Dimplex electric heating options

Murtle

Hello

I am looking to replace the storage heaters in our 2 bed flat and have been advised that Dimplex is a good brand to go with.

However, I am confused as to the pros and cons of the different models.

The three I am looking at are the duo heaters, the storage heaters and the quantum heaters.

We both work from home a lot so being able to get cheap night time electricity and then use it during the day would be great. In fact being able to use it during the day is essential others we get very cold :eek:

Does anyone have any suggestions / advice on these heaters that they'd care to share please.

Thanks

Thanks Cardew for letting me know autocorrect had gone wrong :rotfl::T:rotfl:

Cardew

Dimplex are better than Dimples;)

Why replace your existing storage heaters? All electrical heating is 100% efficient so the 3 alternatives you are considering are no cheaper to run.

The main advantage of later models is that they tend to 'leak' less heat during the day, but that is of no concern to you as you are home all day.

Murtle

Cardew wrote: »

Dimplex are better than Dimples;)

Why replace your existing storage heaters? All electrical heating is 100% efficient so the 3 alternatives you are considering are no cheaper to run.

The main advantage of later models is that they tend to 'leak' less heat during the day, but that is of no concern to you as you are home all day.

Our existing storage heaters are so old, and barely contain the heat so we are cold by lunchtime at the moment and having to rely on stand alone convection heaters to stop us going blue!

Richie-from-the-Boro

Murtle wrote: »

Our existing storage heaters are so old, and barely contain the heat so we are cold by lunchtime at the moment and having to rely on stand alone convection heaters to stop us going blue!

Input to full Output switched off completely and permanently if you are still cold in a couple of days time consider what would have always been the case that you were under-heated in the first place.

In which case buy an additional single XL/XLS range the small one will give you an additional 10kW the middle one 18kW and the big one 24kW of stored cheap heat to use during the day. You will also get the additional comfort benefit of radiated heat from more than one direction. Best of luck.

Cardew

One further point. Make sure you have the cheapest Economy 7 tariff. These days there is a huge disparity between costs of E7 With the various companies.

Murtle

Richie-from-the-Boro wrote: »

Input to full Output switched off completely and permanently if you are still cold in a couple of days time consider what would have always been the case that you were under-heated in the first place.

In which case buy an additional single XL/XLS range the small one will give you an additional 10kW the middle one 18kW and the big one 24kW of stored cheap heat to use during the day. You will also get the additional comfort benefit of radiated heat from more than one direction. Best of luck.

Thank you,

Do you know what makes this one a better choice over the duo-heater?

Many thanks

Richie-from-the-Boro

Murtle wrote: »

Thank you,

Do you know what makes this one a better choice over the duo-heater?

Many thanks

The one I pointed you to is not better than either the DUO or the Quantum :

- the XLS is a night store heater much like the one you have
- the DUO is like the one you have but with an additional front facing extra panel heater already built in
- the Quantum is really a whole house central heating system

Both the DUO and the Quantum have the NANO-insulation mentioned by Cardew in #2 whilst the XLS range does not. My point was .. .. if you already have a single large NSH in your living area that stores 24kWh or 17 hours of heat @ 1.4kW per hour released with the damper closed and you are still cold then you put more storage in - simple. So if you installed an extra small XLS into your existing ring main which would be 12kWh or 17 hours of heat @ 0.7kW per hour and you add the 0.7 to the 1.4 you would have a total of 36kWh or 2.1kWh per hour of heat store - about 30% more available stored cheap heat !

CashStrapped

Just to re-iterate Richie-from the Boro's point.

The number of times people say the storage heater is not working properly only to find they are not correctly using the controls.

Some are mistaken that you set the output permanently and have it set on a high setting all the time. Some people even have the output set high throughout the night whilst it charges.

This lets out the heat immediately. Then there is not enough to heat the property the next day.

The output should be set on zero/off and only increased when you want the heat.

Murtle

Thanks guys, we are not keeping the storage heaters we have as they don't work. Honestly, I know how to use them but they are kaput, so I am looking for advice on the Dimplex options.

We can only replace the storage heaters we have to larger ones, we can't just add additional storage heaters to those we have. For one, there is no room and two, there are no more sockets for them!

Cardew

Murtle wrote: »

We can only replace the storage heaters we have to larger ones, we can't just add additional storage heaters to those we have. For one, there is no room and two, there are no more sockets for them!

What do you mean by 'sockets'? Are they normal 13 amp sockets like you would use for, say, a kettle?


What rating are they e.g 1.7kW.


How do you know they are kaput? Could it be that they are simply inadequate for the task?

Richie-from-the-Boro

Murtle wrote: »

Thanks guys, we are not keeping the storage heaters we have as they don't work. Honestly, I know how to use them but they are kaput, so I am looking for advice on the Dimplex options.

We can only replace the storage heaters we have to larger ones, we can't just add additional storage heaters to those we have. For one, there is no room and two, there are no more sockets for them!

In nearly 50 years of NSCH I've only had one stat go. In 50 years I've never heard of more than one go at the same time. In all that 50 years I've heard of very few instances of them breaking down from others. I know that a stat is cheap and element is cheap and a fuse is cheap, so you could renew all elements of both heaters for £200 and get another 50 years out of them. Most issues with NSCH are from those who do not know how to use them correctly and efficiently. You have an existing ring main, just extend your existing dedicated 20a ring and fit a new what you call switch which costs about £5 quid from Screwfix. They DIY re-paint, any colour of the rainbow for about £10 per heater.
_______________________

Your answer on Dimplex is .. .. whole house and money no object go Quantum. A much more workable and very considerably cheaper solution go Duo, the DUO in addition to the stored heat has a separate front facing 13a panel radiator built into it. The 13a radiant can be thermostat controlled and automatic or a simple on demand from yourself, both are core rate expensive daytime electricity.



The biggest of the 3 DUO's is the Duo500n which holds about 18kWh which is less than the 24kWh you already have [I assume] at your disposal. Some extra benefit on leeching will be had from the DUO however not sufficient I fear to make up for the 6kWh loss from your existing 16 bricker let alone supplying the extra storage which is what you clearly do need. Now Murtle I've no idea what heaters you have, what your EPC is, what you lifestyle, needs and uses are, what your tariff is. You can have cheap or expensive electric heat, how much cheap heat you can possibly have is determined by how much you store, that is very particular to the retired. Apart from going off grid, becoming a spoon whittler and buying a wood burner the only other alternative is to change tariff from the cheaper E7 to the more expensive E10. best of luck.