Alternative to storage heaters?

GeeGee99

I am in the process of buying a small 2-bed flat (which incidentally we used to rent for a couple of years in 2012-13) as a BTL purchase. The block has no gas supply so it’s all electric.

There are 4 storage heaters in the flat which are more than 10 years old.

I would ideally like to replace it with an electric heating system with a single thermostat control so you can set a temperature for the flat and it does its thing.

1. Are there any feasible solutions you can suggest please?
2. How much would it cost approximately?

Thanks!

Robin9

So looking back how did you get on with the storage rads - what was the running cost ?

As they are not old and any changes will cost money my initial thought is to leave well alone.

PS Don't be tempted by the super heaters with magic dust - expensive to instal and expensive to run.

AdrianC

Electric heat is electric heat - basic physics says it is always the same efficiency.

The main differences are whether it takes heat overnight on economy 7 then releases during the day (storage) or instant heat and release (normal); and whether it's passively circulated (panel) or actively (fan).

Depending on how they're wired, you could add a single central thermostat to normal heat-and-release, simply affecting whether they're on or not... Just like gas/oil boilers.

Whether that's something that's easy to fit is another question. For the sake of just four heaters it seems a bit... idle.

GeeGee99

Robin - they were surprisingly economical but the flat is very well insulated too. Could well be best to leave it as is and wait for feedback.

Adrian - thanks, that sounds sensible, will check it out. We’re going to use it for short/medium lets through an agent who mentioned that non European tourists (expected to be bulk of the business) will need a simple way to set/control heating in the flat.

Slithery

Just leave your future tenants instructions on how to use storage heaters correctly.

It's the cheapest way of heating an all-electric property and will cost you nothing.

G_M

As it's a flat I guess non 'traditional' options are not viable eg oil ch, solid fuel/stove, solar, heat pumps etc.


So the replies above are probably the best you'll get.

ComicGeek

There are newer types of storage heaters that are easier to control, but I'm not convinced they're worth it for the cost unless you have to replace the existing for other reasons.

sgun

I loved our storage heaters, they were very economical but we did know how to use them properly and we had a legacy tariff that gave an afternoon boost which was useful. We looked into getting newer ones as ours were around 25 years old but it just didn't make sense financially, they cost a fortune to buy. I would just leave them and make sure you show the tenants how to use them.

eddddy

GeeGee99 wrote: »

We’re going to use it for short/medium lets through an agent who mentioned that non European tourists (expected to be bulk of the business) will need a simple way to set/control heating in the flat.

I think I'd agree with the agent.

I think tourists (especially non-english speaking ones) might get confused, and you might get lots of phone calls.

Maybe just use the night storage heaters for background heating in winter, with something simpler to provide 'top-up' heating.


(As an aside, does your mortgage, your lease and the freeholder's insurance allow you to do short term tourist lets? Also, have you checked if you need planning consent for material change of use from residential?)

GeeGee99

Thank you all for the inputs. The biggest learning for me is that 10 years isn't old at all for storage heaters!

So I think I'm going to leave the storage heaters as they are for now and monitor customer feedback to see if any additions are warranted. I could always leave a couple of cheap electric heaters around for them to use as 'top-up' if needed.