Storage heating alternative

Davesnave

JJR45 said:

Nebulous2 said:

There is no magic solution of changing radiators. Any claims presented by companies about efficiency is a case of smoke and mirrors. 

Not entirely true, we had electric underfloor heating in out old conservatory. Me put in an air source heat pump (initially for air conditioning) but was miles cheaper to run than the under floor heating. Was around 2-3 times (you get 2-3 X the heat energy per kw electric used.)

You are confused. That is changing the heat source; very different from what Nebulous meant when they mentioned the limitations of changing radiators.

Nebulous2

JJR45 said:

Nebulous2 said:

There is no magic solution of changing radiators. Any claims presented by companies about efficiency is a case of smoke and mirrors. 

Not entirely true, we had electric underfloor heating in out old conservatory. Me put in an air source heat pump (initially for air conditioning) but was miles cheaper to run than the under floor heating. Was around 2-3 times (you get 2-3 X the heat energy per kw electric used.)

That's not what I said. Installing a heat pump isn't 'changing radiators.'  

Any type of electric heating converts almost all the electric to heat, they are all almost 100% efficient. Lots of claims about the advantages of buying new radiators simply don't hold up. 

Your heat pump moves heat from outside in, rather than turning electricity into heat. 

In time I'd like a heat pump myself, although I understand they can be difficult to set up and manage. 

Natbag

I'd either look at switching to an agile tariff, like Octopus Agile or Go/Go Faster, where you get a cheaper rate at night and can then power your storage heaters much cheaper and run them when you need them during the day. And/or get some oil filled radiators on smart plugs, which you can set to rules (such as temperature) or times to heat during the cheaper hours or as needed. They're not expensive and you only need a small one per room. I did both of these in my flat and it really did save a lot of money. If you head over to the energy board I'm sure there will be a post where you can get a referral code for Octopus, which starts you off with £50 too.

JJR45

Davesnave said:

JJR45 said:

Nebulous2 said:

There is no magic solution of changing radiators. Any claims presented by companies about efficiency is a case of smoke and mirrors. 

Not entirely true, we had electric underfloor heating in out old conservatory. Me put in an air source heat pump (initially for air conditioning) but was miles cheaper to run than the under floor heating. Was around 2-3 times (you get 2-3 X the heat energy per kw electric used.)

You are confused. That is changing the heat source; very different from what Nebulous meant when they mentioned the limitations of changing radiators.

To be fair you can use air to air you can leave the rads then as you will not be using them.
I took it as a literal alternative as it was one that would save energy. Anything that just converts electricity to heat is not going to save money unless that electricity is powering something like an air to air heatpump.

JJR45

Nebulous2 said:
In time I'd like a heat pump myself, although I understand they can be difficult to set up and manage. 

Air to air is very easy, to be fair air to water is as well (although you need to upgrade radiators).
Air to air though is better for smaller areas (flat etc) but the advantage of having air-con off it is nice.
Ground source is hard to set up one (digging deep down and decent garden area required)

mat1964

when I first moved into my house, which has storage heaters, my bills were high (though not that high!) -but I soon realised I was not using them correctly.  The living room ones had an override which I kept on all day when I didn't need to.  Once I sorted that out, the bills went down.

Also, there are much more efficient storage heaters around now such as Dimplex Quantum.

LolekUK

Blimey. thank you for all your replies. I'll answer some questions here. Not sure I can move this across to Energy forum?

I'm with eon next, fixing with them wasn't worth and I thought I will be switching soon (sooner than 2.5 months later). I've done my work and taken readings from when we moved in and current readings. Yes, we have used: 5650 at night and 1527 during the day. I have switched off storage heaters (old'ish Dimplex ones) and the usage at night went down to £1.3 (hot water tank) - which I need looking at separately as well. We have 2 separate readings and separate electric circuit that only serves heating and water tank and only comes on at night (no power in that circuit during the day).

We are on tariff: Standard SC DD

Day rate 21.45 p/kWh

Night rate 11.27 p/kWh

Standing charge 26.55 p/day

Perhaps the tariff is the problem, as someone mentioned you could get almost 1/2 price. Which then would make more sense and we would possibly accept the cost (4 bed house). Although I'm sure I've looked at MSE electricity club couple of months ago and other tarrifs weren't' that much different hence I wasn't rushing with switching.

I haven't used storage heaters much in the past. I was just playing it by ear, setting input to 3-4 (out of 5), and output around 3-4 also depending how cold it was. If I remembered I was setting output down in the morning and putting back up in the evening so warm up the house before kids were going to bed. I've had Rointe heaters in the past and found them great as only was heating specific rooms at specific times when used and being completely off during the day when we were out of the house.

There is no gas in the village and other options as oil or air source heat pumps require a massive investment, which we currently can't afford as we have only just moved the house so all went into the deposit/mortgage.

Any grants? solar panels? (although not sure solar panels would produce enough juice anyway..)

Thank you all for your time in replying. That's me sitting in a very cold house now!

Natbag

That seems so expensive.
These were my rates with Octopus. If you have a smart meter I would recommend their Go or Go Faster tariff, then run your heaters, hot water and any other high usage electrical items between those hours.

Off-peak unit rate (00:30-04:30):

5.00 p / kWh

Peak unit rate (04:30-00:30):

15.18 p / kWh

Standing Charge:

25.00 p / day