New heating .. bit boring, sorry.

gemmaj

Hello. I'm having building work done and will need to heat an open plan room with 2 conservatory walls (old double glazing, not argon). I don't think my night storage heaters will manage.

Finding it very hard to get impartial advice. Currently looking at electric wet central heating, specifically Heatstor / Ecostor (a local thing, I think). Tariff at the mo would be E12 at 7p /unit or an 18hr tariff at 8p /unit.

Gas is 18.5p /unit, or 13p /unit plus 33p /day. Can't get oil - nowhere for a tank.

Q1) Am I right in saying you can - more or less - directly compare gas to electric, so gas would be a lot more expensive?

Q2) Does electric wet central sound OK, or at least not a disaster?

PS: I'm not in the UK if my prices per unit look weird.

Andy_WSM

Wow! Gas is expensive in Guernsey! Guess that's LPG? When you say a "unit" are you referring to both in kWh?

In your case I would maybe look at electric radiators over an electric wet system. Electric heating is generally very reliable. Wet systems can be a load of bother when they get older - and of course you will get system losses in the pipework, which you won't with electric radiators.

Pincher

Heat pumps?

gemmaj

Had to google .... " a manufactured Liquid Petroleum Gas/Air mixture (LPG/Air)." so yes - LPG.

Must admit my builders told me to go with electric radiators by Haverland. Assuming they can go on the 18hour tariff then the longest I would be without heat would be 2 hours. Would a poorly insulated room be OK for 2 hours with only residual heat?

The Heatstor is a combi-boiler if that makes a difference.

I can't find a definition for a gas unit, but for electric "1 unit = 1 kWh". No idea how one measures gas!

gemmaj

Yes, can't say for sure but the gas I think is 1 unit = 1 kWh. Which rules out gas!

So....

Electric Rads or an electric combi-boiler driving 'wet' radiators?

gemmaj

Sorry, pincher, not ignoring you! The company which does heatstor also do air-source and ground-source heatpumps, and they told me the heatstor would be better. No idea why, mind.

Andy_WSM

gemmaj wrote: »

Yes, can't say for sure but the gas I think is 1 unit = 1 kWh. Which rules out gas!

So....

Electric Rads or an electric combi-boiler driving 'wet' radiators?

If you've narrowed it down to those 2 options, why have the complication of "wet"?
Electric radiators have the same "feel" as wet radiators and with decent timers & thermostats are arguably more controllable.

If the room can't withstand a few hours with no heat I'd be seriously concerned about heating it at all!

I guess being on Guernsey though is different to mainland UK in that you don't have the potential for weeks of cold, icy, snowy weather?

gemmaj

Thanks Andy_SWM - sounds like good advice. Shall look further at rads. I'm hoping the room will be reasonably insulated (replacing conservatory roof with flat roof and argon filled lantern) but must admit I don't have a clue.

Luckily no to weeks of snow, but recently we seem to have a good few snow days every winter. When I was a kid it was rare, only every few years, now it seems annual

Pincher

You have the option of peak-time boost using gas.

Having a thermal store (hot water) cylinder in combination with a wet central heating system means you can direct the heat to the rooms you want, by switching the TRV on/off, WHEN you want it.

Traditional storage heaters are not flexible. You have to plan ahead whether you want to the use the room the night before.

So, get as big a thermal store as you can fit in, with multiple heat inputs, and sensor pockets to match (for on/off control). Obviously you heat up the thermal store overnight with off peak electricity. During the day, or simply when it's extra cold, hit the boost button to switch on the LPG gas boiler, assuming LPG is cheaper than peak electricity.

Check out under floor heating and hydronic fanned radiators.
The fanned radiators can be high mounted, freeing up wall space for bookshelves, etc. I love them.

The split air-conditioning units (heat pump) that provide heat and cold are very quiet these days.

rogerblack

Quality air-air heatpumps can be _considerably_ more economic than gas.
Even normal gas - never mind LPG!
NEVER trust a recommendation from a company that is going to profit from it, without details as to why.

Several questions arise.
Is this new construction?
If so - it may be required to be well insulated - to pass building regs.
Are you solely looking to heat one room that you will rarely use - or is this the only room you will live in?
If you have more than one room - what's the existing heating, and how much do you use a year for heating?
http://www.orionairsales.co.uk/toshiba-air-conditioning-ras-b10skvp-25kw--8250btu-inverter-490-p.asp - this acts like a fan heater - but is about 1/5th of the cost to run.