Storage heaters - help!

Hotair

Hi. New to this so bear with me. I currently have a 'complex' meter for electricity. It is actually two meters, one at a very expensive tariff for day time and one less expensive (apparently!) which operates for 14 hours, mainly at night, and which runs an underfloor heating system. I have been in this flat for just over a year and the heating is prohibitively expensive. Added to that, my supplier, Eon, have advised that they have to replace the meters as they are now obsolete and can only install an Economy 7 or Economy 10 meter. Neither of these would give me as much heating as I have at present and, as it is so expensive anyway, I am seriously considering going for storage heaters (there is no gas in the building). So my questions are:

- should I go for E7 or E10?
- storage heaters?
- if so, which ones? I have been looking at Dimplex Quantum but believe they are quite pricey)
- any views on Far infrared?
- any other advice, other than moving house to somewhere with gas?!!

Any advice most welcome. For info, the flat is top floor, flat roof, double glazed, external walls in all rooms with little insulation, solid floors. Many thanks.

System

I would go for e7 and storage heaters I have dimplex and they are great as long as you buy the right sizes for your rooms you should never run out of heat, I have never needed to use any top up heat as the heaters really do stay hot all day and night, and my flat is lovely and warm.

Mine are dimplex xlsn.

I would stay well clear of the infrared I was going to do a free trial of those as my housing asked me, but the company what was going to do it kept telling me different running costs and in the end it was going to cost more to run than storage heaters.

So good storage heaters and make sure you get the best e7 tariff and it does work out round about the same as gsh.

Go on mse and register for collective switches as they tend to get better tarrifs than the energy suppliers.

footyguy

Hotair wrote: »

Hi. New to this so bear with me. I currently have a 'complex' meter for electricity. It is actually two meters, one at a very expensive tariff for day time and one less expensive (apparently!) which operates for 14 hours, mainly at night, and which runs an underfloor heating system. I have been in this flat for just over a year and the heating is prohibitively expensive. Added to that, my supplier, Eon, have advised that they have to replace the meters as they are now obsolete and can only install an Economy 7 or Economy 10 meter. Neither of these would give me as much heating as I have at present and, as it is so expensive anyway, I am seriously considering going for storage heaters (there is no gas in the building). So my questions are:

- should I go for E7 or E10?
- storage heaters?
- if so, which ones? I have been looking at Dimplex Quantum but believe they are quite pricey)
- any views on Far infrared?
- any other advice, other than moving house to somewhere with gas?!!

Any advice most welcome. For info, the flat is top floor, flat roof, double glazed, external walls in all rooms with little insulation, solid floors. Many thanks.

Do not attempt to switch supplier with the current metering; attempts by others in your situation indicate it invariably ends in tears.

There was a thread recently about Eon changing their meters for customers like you - I'm sure they have a specialist dept that will help you, but bottom line seems to be to get the assistance of a qualified electrical/heating surveyor.

(Of course, thaat assumes you own the property - in which case you probably should have sought such advice when you bought it about a year ago)

vivatifosi

I have E10. I would not advise E10 unless you need it as it is much more expensive. If you can use E7 and get on with it, it is a much better option (mine is a semi-detached house).

In terms of storage heaters, we have Creda TSR AW heaters. Our old storage heaters were very old, but we have noticed a reasonable saving over the old ones by going for automatic rather than manual, and you don't spend ages re-setting them all the time.

Neighbours here also have Quantum and are very happy with them, but which ever you go for, we all noticed a saving. We chose not to go for Quantum as we felt that they weren't worth the extra.

Creda and Dimplex are made by the same company, there's not a lot of difference between them. We bought ours online and had them fitted by a local electrician, which worked out the cheapest way of buying. The electrician also suggested replacing our old wiring, which we did.

footyguy

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=69632503&postcount=12

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5441146


Edit:
Hotair
Join Date: 27-05-2016
Posted : Today, 6:52 PM
Last Activity: Today 6:52 PM

Well I'm also out of here now, until the kiddies go back to school a week on Monday :cool:

Richie-from-the-Boro

Hotair wrote: »

Hi. New to this so bear with me. . Many thanks.

Read these 2 recent pages.

jk0

Hotair wrote: »

Added to that, my supplier, Eon, have advised that they have to replace the meters as they are now obsolete and can only install an Economy 7 or Economy 10 meter.

Have to?!

Are you sure this isn't some ruse to get you to install a smart meter? Even if the meters don't work, they only need to replace them with normal single rate meters.

If they are getting rid of the tariff, (which I doubt) I would go for E10 with your existing setup and see how you get on for a year. You can always put storage heaters in next year if you really think you need them.

Richie-from-the-Boro

In an underfloor [and ceiling] install the concrete slab floor was the storage of heat. They were cheap and nastly install mainly by LA's & Housing Associations, largely ripped out and replaced because of rising energy cost demand by tenant groups in the early 80's. They really need an E18 tariff to work effectively & provide comfort.

Just install a sufficient quantity of stored heat in the living area and go E7 water & space heating. Panel heating will provide for the non-living areas. Tariff, metering and wiring for water controller and heating will need to be assessed and modified as required. Best of luck.

Hotair

Thanks mackkemps3 - that's really helpful info and good to hear that the costs may be comparable to gsh. Phew!

Hotair

Thanks footyguy. I did speak to the Eon department dealing with the meters and also had the 'meter man' out but, perhaps no surprise, I ended up with very different answers from both parties. I thought some independent advice was better, hence trying mse which has already proved very useful. Thanks for your help.

Hotair

Thanks JKO. Apparently they are getting rid of the tariff and I have struggled to find anyone else who does this one (although given my last electricity bill, not sure I can afford to keep this heating system anyway without a lottery win!). None of the price comparison websites cover this tariff and I have looked at numerous individual suppliers sites and none of the ones I have checked quote it either. I do think it's time to change and everyone's advice here is really helpful. Thanks.