Electric Central Heating

Daryl-

Hello,

Hoping the kind people on here can offer up some advice. Im a new flat owner (bought) whom currently has only electric in the flat, with storage heaters and economy 7 being my source of heating at the moment.

The trusted family plummer has come around and said how inefficient they are (they appear rather old, 30 year old flat and not known whether they have been updated) so recommended putting in a central heating system that runs off electric and powers radiators throughout the flat. The pipework would be against my walls, so would be disturbing the neighbours before people worry.

Basically, he has not given me a cost yet, but assuming it would be a few grand so wanted to know whether its worth it in the long run? Would it be more efficient to use? Would it increase the resale value of the flat?

I get as a whole that a central system is more convenient as you dont have to be a damn weather man and predict whether it will be cold the next day, but essentially is it a wise investment? I trust his opinion, though more never hurt!

Like I said, this a whole new game to me, so any help would be appreciated!

Thanks.

Owain_Moneysaver

No.

An electric boiler will use peak rate electricity which costs about 3 times as much as off-peak Economy 7.

You will have the disadvantages of a wet central heating system (pipes, leaks etc) without the advantage of gas central heating (lower running cost).

Unless the plumber means a thermal store which can be heated with Economy 7 electricity -- but these still have the disadvantage of wet central heating, and thermal stores are not used in flats often as they're very bulky. They also have a high initial cost on top of the cost of pipes and radiators.

If you want to update your storage heaters to new ones then you can get new ones from about £350 upwards.

Daryl-

Thank you for the reply.

Apologies, its my fault, I should have added that if i were to get these installed I would switch from Economy 7 to a normal tariff. I understand what you said though im not sure if this would change things?

If i were to opt to simply upgrade storage heaters, are there any particular brands that should be considered first?

Thanks again.

southcoastrgi

I disagree with Owain, storage heaters are a pita, unless you want to get the new really expensive ones, if you had gas you wouldn't even be asking this question, you will prob only need a 6 or 9 kW electric boiler which is no more powerful than an electric shower, imo it will benefit you & make it more sellable with a wet heating system

brightontraveller

Daryl- wrote: »

Hello,

Hoping the kind people on here can offer up some advice. Im a new flat owner (bought) whom currently has only electric in the flat, with storage heaters and economy 7 being my source of heating at the moment.

The trusted family plummer has come around and said how inefficient they are (they appear rather old, 30 year old flat and not known whether they have been updated) so recommended putting in a central heating system that runs off electric and powers radiators throughout the flat. The pipework would be against my walls, so would be disturbing the neighbours before people worry.

Basically, he has not given me a cost yet, but assuming it would be a few grand so wanted to know whether its worth it in the long run? Would it be more efficient to use? Would it increase the resale value of the flat?

I get as a whole that a central system is more convenient as you dont have to be a damn weather man and predict whether it will be cold the next day, but essentially is it a wise investment? I trust his opinion, though more never hurt!

Like I said, this a whole new game to me, so any help would be appreciated!

Thanks.

Plumber is misleading you heat by storage heater is same as of heat produced by wet system etc efficiency is the same ? The cost may vary due to price of commodity ?

Underfloor heating wet/dry is more "efficient" than conventional radiator type systems / storage heaters etc If efficiency is what your after that’s what you should go for ?

Cost wise electric extremely expensive £30 -50 per week to run compared to gas storage heaters? Gas will pay about 4p / kWh. electricity (also in kWh) about 15p / kWh. or more dependent on tariff ?

Personally would tell him to sod off if you cant get conventional gas think calour system?
Some boilers use either conventional gas or calour so if gas is not in your area but maybe later date it’s a thought going calour ?
(They were offering free installation materials and labor for above ground tanks might be worth checking it out but think its due to finish soon? )

I;d say electric wet central heating would'nt increase value? mains gas not being in the area anyone buying there wouldn’t expect it ? Unlike area were all homes had gas central heating and your's didnt ?

Furts

My view is somewhat at a tangent. OP has purchased a flat knowing it had Economy 7 storage heaters and was happy to go ahead with the purchase. It is probable OP never said "I am paying less for this flat because it has storage heaters". Equally I doubt OP said to the vendors "If you had radiators I would be offering you another £5000 for this flat".

So why fix something that is not broken? The storage heaters work, they are reliable, they have few moving parts, and they have a long life.

The sustainable, environmental and money saving option is to leave them as they are and allocate any spare cash to something more worthwhile. Alternatively invest this money and draw off it should components need to be repaired or replaced.

Hope this helps.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

modern storage heaters,



will look better than the older ones,



but the older ones will be just as efficient, and not much to go wrong with them.

Jonesya

What's the problem with your existing E7 storage heaters?

On pure efficiency, wet central heating is no better than what you've already got.

Ignore the wet bit, all your doing is replacing storage heaters with instantaneous heaters and using an expensive wet system for moving the heat around.

If you do want instantaneous heaters you'd probably find you can get the same result by changing your existing storage heaters to normal electric heaters, and at a fraction of the cost of installing wet central heating.

EssexExile

[Deleted User] wrote:

Hi,

modern storage heaters,



will look better than the older ones,



but the older ones will be just as efficient, and not much to go wrong with them.

You must really young if you think that heater is old!

[Deleted User]

Hi,

EssexExile wrote: »

You must really young if you think that heater is old!

aye, I wish.

you thinking of this type?

EssexExile

Getting there!