Electric Heating

Ianwzzz

I have just purchased a property that I will be using as a holiday let. The property is all electric and at the moment the heating is by portable electric heaters. I want to install electric wall heaters with some sort of thermostat.

Can anyone please give me some advice on the best type and most efficient to run as I have never had an all electric property before.

HappyMJ

The one's in hotels that I've stayed in require a keycard to be inserted into a switch which turns the power on. If the occupant leaves the property they take the keycard and the heater turns off preventing wasted energy usage. You can also cancel the keycard remotely and they can't get back in if they don't return the keycard and they can't copy the key.

I'd get a few lowish power one. A 1kW heater per room would be okay. It'll give out enough heat at a fairly low cost.

Ianwzzz

Thanks for your reply.
If I put a 1kw heater in each room, isn't that the same as saying put a 600mm * 1000mm radiator in every room if I had a gas central heating system?
Wouldn't some rooms be hot and some cold depending on the size of the room?

27col

There is no best type and they are all 100% efficient.
You just need to buy one with a built in thermostat.
But there is no way that you can seriously expect to exert any control over the amount of usage they get.
You will just have to price the rentals assuming the worst. Or arrange to have them on a separate prepayment meter which the renter can top up as required.

Jonesya

Before you go installing heaters you ought to consider the electrical supplies.

Electric heated properties normally have dedicated circuits for supplying room heaters because when you add them all up they are a large load and if they were all plugged into the normal socket circuit they would over-load it, with risk of damage/fire.

PheoUK

Agreed RE the electricity supplies - you should ensure that is checked by a competent person.

Onto the electric panel heaters. These are easy to obtain. Dimplex make a range which has the option of adding a "landlord" controller, only allowing the heating to be turned on for a set time period: https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/DXRXRBTI.html

This can also be added as a separate item in the pattress box for the radiator.

casper_g

Look into heating controls with occupancy sensing as well as thermostatic control. I've rented holiday homes with such systems which reduce the set temperature when there's nobody home, and it seemed to make more sense than a timer in the context as every renter will have a different routine. I'm not sure how widely available these are though.