Are modern storage heaters a good alternative?

jk0

I wonder if Quantums are that much cheaper still in view of reduced price differentials? The best day/night differential I have been able to get here is on EDF at 21p for day rate to 8p for night rate. One of my rentals is 20p for day rate and 12p for night rate on SSE key meter.


Therefore even if Quantums manage to use 90% at night rate, the average price is 9.3p on EDF and 12.8p on SSE.


The ordinary storage heater managing 80% at night rate, would be 10.6p on EDF and 13.6 on SSE.


Therefore Quantums are only about a 10% energy cost improvement over a normal storage heater. (Not worth £500 plus each IMHO.)

coffeehound

Fair point. Also it depends what daily temperature profile they used for the comparison. If it was for low daytime temperature then heat in the evening, that would favour the high-heat-retention heaters. But for a higher ambient temperature throughout the day, the old-school heaters do that anyway, so would not be at such a disadvantage.

Cardew

jk0 wrote: »

I wonder if Quantums are that much cheaper still in view of reduced price differentials? The best day/night differential I have been able to get here is on EDF at 21p for day rate to 8p for night rate. One of my rentals is 20p for day rate and 12p for night rate on SSE key meter.

Without doubt E7 night rates are much higher, as a percentage of day rates, than a couple of years ago. It seems the cheapest is around 8p/kWh. However on a non E7 tariff(24/7) below 14p/kWh is possible.

I wonder if this is a reaction to the increasing number of electric cars being charged overnight.

A._Badger

Gerry1 wrote: »

Unlike the simple 1970s box of bricks, it seems that the Quantum is better insulated and doesn't heat by plain convection. Instead it uses a fan to blow heat downwards and out at the bottom. Therefore, if it's a mild day the fan won't kick in and it will retain most of its heat, whereas an old style storage heater would still be merrily leaking heat and turning the room into a sauna.

Similarly, clever timing controls mean that it won't charge up when not required. If it's correctly adjusted it should seldom need to use peak time electricity, except for the very small amount used by the fan.

As a point of order, they sound exactly like the Dimplex storage heaters I had in a flat in the 1970s - downward facing fans and all!

Unreliable, noisy and, above all, not coming with a 100% reliable onboard weather forecast, they finally convinced me that storage heaters per se are to be avoided when possible.

If you add in the fragility of the National Grid these days, if I were in a situation where I was going to be entirely reliant on electricity and had someone infirm on the premises, I would make as certain as possible I was on a priority scheme with my supplier. And even then I would worry.

jimbo6977

Having lived in electric-only accommodation in a variety of environments from the Med to the Alps, I personally would get rid of storage heaters and go for electric heaters with a central time&temperature control module and wireless control receivers with individual room thermostats on each radiator.

Unfortunately they are not commonly available in the UK in the way that they are in France, Italy, Spain etc.

The one flat I had in the UK with storage heaters was cripplingly expensive to heat, I was on the verge of driving to France and loading the car up with a complete regular heating system from Leroy Merlin in Calais, but it happened that I changed jobs and had to move anyway.

The only possible situation in which I would ever even consider storage heaters is if I was going to be in the premises all day every day.