storage heaters vs gas fire

musicdavid

Throughout my flat I have storage heaters and am on a cheap night electricity rate.

In the lounge I also have a gas fire. I have tended to rely on the storage heater to heat this room and only use the gas fire for a top-up if it's really cold.

However, I'm now wondering - would the gas fire only be the cheaper option for this room? I'm thinking especially of these scenarios:

a) when I only want heat in the evening, after work
b) on a day when I'm in it more (a stay-in Sunday for example) I would only have the gas fire on intermittently

Is it always going to be cheaper than the storage heater (especially if none are the others are on)?

Any thoughts/advice would be appreciated.

HappyMJ

Costs of running the gas fire or the storage heater should be about the same. Night rates of electricity are usually only slightly higher than gas. You'll need to check your tariff.

I would use the gas fire now it's getting warmer as and when required but on a day that is expected to be cold I would turn the storage heater on the day before.

Is this your property or are you renting it?

macman

Use the gas fire every time, as it's not only usually cheaper, (marginally), but it's available 24/7 'on demand' at the same rate, unlike your NSH's, which must be charged the night before on cheap rate.

jk0

I think you'll find the room takes for ever to heat up if you only use the fire. Maybe keep the storage heater on low during the week, but higher at weekends.

lstar337

macman wrote: »

Use the gas fire every time, as it's not only usually cheaper, (marginally), but it's available 24/7 'on demand' at the same rate, unlike your NSH's, which must be charged the night before on cheap rate.

Wouldn't it depend on the fire though?

Some older gas fires (and even some new) are horribly inefficient, like 40% or something?

I would say that it is very difficult for anybody here to give you a solid answer. It will very much come down to the type of gas fire, the type of storage heater, how much you pay for gas, how much you pay for electric, insulation levels, and so on...

Cardew

lstar337 wrote: »

Wouldn't it depend on the fire though?

Some older gas fires (and even some new) are horribly inefficient, like 40% or something?

I would say that it is very difficult for anybody here to give you a solid answer. It will very much come down to the type of gas fire, the type of storage heater, how much you pay for gas, how much you pay for electric, insulation levels, and so on...

Exactly!


Indeed gas fire efficiencies can be in the region of 30% even when working correctly. The problem is that it is impossible for anyone to determine the efficiency without sophisticated measuring equipment.

Richie-from-the-Boro

Any domestic heating arrives at your comfort level [y] from its its start point [x] in the winter the :

- pre heated [damper firmly closed always] start point in cheap rate leccy
- the supplementary gas fire will always have an occasional winter use
- the supplementary gas fire will always have an occasional summer use
- E7 heats also heats 365 days of boiling hot water at the cheap rate

Keep what you have, and continue with both E7 domestic room & water heating and occasional on demand gas fire. You already have the best of both worlds - don't change it !