Cost Effective Electric Heating

Mattyuk76

Hi, We only have electric within our property and our electric bills seem to be esculating and I am trying to find the most cost effective way of heating the house/water. Any help appreciated.

Robin9

What form of heating do you use at the moment - storage-heaters/panel / focal point/fan heaters?

What is your actual consumption ?

Are you reading your meters ?

[Deleted User]

Also double check that the supplier is getting day and night rates correct and not reversed. Its one of their most common mistakes with Eco 7. Night storage users really see the difference with an inflated bill whereas as non night storage or electric heating get low bills

tacpot12

Instantaneous water heaters are the most efficient way of heating the hot water you need. This might be in the form of a shower, kettle, or heater that supplies just the hot taps.

Storage heaters only save money if you are at home all day. If you go out to work, they are not efficient.

Focal point heaters are good for living rooms IF you like being hot, or you want a focal point! Other than that I'd have panel heaters everywhere. Electric heaters are all pretty much 100% efficient, but deliver their heat differently, so you can chose any of them, just pick the one that suits how you want the heat to be delivered output. I'm not a fan of fan heaters :-) due to the noise, but they are good for localised heat if you are, say working at a desk or you are the only person in the lounge.

wavelets

tacpot12 wrote: »

...

Storage heaters only save money if you are at home all day. If you go out to work, they are not efficient.

I don't agree.
How can a heater that has stored heat generated at low rate, typically about half the cost, not be cheaper than generating heat at the full cost? :huh:

tacpot12 wrote: »

Other than that I'd have panel heaters everywhere..

I was going to ask if that was what anyone who has a job should do?:cool:
Not good moneysaving advice, sorry
Any electrical heater that is using normal rate electricity is possibly the most expensive form of heating.

nigelbb

wavelets wrote: »

tacpot12 wrote: »

Storage heaters only save money if you are at home all day. If you go out to work, they are not efficient.

I don't agree.
How can a heater that has stored heat generated at low rate, typically about half the cost, be cheaper than generating heat at the full cost? :huh:

There are two big problems with storage heaters. Firstly you pay for heat before you know whether you need it or not & secondly that if you are out at work all day you don't get any benefit from the stored heat that is released during the day.

Storage heaters do not magically hold all the heat until you release it at a time of your choosing. They heat up overnight then discharge during the day. They are fine heating your house in the morning & part of the afternoon less good at keeping you warm in the evening.

wavelets

nigelbb wrote: »

There are two big problems with storage heaters. Firstly you pay for heat before you know whether you need it or not & secondly that if you are out at work all day you don't get any benefit from the stored heat that is released during the day.

Storage heaters do not magically hold all the heat until you release it at a time of your choosing. They heat up overnight then discharge during the day. They are fine heating your house in the morning & part of the afternoon less good at keeping you warm in the evening.

Storage heaters do, of course, release some of the heat during the day, but the amount should be small, especially if you have newer models that are better insulated to retain the heat.

So yes, you do need to store the heat before you use it. But if you don'tr need to use it, then it should be there for later (well most of it) - that's why they are called storarge heaters.

We've had storage heaters in the past, and were lovely and toasty at the end of the day without any issues.

If your storage heaters are not retaining heat until the evening, then chances are you are not operating them correctly.
(Either not storing sufficient heat overnight, or releasing the heat too soon)
If at the weekend, and you are using heat during the day too, it may be the storage heaters are not correctly sized for the property.

Richie-from-the-Boro

Storage heaters only save money if you are at home all day. If you go out to work, they are not efficient

IMO.

Absolutely not the case, they are (1) at least 30% cheaper and (2) all resistive heating is 100% efficient.

Tiexen

If you really want efficient:

Air source heat pumps extract heat from the air outside and use it to warm your home and some models can even do so in temperatures as low as -25°C. You can either install one to run alongside your existing heating system or to replace an old one.

To put the efficiency of an air source heat pump into context, most gas boilers have an efficiency rating of about 90%, meaning that 10% is wasted. The average air source heat pump on the other hand has an efficiency of 300%, producing 3 times more energy than it uses.

molerat

Tiexen wrote: »

If you really want efficient:

Air source heat pumps extract heat from the air outside and use it to warm your home and some models can even do so in temperatures as low as -25°C. You can either install one to run alongside your existing heating system or to replace an old one.

To put the efficiency of an air source heat pump into context, most gas boilers have an efficiency rating of about 90%, meaning that 10% is wasted. The average air source heat pump on the other hand has an efficiency of 300%, producing 3 times more energy than it uses.

Comparing it to gas is a bit disingenuous, energy efficient maybe but cost efficient not so much. UK electricity averages 14p per kWh so you get 3 kWh for 14p or 4.6p per kWh. UK gas is around 3.5p per kWh so at 90% efficiency 3.9p per kWh. You should be comparing it with ordinary electric heating.

cranford

So how much does a Air source heat pump cost to install in an average 3 bed property and what would be the pay back period? I have seen costs of £6,000 to £15,000 mentioned.