storage heaters/electric central heating or gas?

moneymabel

Hi all, luckily I found this thread while looking into those gel/ clay filled heaters- won't be bothering with them now- thanks Cardew!!
Situation is- we live in a mobile home , no gas supply- it's double glazed and has a proper slate roof so holds heat quite well. At the moment the only heating is a wood/coal burning stove which is great when it's really cold but way too hot at this time of year. What I would like is some sort of alternative heating in the living room, bedroom and bathroom. Would it be an idea just to buy cheap plug in heaters with thermostats and put them on timers? We work during the day so really it would be a couple of hours in the morning so it's warm when we get up and then in the evenings. If it's freezing then the coal fire would be lit instead.
Any ideas/ help welcomed.

Katie-Kat-Kins

Cardew wrote: »

As you sent me a PM, just to endorse the reply from amtrakuk above.

The really important point to note is that whatever form of electrical heating you get, the heat produced will cost exactly the same!

The choice is between rapid heating with no residual heat(e.g fan heater) or slower heat output with some residual heat(e.g. oil filled radiator)

I suggest a £30 fan heater would suffice for the use you require.

Cardew's advice is spot on BUT if your children are young you might wish to wall mount the fan heater for safety's sake. They are a fire risk if they get covered and obviously shouldn't come into contact with water. With primary school age kids I would think there would be a significant risk of spilt liquid or of things being dropped/put down in such a way that they cover the heater. Wall mount it above kiddie height for peace of mind!

EagerLearner

Hello all, we are in process of purchasing a 1930's 3 bed terraced place that currently has Economy 7 heaters, so looking to get GCH in. I hate being cold, and also know that when we come to sell people do expect GCH.

We know this will cost around £3,500 plus VAT, to include combi boiler, radiators and wireless thermostat.
Can anyone tell me if most engineers quote/give estimates based on the pipes being hidden (for removing carpet, laying pipes under etc), or is it standard to quote for exposed pipes and then add more for extra work?
Also given this thread has not been used too much this year, is there a particular type of GCH system I should look at that is green & well regarded?

If you could play devils' advocate, if you were the vendor and had lived there 20 years why in that time would you not install GCH, apart from the cost? Also we have seen 2 dehumidifiers at the property on the 2nd visit, which we think they may have forgotten to hide...

Many thanks.

simon3030

We have a 1960's three bed detached house, in a village with no gas, so have Economy 7 storage heaters and an immersion heater, backed up by a coal fire & back boiler for cold days. Double glazed, cavity wall and loft insulation all more than 13 years old (loft topped up a few years ago with a grant). We are thinking of putting in 'proper' (better and hopefully cheaper to run) central heating - may be a wet system, but need some advice or thoughts on whether to go for LPG or oil, or may be even electric thermal store type water heater/storage (is Thermaflow a decent example) - has any one any experience of these or where to go for best technical advice?
I currently pay around £1600 for all electricity on EDF online tarriff.

Ada3050

I can't help with central heating advice but I can give you my 2 peneth on storage rads.

I live in a 30's terrace with storage heating and had a quote last year for GCH which came in at £4500. I umed and arred over the benefits compared to my storage rads and concluded that for 9-10 months of the year my house is plenty warm enough. Its only in this cold weather that perhaps GCH would be nice, but then I remember that my storage rads only cost me £100 15yrs ago and never go wrong.

Its personal choice what we have to heat our homes, but for all the cost and upheaval it would cause me to change now I will stick with storage rads.

If I were starting again I would look at GCH for sure and loads more insulation to go with it.

EagerLearner wrote: »

If you could play devils' advocate, if you were the vendor and had lived there 20 years why in that time would you not install GCH, apart from the cost? Also we have seen 2 dehumidifiers at the property on the 2nd visit, which we think they may have forgotten to hide...

Many thanks.

mneil

we have had dimplex XLSN economy storage heaters now for 20+years in our 3 bed semi and cannot give them enough praise. our house is always warm, something that is commented on always by our friends who wish their gas central heating was as good. our son has just moved into a terraced house with gas central heating. my wife went to stay over christmas and noted that as long as the central heating was on the house was warm but within hours of it being switched off the house turned into a fridge. needless to say she was very happy to return to our own house.
our radiators do not loose their heat by the evening; they have two rotary knobs; one for the heat setting and the other operates a shutter to let out the heat. we tend to have the shutter closed during the day and only opening it for the evenings.
they are fantastic! i found this forum whilst looking for an installer to fit economy 7 heating into my sons house, any suggestions as i am struggling? he lives in stoke on trent.

Senora

Well, have just ploughed through all the postings and would ask the following: does anyone have opinions on the Credanet Central Heating
System?

We have recently moved into an apartment which is all electric (no gas in the building) on E7 with Scottish Power - I think we have managed to set the central controller correctly, it allows up to 3 temperature/time settings per day for each zone which at the moment is adequate for our needs. We have one problem with the heater in the hallway which during the early hours when it is supposed to be charging, it is extremely hot.

We had a storage heater engineer visit who told us that the credanet system was no good (mainly because he had no experience of it I think) and suggested just replacing the heater with a manual storage heater. He also said that when Credanet came 'on' during the day it was using dayrate electricity and not stored heat as we understood ! We do not seem to be able to get correct information so any advice from you all would be gratefully received.

boobious

I am just about to lease a retail property for the purpose of opening a beauty salon which has no gas in the building, so i dont have a choice between gas or electric, can anyone advise me as to what is my cheapest option is , to heat and also to supply hot water to two showers and about 4 hand basins. I have looked at undersink heaters for the water? I need something that is the most cost effective to run. As at this stage I dont know if this venture will sink or swim so i dont want to intially spend a lot of money putting a system in. I need to balance it between running costs and set up costs. and if the business does ok i can look at maybe getting a better (more expensive?) system when i have the funds. Any help or advice will be gratefully received.

paceinternet

If you have the space:
Consider getting a quote for an indirect hot water tank piped to the basins and showers. But initially use 1 or 2 immersion heaters in the tank depending on your water usage.
Then if it is successful there may be other ways of heating the water in the future using the indirect coil. Such as air to water heat pump, solar, whatever.

Compare it with individual direct electrical heaters, but you will need the electrician to advise what current your supply can provide to make this viable.

Overall, the running cost may not be too much different while it is all directly electrically powered.

Katie-Kat-Kins

boobious wrote: »

I am just about to lease a retail property for the purpose of opening a beauty salon which has no gas in the building, so i dont have a choice between gas or electric, can anyone advise me as to what is my cheapest option is , to heat and also to supply hot water to two showers and about 4 hand basins. I have looked at undersink heaters for the water? I need something that is the most cost effective to run. As at this stage I dont know if this venture will sink or swim so i dont want to intially spend a lot of money putting a system in. I need to balance it between running costs and set up costs. and if the business does ok i can look at maybe getting a better (more expensive?) system when i have the funds. Any help or advice will be gratefully received.

Well storage heaters will be your cheapest form of heating to run if you can get an E7 meter. You will also be able to use them at their best as you will be there all day when they are hot and not there in the evening when they are cool, but they will cost you a bit to install, so might be better managing with some portable panel heaters to begin with......