Storage Heaters or Oil Central Heating

Stoodz

We have a 3 bedroom terraced house off the gas grid, we currently have storage heaters on economy 7. We are looking to upgrade our heating system and are looking for some advice. We have narrowed it down to 2 options.
Option 1,
Completely remove the storage heater etc and replace with oil fired central heating, obvious advantage being we will have more control over the heat in the house but this comes with an installation cost of around £7k! including tank, combi boiler and rads.
Option 2
Upgrade the storage heaters to more modern and efficient ones ( dimplex quantum ?) and open up the fireplace that was blocked by the previous owners and install a wood burner.


Any opinions would be helpful.


Thanks

CashStrapped

Depends on comfort vs cost. What you are prepared to pay for convenience.

The oil central heating may make the house more attractive to future purchasers, increasing the house price and recouping the cost (initial outlay) in that sense. Oil central heating is certainly a far more convenient/user friendly heating solution. If the costs are cheaper compared the cost of electric then it is probably the best long term option.

Storage heaters are the chepest all electric way of heating a property. Don't get fooled into thinking the Quantum that much more efficient than the existing storage heaters. They just have more automatic controls which are said to reduce their energy use. How effective they are in real life scenario is up for debate. Is the outlay of replacing the existing storage heaters for slightly better storage heaters worth it.....probably not.


In either case, do the maths. Cost of running oil +installation costs over one year, 5 years and/or10 year period (using average figures). Do the same with electric. See how it works out.

Stoodz

After a quick calculation it would take a long time to recoup the cost of oil installation with the savings we would make, maybe 20-30 years! I like your point of the house valuation going up which is another advantage, but we are unlikely to sell.

CashStrapped

Then it comes down to convenience and comfort. If this is your house for the foreseeable future, it comes down to how happy you are with a storage heater set-up. Are their enough, the correct size. Are you happy with how they operate (planning ahead etc).

If you are happy, just stick with them, and try to maximize the potential of an E7 system.

Cardew

Stoodz wrote: »

Option 2
Upgrade the storage heaters to more modern and efficient ones ( dimplex quantum ?) and open up the fireplace that was blocked by the previous owners and install a wood burner.



Thanks

Be careful how you define efficient!

Dimplex Quantum are no more 'efficient' than any other heater; in that the amount of heat produced from each kWh is exactly the same. The advantage is that they may have less leakage of heat.

As many people have reported on MSE, opening up fireplaces can present problems with a chimney that is unusable without installing an(expensive) liner.

lstar337

If you are staying in the house for a long time, or this is the last house you will live in, then the payback of oil may not be so important. The flexibility of a CH system is going to make your time there a lot more enjoyable.

NSH certainly works, but it takes a little effort from you to make sure it is always working in your favour. Also, you will encounter days where it just gets it wrong. Nothing worse than NSH chucking out heat when it is also nice and warm outside.