storage heater replacement

tomm156

hi,

I have just moved in to my new place and I am in the process of changing everything I don't like and doing the place up.

I want to get rid of the old storage heaters as I don't like the idea of having to plan when I want the heating on etc.

this has made me wonder about what I would like to replace them with. I will be re boarding and skimming all of the ceilings so I don't mind having to run pipes. I would also like to get away from the economy 7 tariff if possible.

where I live now there is no gas so it leaves me with the option of oil or gas bottles for central heating or some kind of electric panel heating. although I want something that will give me heat as quick as a central heating system.

has anyone been in the same posision and if so what did you end up going for?

many thanks

Tom

Lungboy

I just bought a house with storage heaters. We took them out and had gas piped into the house. I'd look into having a gas supply added if I were you.

girlsmum

My friend has just had infrared panel heaters installed, she thinks they are brilliant I have not had any experience of them myself
might be worth investigating as an option.

casper_g

he usual options if gas is not an option are either electric heating or an oil-fired boiler + radiators.

There is little advantage in having electric heating via radiators, as electric panel heaters will be more controllable (they can be switched on and off individually) and eliminate the single point of failure that a boiler presents.

You say you're keen"to get away from the economy 7 tariff" but why is this? If you have storage heaters Economy 7 usually makes sense as it's cheaper. Is your issue actually with the lack of control you get with the storage heaters, rather than Economy 7 itself?

macman

Take out E7, and with no mains gas option, the alternatives will all cost you about 300% more to heat and hot water the property. You really haven't thought this through.
Oh, and you'll also knock a few thousand off the value of the property, and make it harder to sell eventually.
Either learn how to control your existing NSH's, or if necessary update them, if old, with more modern and controllable ones.
Without E7, you'll be using standard rate electricity to heat all your hot water.

tomm156

Thanks for the replies,

The nearest gas main is about 6 miles out of the village so having gas is not really an option.

The reason for me not liking economy 7 is that I find the storage heaters are cold come the evening so I thought if I was on a normal tariff I could put the heating on as and when I needed to. Are new storage heaters really that much better for control? Has anyone got any experience of the normal panel heaters?

Thanks

Le_Kirk

Lungboy wrote: »

I just bought a house with storage heaters. We took them out and had gas piped into the house. I'd look into having a gas supply added if I were you.

OP states where he/she lives there is no gas.

Le_Kirk

Before I removed our storage heaters and panel radiators with the advent of gas to the village, I replaced a couple of the old brown ones with the latest slim line with added technology that included a thermocouple that would sense the overnight temperature and only input just enough (in theory) for the day. Also the damping was better so you could turn them right down (almost off) in the morning and save the stored heat for later in the evening. Plus there was an option to have a non-economy 7 input that you could use as top up for the evening.

EssexExile

If your storage heaters are cold by the evening then they are either not big enough or not set up properly. Google for instructions on how to set them up if you don't have the instruction booklets. They can't handle sudden changes in temperature but normally they should last all day & evening.

On other options, what about an LPG tank?

macman

'Normal panel heaters' are the same efficiency as any other form of electric heating and the same price to run-which as I said, is about 300% more than your existing NSH's. No other electric option exists unless you want to pay a fortune.

Chrishazle

Chap opposite me still has the original system put in when these houses were (self) built in the late 80's. Large storage heater type thing in his utility that also has pipework and pump to circulate water to radiators round the house. Also has 3 phase electricity supply on E7 tariff. I think a few houses here had that system.