Electric heaters

paieye

We need to install wall-mounted electric heaters in our flat. We are out all day.

Any suggestions ?

rogerblack

Essentially all heaters will cost the same to run - apart from storage heaters which charge up at night.
Do you have existing heating?
Peak rate electricity is a very expensive means of heating.

paieye

No, the only heating at present is by free-standing electric heaters, either fan or oil-filled. There is a gas-supply, though, and we could use gas-fired heaters, if that were to be a better choice.

Jib111

paieye wrote: »

No, the only heating at present is by free-standing electric heaters, either fan or oil-filled. There is a gas-supply, though, and we could use gas-fired heaters, if that were to be a better choice.

If you can afford it you should install Gas Central Heating rather than electric heating, as already said it can be very expensive to run.

Obviously we don't know who owns the flat/has the right to make such decisions.

lstar337

If you must use electric heating, get storage heaters, they will save you a bundle.

paieye

Thank you all for your comments.

We are entitled to make whatever alterations we wish to the flat, so far as they do not impinge on other flats. The hot water is already heated centrally for all of the flats, so we are not looking for water-heating.

As regards room-heating, I think that installing a boiler will be too disruptive, and that, whatever energy-source we use, we shall be committed to individual wall-mounted heaters. Is there any gas-fired equivalent of the electric version. If so, can any of them be recommended.

Night storage would not be suitable -- we are out all day.

lstar337

paieye wrote: »

Night storage would not be suitable -- we are out all day.

What difference does that make?

I don't think you understand storage heating.

We are out most of the day too. The storage heater lets out a small amount of heat during the day just to keep the room ticking over. You can open them up to release more in the evening, but we never bother as the room is always warm enough.

If the room is cold all night and day, it will take a long time and use a lot of electric for a convector heater to make the room comfortable.

Storage heaters on economy 7 are the cheapest, most effective way to heat a building using electric.

The only Gas alternative that I know of are portable heaters that run on Calor. These are very expensive to run!

paieye

Aha, I had not understood that. I shall look into economy7, and thank you for the suggestion.

lstar337

paieye wrote: »

Aha, I had not understood that. I shall look into economy7, and thank you for the suggestion.

I dont want to look like I am promoting Dimplex here, but if I was starting from scratch, this what I would buy: http://quantumheating.co.uk/

There are many other brands of storage heater too, but make sure you get ones with automatic charge control.

rogerblack

lstar337 wrote: »

I dont want to look like I am promoting Dimplex here, but if I was starting from scratch, this what I would buy: http://quantumheating.co.uk/

There are many other brands of storage heater too, but make sure you get ones with automatic charge control.

As an alternative.
I note that the energy market is set for a massive change over the next dozen years or so.
It seems likely that a much, much larger fraction of properties will be able to be on tariffs where they are able to use their 'smart meter' to dynamically reduce demand by automatically switching on/off various appliances.

This implies that 'night rates' - may be on the way out, from an economic perspective.
(If the government acts to keep them, is a separate question)

If I was contemplating any form of electric heating at the moment, I'd be strongly considering air-air heat pumps.

http://www.orionairsales.co.uk/toshiba-air-conditioning-ras-b10skvp-25kw--8250btu-inverter-490-p.asp (for example)
This is £900 for a 3kW heat output heat pump.

When run, this will use about 700W.

If I was to install this at the moment.
It would cost about £900.
It would produce heat for 2.4p/kWh.
A comparable night storage heater would cost me about 3p/kWh.

However, the advantage of the heat pump is that there is no wasted heat, whereas with storage heaters, 10-50% (depending on settings, technology, your lifestyle) may be wasted.
This may make storage considerably more expensive to run.

The storage heater will end up at a little under half the price though, and has less maintenance concerns, or installation, and will clearly be quieter. (though the above is not loud)

lstar337

rogerblack wrote: »

As an alternative.
I note that the energy market is set for a massive change over the next dozen years or so.
It seems likely that a much, much larger fraction of properties will be able to be on tariffs where they are able to use their 'smart meter' to dynamically reduce demand by automatically switching on/off various appliances.

This implies that 'night rates' - may be on the way out, from an economic perspective.
(If the government acts to keep them, is a separate question)

If I was contemplating any form of electric heating at the moment, I'd be strongly considering air-air heat pumps.

http://www.orionairsales.co.uk/toshiba-air-conditioning-ras-b10skvp-25kw--8250btu-inverter-490-p.asp (for example)
This is £900 for a 3kW heat output heat pump.

When run, this will use about 700W.

If I was to install this at the moment.
It would cost about £900.
It would produce heat for 2.4p/kWh.
A comparable night storage heater would cost me about 3p/kWh.

However, the advantage of the heat pump is that there is no wasted heat, whereas with storage heaters, 10-50% (depending on settings, technology, your lifestyle) may be wasted.
This may make storage considerably more expensive to run.

The storage heater will end up at a little under half the price though, and has less maintenance concerns, or installation, and will clearly be quieter. (though the above is not loud)

Yes, an Air Source Heat pump is also a good option.

I don't agree that economy 7 will be phased out though. If anything smart meters will improve the situation, as storage heaters will be switched on/off dynamically by the grid for load balancing issues created by the use of intermittent renewable energy sources.

This is something the Quantum system above is specifically designed for, so it has a little future proofing built in.