storage heaters/electric central heating or gas?

Cardew

lucknnow wrote: »

My question to all you experts out there, please can someone suggest a more economical solution or am I stuck with this system and Scottish Hydro till forever?

Essentially it depends upon your circumstances.

For the amount of heat and Hot water you get for your money, you almost certainly have the most economical system.

HOWEVER

The problem with Storage heating is that it is not a convenient system to operate and, especially if you are out at work all day, a lot of heat during the day is wasted.

The two other electric heating solutions to consider are an Air Source Heat Pump(ASHP) but they cost a lot to install.

or

Just have normal 'panel heaters' running on a 24/7 'normal' tariff.

amtrakuk

beave wrote: »

Ok go easy guys as im a newbie here but have been reading all the threads regarding electric, gas oil heating etc etc , none of it really makes me want to decide which way to go which is my issue here .
Basically we own a 3 bed semi bungalow which only has an electric water boiler for heating , its hopelessly outdated and doesnt actually work so we rely on a woodburner for heating the place during the winter months . hot water isnt an issue as all the appliances we run creates its own hot water . Now we are looking for a move over to a new heating system as the wood burner just isnt good enough for the whole house . We live out in the wilds so have no direct mains gas we can hook up to . We were also looking at fitting an intelligent electric heating system from a firm called intelligent heat (i cant put links up for spam purposes) just for ease of doing so but after reading the threads on here im kind of wondering whether it would be cost effective . There are only 2 of us in the house and both work full time although im a subbie bricklayer so often get days off here and there especially during the winter months when heating would be needed the most . Now would this sort of system work for us or more importantly would it be cost effective for us over a fair period of time as say having a oil system fitted , taking into account the cost of oil, regular boiler servicing etc etc ive tried to take all the info in from this and other threads but i have complete system over load with all the advice given . We cant have a external gas tank fitted due to the nature of the garden and general area so thats out of the question and im not intrested in having storage heaters fitted so it can only be one of those 2 systems . There seems to be some very knowledgeable people on here so hopefully i might be able to get an answer to my qaundry as my brain has just gone into melt down . Many thanks for your help in advance

First of all Welcome!

About 3 or 4 years ago I got rid of gas in my house, prompted by a condemned combi boiler and getting ridiculous quotes for it to be exchanged. After doing some homework and doing the maths of 'Cost of ownership of a gas combi boiler I realised I could use allot of electric therefore making electricity a viable option for me. So I looked at what options were available, I could have gone for a posh system with all the bells and whistles but as Cardew once said all forms of electric heating costs the same to run (with the exception of heat pumps), be it a 3 bar electric fire, a cheap 3Kw convection heater or one of the posh systems with all the bells and whistles. From personal experience it all depends on how you want the heat to be generated.

I started off with a sparky coming round putting electric points in the house for the heaters and hung cheap 2 & 3Kw thermostatically controlled convection heaters I got from Argos on the wall. I was mainly out the house and when I came home wanted to flick a switch and allot of heat to be generated quickly. This was ideal as it warmed the rooms very quickly and the thermostats clicked on and off keeping the room at the set temperature.

Now I work at home allot of the time I now have Glen 2158 (1.2Kw) oil filled radiators on the wall. As they heat the room slower I keep them on medium all the time preventing the room getting cold in the first place. Only if it gets very cold do I turn up the thermostat to high, when going to bed or going out I return the thermostat to its medium setting. I know this sounds expensive to run but monitoring when the heaters thermostat turns on and off I worked out the heater is actually heating the oil inside itself for 20 minutes every hour. On the basis Im paying 6.13p/Kwh means each heater is using 2.45p/hour or 58p a day per heater.

Moral of the tale - Don't get drawn into the advertising about expensive systems costing hundred of pounds saying there system is cheaper to run. Sometimes the cheapest of options work just as well.

debtfreeoneday

Hi, I'm after some advice if possible.. Similar to some of the posts above, we are in an area with no gas, therefore our house currently has storage heaters downstairs and panel heaters upstairs.. Looking at the options open to us, it is just a minefield and I feel totally lost.

