run these at night as well to save even more.

Storage heaters are brilliant if managed well and set-up right. Modern ones with convectors in the top remove the need for any other heating as the convector cures the problem seasons of spring and autumn giving you instant heat when required. Check out the known brands like Dimplex.

surfchick106

Hi, thank you for your responses, will have a look now at the other threads you have suggested thank you.
Southerndave - thank you so much for your comments, your first hand experience and advice is great, the heaters that are in the house currently are the ones like you have described, the building is an old cottage with very thick stone walls so it holds the heat of the day in it quite efficiently.

Thank you again everyone.

Fire_Fox

Electric underblanket with overnight setting on the bed, electric overblanket on the sofa, cost pennies to run.

macman

Oil CH will probably be the next cheapest option if no mains gas is available, but obviously a much greater capital outlay than storage heaters. It will however add value to the property, as full CH always does.
Fischer heaters (and the like) are just convectors with a deliberately misleading marketing strategy targeting the well-off elderly and vulnerable, and a horrendous price tag to go with it-the mark up on these things is 1000% plus.
Did you not wonder why they never publish any prices online (despite boasting how their heaters just plug into a 13A socket, and so ought to be available for purchase and self install)?
You only get a quote following a home 'survey', which gives the rep the chance to apply high pressure sales tactics, assess your naivety, and then price them up accordingly.

lemon26

Good afternoon! We moved to our all electric house in the Hebrides just over a year ago and have just got our first electricity bill, which is for a year, so this might be useful to you?

We're on economy 7 with nPower and have used:

Day: 2292 kWh at 15.17p and 15.4p per kWh (+VAT)
Night: 11952 kWh at 5.85 and 7.04p per kWh (+VAT)

They changed the price 7 months into the year...

I replaced our old Dimplex storage heaters with new ones as they didin't seem to be holding the heat too well and had definately seen better days. We fitted heaters by a company called Elnur who were vastly cheaper than getting Dimplex and offered a longer guarantee (5 years).

By the way, there's two of us, and whilst I try to get up and shower before the Eco7 period runs out, the better half doesn't and showers and dries her hair in peak times. We also do all of our washing, tumble drying, phone / ipod / laptop charging during the Eco7 period. We have 3 x 3.4kWh and 2 x 2.55kWh automatic storage heaters, the house is 150 years old with solid stone walls and it's usually very windy here...

With the old heaters we had them on 'full' they didn't seem too effective. With teh new ones we have never had any of them on higher than 3 (out of 5) and most of the time they are on 1 or 2 and we're toasty warm. Hope this is of some use.

surfchick106

Some great advice thank you Lemon26! We are at the other end of the scale, as far down in Cornwall as you can pretty much get. But thank you for your breakdown and advice, I will have a look at that company right away thanks for the tip, and the tips on charging/using the electric when its at its cheapest - logical really but my partner will be working from home so this will have to be a factor to think in. Many thanks again.

lemon26

Hi Surfchick! I used to live in Cornwall (Helston) about 8 years ago - beautiful part of the country but very busy in the summer.

One final possible thing to look at is getting an 'automatic' model, which, until someone more knowledgeable comes along, basically has a temperature sensor which measures the room temperature before deciding how much electricity to take depending on how you've set the input.

To be honest, I don't think there'll be too much between different manufacturers, we only went with Elnur as we could get them much cheaper, I can't rememeber where we bought them from as it was online, but their customer service has been top notch - on front piece arrived scratched, two days later a new one arrived by courier.