Electric heating for small house?

KayP

Hello
I've just bought a very small one bedroom cottage which I'm planning on doing as a holiday let. There's no central heating but it has a multifuel stove in the living room.
I want to put heating in, and was thinking of putting in smart electric radiators. They are very thin so won't take up much space, I can operate them remotely so can turn the heating on just before guests arrive, and can zone them to control each of the four rooms seperately.
I'd probably have 2000W ones in the living room and bedroom, and 600W ones in the kitchen and bathroom. Each one can also be controlled manually so guests can also control them. The ones I've seen would cost in total just under £700.
I'm guessing they might be pretty expensive to run, can anyone think of an alternative solution? Only other thing I could think of would be something like oil filled heaters on smart plugs? But this wouldn't be suitable for the bathroom.
Many thanks
Kay

PasturesNew

Electric, as an owner, isn't as expensive as people would have you believe.

You don't have to have an annual gas service/certificate, there's no servicing costs, you don't have to pay to have a new gas supply put in (if none there at present).....

jk0

I'd install storage heaters. I would use one of these controllers:

http://www.pactrolsolutions.com/403901-weather-watcher-including-external-sensor-54-p.asp

You can see from the data sheet that by joining pins 2&3, (perhaps by remote control) you can set the heating lower when no-one is there.

FTA: Buy the cheapest storage heaters you can find on ebay. The controller will effectively upgrade them.

matelodave

I'd suggest that you do a heat loss calculation for the rooms in the property so the heaters that you install will be powerful enough to actually do the job, especially if you re going to be using it during the colder months of the year.

Just guessing what sizes to install may not do the job properly.

Underpowered heaters wont heat the rooms adequately and will need be on all the time. A heater of the correct size will heat the room faster and allow the thermostat to work properly

FestiveJoy

+1 for night storage heaters

Enjoy the festive season ... you'll be surprised just how quickly it passes

:xmastree::xmastree::xmastree:

Swipe

Those heaters will be used to the max, even in the summer if the guests have free range

Cardew

In holiday lets(and my son's student digs!) it is more convenient to have the heaters on full all of the time and regulate the temperature by opening windows;)

mumf

PasturesNew wrote: »

Electric, as an owner, isn't as expensive as people would have you believe.

You don't have to have an annual gas service/certificate, there's no servicing costs, you don't have to pay to have a new gas supply put in (if none there at present).....

Very true.We have multi fuel in two rooms and 1kw/2kw adjustable wall mounted radiators in both rooms,the large bedroom and an infra red panel in the small one.In the bathroom is a wall mounted fan heater.Its a great,easy to maintain system.We just flick 'em on as needed,but you could use timers of your choice.

As for bills,well...We have all the above,3 freezers,tumble drier and washing machine never off,electric water heating,electric shower,and an electric cooker.Our quarterly bill is usually about £250 quid average.We are quite OK with that.

matelodave

mumf wrote: »

Very true.We have multi fuel in two rooms and 1kw/2kw adjustable wall mounted radiators in both rooms,the large bedroom and an infra red panel in the small one.In the bathroom is a wall mounted fan heater.Its a great,easy to maintain system.We just flick 'em on as needed,but you could use timers of your choice.

As for bills,well...We have all the above,3 freezers,tumble drier and washing machine never off,electric water heating,electric shower,and an electric cooker.Our quarterly bill is usually about £250 quid average.We are quite OK with that.

That's because you are paying the bill - "guests" wont bother to be frugal or even careful with their power consumption.
As Cardew says, they'll be inclined to turn it on full blast and then regulate the temperature by opening the doors or windows