Changing from Eco 7 Storage heaters to single rate Electric heating but what and why????

Mk1MR2

I am in the process of re-mortgaging my property to pay off the Ex-wife. This leaves me around £4000 left to replace the failing heating which currently only has 2 VERY old night storage heaters since the other 2 died long ago. I have found I use 75% of electricity in daytime so it is no longer worth being on Eco 7 just for maybe 1 heater occasionally. I have looked at the Fischer heating but was put off my bad reviews and lack of replies from them so looked at the UK version of Sunflow Heating, but they wanted near £2.5K to fit two heaters. Friend suggested fitting a heat pump, but the Leasehold is already charging me £500 just to take the Ex-wife’s name off the deeds so dare not ask how much to dig holes in the garden. Now I am looking at far infrared heating but being new not much evidence on it yet. Alternatively, I end up with plug in oil heaters on timer plugs but not the best long-term solution.

So, any suggestions please who/what to look at or avoid for a 2 bed Ground floor flat?

MWT

Presumably that 75% day time usage is because you don't have enough working NSH, not because you wouldn't use more at night if you actually had the right sized, working NSH installed.

See what others say but I'd suggest your best, and cheapest, solution is to replace/fix the faulty NSH you have and make sure you get the right size for your rooms at the same time.

Robin9

25% night use can be enough to make E7 pay.  Do your sums - use the comparison sites .


As above repair what you've got .

Presumably you heat your hot water overnight .

Reed_Richards

I have an idea for a heating system that turns each room into a giant microwave oven that gently cooks the occupants to keep them warm.  My other idea is is to mount a fan heater on a Roomba-type vacuum cleaner and program it to follow you around.  Far Infrared heating does not work like either of these, it is no more efficient than any other direct electric heater in keeping the room warm.  As with any other electric heater the heat emanates from fixed source and to keep yourself warmer than the room you have to be close to the heater.  If Far Infrared  heating really does work by direct radiation then it will follow an inverse square law which means if you are 2 metres away form the source you will get one quarter of the benefit that you get when you are 1 metre away.   

Gerry1

It should be relatively cheap and easy to repair old storage heaters because there's so little to go wrong.  It's likely to be failed heater elements or a failed input control.  Even if they came out of the Ark, they'll still be 100% efficient at converting electricity into heat.  The only drawback is that they leak some heat when it's not needed (early morning and if you're out during the day), but replacing them with new ones just for that reason alone would take quite a while to recover the capital investment.

If you are reasonably competent at DIY you could consider repairing them yourself: a neon screwdriver and / or a voltmeter are the only special tools you need.  However, don't take any risks, call in an electrician if you have any doubts.  Also check that they don't contain any asbestos.

If you use any form of on-demand electric heating such as panel heaters, infra-red, fan heaters, oil filled radiators, Fischer, Rointe etc it will be the most expensive form of heating that it's possible to have.

Stay with E7 but start comparing credit tariffs with Citizens Advice and 'Which? Switch', entering your annual kWh usage derived from actual meter readings a year apart.  Just compare annual costs, always ignore all projections and savings claims.  Also have a look at the customer service ratings on Citizens Advice and the 'Add your feedback on energy supplier xxxx...' threads here on the forum.

ann_droid

Hi
https://www.cef.co.uk/catalogue/products/search?q=night storage

Maybe they could recommend an installer.

Really ancient NSH had a long "fusible link" along the top to melt if it got too hot, looked like a length of solder.

Next generation was a small link, adjacent to the input controls.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=fusible+link+for+a+night+storage+heater&t=brave&page=1&sexp={"cdrexp":"b","biaexp":"b","msvrtexp":"b"}&iax=images&ia=images

EG:



So potentially repairable.

Mk1MR2

So, consensus is to stick with the Eco 7 rate for heating just to heat NSH and renew the heaters in the long term. Only reason I thought to change was my bill seems to be getting high after getting a washer dryer.

tim_p

If the bill is high after getting a washer dryer it will be down the the ‘dryer’ aspect. 

Fix the NSH before thinking about spending a fortune on new heaters. 

Mk1MR2

I had 4 heaters and over the years i have changed most parts keeping them going but only the last 2 left now since 2 were beyond repair I have changed elements and fuses Ect.. but 90% of the insulation has disintegrated so they leak the heat out so i thought get modern ones with better insulation.

Mk1MR2

I'm guessing this mean i will need a 2.5kW NSH replacement?

coffeehound

The naming tends to relate to the total stored energy which is the 18 kWh.