Looking at electric heating systems.. is there any real difference between gel filled and water filled systems? And are either of these cost effective??

What other options could we consider for heating the house?

Thanks

Cardew

debtfreeoneday wrote: »

Looking at electric heating systems.. is there any real difference between gel filled and water filled systems? And are either of these cost effective??

No difference at all in the amount of heat produced for the money.

If you use 10kWh costing, say, £1, then the heat produced from any electrical heating system will be exactly the same.

Radiators filled with gel, clay, oil, water, or a £10 fan heater, or Granny's old 1/2/3 bar fire - they all produce exactly the same heat.

The only difference is in the manner in which they produce that heat, either 'instant' with no residual heat. Or oil/gel filled radiators that retain heat longer - but are slower to produce heat.

There are all sorts of electrical systems being marketed that claim(or imply) that they produce more heat for your bucks - and they don't. That is not even open for discussion! if a salesman tells you they do produce more heat they are lying!!!!

Is any form of electrical heating cost effective? Not really - it is more expensive than oil and gas or electrical storage heating. However it is cheap to install(provided you don't get fooled into buying these stupidly priced systems) and instant heat is available.

P.S. Having storage heating downstairs and panel heating upstairs is the worst of both worlds. On an Economy 7 tariff you will be paying a lot more for the other 17 hours when you use panel heaters.

albyota

debtfreeoneday wrote: »

Hi, I'm after some advice if possible.. Similar to some of the posts above, we are in an area with no gas, therefore our house currently has storage heaters downstairs and panel heaters upstairs.. Looking at the options open to us, it is just a minefield and I feel totally lost.

Looking at electric heating systems.. is there any real difference between gel filled and water filled systems? And are either of these cost effective??

What other options could we consider for heating the house?

Thanks

1. Electric heating in the form of storage heaters running on economy 7 tariff, are 100% efficient and use off peak rate electric at 5p/kWh and store up the heat from 12 midnight or 1am through to 7 or 8 am, then slowly release the heat throughout the day, most heaters run out of heat during the early evening and therefore require peak rate boost heating.

2. Direct electric gel / oil filled / convector / fan heaters are also 100% efficient, but have no means of storing heat, and they will use peak rate electric at between 9p/kWh and 15p/kWh depending on your supplier/tariff, these are more controllable, very low cost to install, but expensive to run.

Air source (to water) heat pump (ASHP) with radiators will use electric at peak rate but are over 300% efficient, meaning for every 1kW of power needed to run the compressor, it will produce 3kW of heat, although the capital cost of installing the equipment, hot water cylinder and radiators is higher, the running costs are considerably lower.....

http://heating.mitsubishielectric.co.uk/files/library/files/ecodan/Casestudies/1955%20Home%20Needs%20Renewable.pdf

hope this helps


Sorry... forgot to mention cardews....'or Granny's old 1/2/3 bar fire'

Cardew

albyota wrote: »

Sorry... forgot to mention cardews....'or Granny's old 1/2/3 bar fire'

However Granny's fire is a genuine 'Belling' antique - complete with a 'living coal' plastic display. So will certainly not be cheap to buy!

But make me an offer;)

albyota

What like this?



those were the days......

Cardew

albyota wrote: »

What like this?



those were the days......

Please Albyota - give my Gran a bit of credit.

I don't think there is anyone of this forum who wouldn't recognise that as the 2 bar Adelphi - which incidentally does not have the 'living' coal display.

My Gran's is a 3 bar, not that cheap version above!!!

albyota

Forgive me cardew......I can be a pillock at times.....of course it is a 2 bar Adelphi, it was the plastic that through me, should have looked for the bakelite caps on the elements, I must carry out my research with closer attention to detail in future, please apologise to grannie for me!

debtfreeoneday

Thanks for the responses so far.. Much appreciated!