Holiday let heating

73Jonathan123

I am doing up a small cottage as a holiday let. It will have a solid fuel stove that when going will heat up the whole cottage. However I will also need to put in some other heating.

It is a very small two bedroom cottage. There is no gas or oil so electric is the only option.

I'm worried if I put in panel heaters that guests will take advantage and leave them on all the time, however I'm told that storage heaters are not really for bedrooms and can see why. No point in having them warm during the day. There is definately not room for a storage heater in the living room/kitchen area.

Ideas? Anyone know anything about getting a coin meter put in? Would that have to be done by the supplier or can it get wired in by an electrician?

Any advice - what have others done? What have others experienced in holiday lets that have a solid fuel stove?

System

73Jonathan123 wrote: »

Anyone know anything about getting a coin meter put in? Would that have to be done by the supplier or can it get wired in by an electrician?

My wife and I take at least two cottage holidays per year. We wouldn't give a cottage listing with a coin meter a second look.

Cardew

Agree with the above - if you put in coin meters it immediately relegates the cottage to cheap and nasty!

lstar337

73Jonathan123 wrote: »

I'm worried if I put in panel heaters that guests will take advantage and leave them on all the time

This will likely happen. People are a lot more generous with heat when they are not footing the bill.

lstar337

In a lot of places I have been, they have a system whereby a 'sensible' amount of electric is bundled with the holiday, but holidaymakers are required to pay for any extra usage which is deemed excessive.

It would be up to you to decide the threshold for this, but make it fair because nobody should be cold in their holiday home.

In most of the places I have stayed, they take any money for extra usage from a security deposit. That being said, I have never been charged so I guess I have always been within the threshold.

Maybe this is something to consider.

Cardew

I think you have to weigh the potential loss on wasted electricity against the potential loss in rental income.


A 1kw heater left on 24/7 will cost around £20 a week. Some of that £20 will be justified expenditure and it will only be the odd tenant that will leave a heater on 24/7.

Richie-from-the-Boro

Sorry 73Jonathan123, there's a difference between success and failure and you are doomed from the start, you might be comfortable in 16°C I want 22°C and I thought that's what I paid you for. So I will take it from you in just the same underhanded way you chose to take it from me. Then I'll sue for a full refund & damages for ruining my holiday.

I put in panel heaters that guests will take advantage and leave them on all the time

- they would, and I certainly would if heating was needed, and ;
- if a panel heater was not in the property I'd buy one from Argos or LiDL for £20 and leave it on 24/7 !
- in other words I treat you like you chose to treat me !

No point in having them warm during the day

- no heating during the day means cold renters, exactly what service should they expect ?
- a no heating advert - avoid like a plague - conveniently no mention of heating - avoid like a plague or sue later for misleading advertising

footyguy

73Jonathan123 wrote: »

I am doing up a small cottage as a holiday let. It will have a solid fuel stove that when going will heat up the whole cottage. However I will also need to put in some other heating.

It is a very small two bedroom cottage. There is no gas or oil so electric is the only option.

I'm worried if I put in panel heaters that guests will take advantage and leave them on all the time, however I'm told that storage heaters are not really for bedrooms and can see why. No point in having them warm during the day. There is definately not room for a storage heater in the living room/kitchen area.

Ideas? Anyone know anything about getting a coin meter put in? Would that have to be done by the supplier or can it get wired in by an electrician?

Any advice - what have others done? What have others experienced in holiday lets that have a solid fuel stove?

Regarding storage heaters, I don't know who gave you that advice and I feel you don't really understand the purpose of storage heaters.

Storage heaters are not designed for use in individual rooms, but rather as a heating system for the whole property. Afterall, if you only heat one room, as soon as you open the door to that room, all the heat will quickly disappear.

I don't really think you can call your living room a living room if there is not even enough room to put a storage heater in it. Modern ones are not very big at all.

You'll need to think carefully about what you are offering and when. You say this is a holiday home, but if you are letting it other than in summer it's going to need some form of heating.
So then you need to decide are you going to charge customers for this energy directly, ort just throw it in with the overall hire cost.

If you expect to charge cuistomers extra for energy they use, then as others say that may put off some types of client, especially if it's a coin operated meter. Perhaps consider just going by meter readings, but that may be problematic if you are not around. But then again, surely you will have someone (maybe an agent or just a local friend) to check in & check out customers - otherwise a bit of overused electricity may be the least of your worries.

Ultimately, it depends on the type of customer you are willing to attract, but if you are expecting them to pay for their electricity as an extra, it sounds like you are looking to attract customers on a budget, and they too may think twice if the only form of heating available is high cost oil or peak electricity (assuming they are renting during a period heating is required)

Finally what are you hoping to do during off peak, winter periods when the property is vacant? Leave it to freeze? What about warming it up for arriving guests?

I think you need to give all these matters more thought, especially the cost associated with this.

barbedhook

I went in a chalet with a coin operate electricity meter the owner left us £20 of credit on the meter and told us it would last for our stay. It was in September so quite chilly on a night we had a small stove like electric heater in the living room an electric oil filled radiator in the bedroom a wall mounted heater in the bathroom there was another electric radiator in the other bedroom which we dident use .we stayed for 4 nights and at the end of our stay there was still nearly £9 left on the meter .all the appliances had thermostats on so they knocked on and off .we dident find it a problem at all and have been back since.

jay1181

Hi you nee to look into fitting a prepay key meter which is connected after the real meter. If you call an electrical fitting company that deals with business etc they will understand what you require.

This key meter would be lets say (topped up) by use by using your pc/laptop or (your own card tokens ) to put in a reasonable amount of credit to last the stay of your guests. Say 30 pounds or so.

When this credit runs out they will no longer be able to use the extra electric heaters but all other circuits will still be live eg fridge freezer etc. This will stop most guests from running up a bill but wont stop the some that bring their own heaters with them.

In that case putting the key/token meter on before all circuits would solve the problem.
Most guest will never know its there but if they do run out then you would need to reset it to give them more.

We have this system in out temporary let house that is let for emergency from the councils in our area. I decide to put on 30 on to it so that the people that are there for less than a week don't run up massive debts for us to pay. I could just put in a real prepay meter from my energy supplier but then i would have to have the meter rest every time there was a problem. In that house we have the real meter then it goes into my prepay meter then to the circuit board. Hope this helps

Or you could just use the coin meter in the same way but load the credit before the guests arrive. I see the coin meters are really cheap on ebay.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RDL-M100-DUAL-COIN-1-2-DIGITAL-PREPAYMENT-ELECTRIC-METER-100AMP-/151065454276?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item232c33e6c4

System

You sound like a very greedy person, not letting people be warm. I if i had booked at yr place i would buy a cheap electric heater. I wonder how much you are renting this holiday home for, you should make room for storage heaters in the property.

If its well insulated it should be fine