Electric Wall Heaters

MQA

I am moving into a one bed property which is over two floors and only have electricity supply. The night storage electric heater needs fixing (about £300). Should I get it fix?  or replace the night storage heater in the open plan lounge and one wall heater in the bedroom? I read a lot of posts but still unsure as there are lot of choices, eg how many settings do I need, what voltage, type of heaters and how to decide it will be not too be expensive to run but the heat will lasts?

Reed_Richards

Heating with oil or gas is a lot cheaper than heating with electricity (unless you are blessed with a heat pump and heat pumps are expensive to install).  Of conventional electric heaters, Night Storage Heaters are the cheapest to run (assuming you have dual-rate electricity).  Unfortunately the price of off-peak electricity has risen faster than the price of peak rate electricity so Night Storage Heaters are no longer as economical as they once were.   

Gerry1

It shouldn't cost anything like £300 to repair a NSH.  There's not much to go wrong and the parts are cheap.  If it's completely cold it's probably a dodgy fusible link, input thermostat or mains fuse.

If it's not hot enough it's probably a failed element or two.

Why does the bedroom heater need to be replaced?  At least that should be cheap, but again, not much to go wrong and easily repairable, so think Repair not Replace.

NSHs in bedrooms are probably not a good idea because leakage from downstairs may be sufficient for background heat during the day, and they may be too warm at night.  Topping up with a panel heater when going to bed and getting up is probably more convenient and cost effective.

Make sure the immersion heater is on an E7 switched circuit and that any Boost heater halfway up the tank is left switched off.

Neil_Jones

MQA said:

The NSH is made by Stiebel Eltron UK (Stiebel Eltron Model ETCC170 )  and it is in the lounge / kitchen and the front door opens directly on to it so it loses heat when opening the door.  The £300 is parts and labour apparently need qualified / certified engineer to repair. (quote from 2017), good point about the off-peak electricity has risen. So perhaps to replace the 2 heaters as they were installed in 1980s? I am thinking of the running cists, brand and what type to choose. And what else to consider so I can work out which heaters to look for?  

All electric heating is 100% efficient, that's the only thing going for it, immaterial of the brand of the heater.  It will cost a fortune to run.  Especially when winter comes round again.

Swipe

MQA said:

The £300 is parts and labour apparently need qualified / certified engineer to repair. (quote from 2017)

Get another quote

macman

It makes no sense to mix NSH's and standard convectors in the same property. Assuming the metering is E7 already (if it's not, then there's no point in running an NSH), then repair the existing one and change the convectors to NSH's wired to E7.
£300 for a repair is ridiculous: you could buy a refurbished one for that price.

QrizB

Agreeing with what others have said, if you've only got electricity and don't want to shell out thousands for a heat pump then night storage heaters are the next best option. Now, while it's summer and you've little need for heating, is the time to get everything fixed and working before winter comes around again.

MQA said:

The NSH is made by Stiebel Eltron UK (Stiebel Eltron Model ETCC170 )  and it is in the lounge / kitchen and the front door opens directly on to it so it loses heat when opening the door.  The £300 is parts and labour apparently need qualified / certified engineer to repair. (quote from 2017)

That particular heater has a 1.7kW electric element and is designed to store 11kWh of heat. On any sensible tariff (E7, or low single-rate) it will cost you a maximum of £1.50 a day to run.

Don't worry about it being by the front door, the heat you lose when you open it is all hot air and you'd lose the same amount of heat with any other sort of heating too.

And I also agree with £300 being a joke of a price for a NSH repair!

matelodave

A shiny new SE replacement would cost around £500-600 but it's one of the latest fan assisted units 

You could even get a basic non-fan assisted replacement like this with a 5 year warrant for just over £450 https://www.storageheatersales.co.uk/electric-night-storage-heaters/elnur-ecossh308-ecombi-storage-heater.html

Here's a list of the spares for your's. the most expensive part being around £50 for a new input thermostat, so whoever has given you a quote for the repair is taking the mickey. The cost of all the electrical innards come to less than £100 and I'm sure iyt shouldn't take £200's worth of labour to do it.
 https://www.electricairespares.co.uk/index.php?route=product/category&path=301_25_565_652_686

Reed_Richards

MQA said:

Also, I was told that with the double glazed windows closed (and / if there is not enough ventilation),  the condensation will be created from the bricks in NSH, due to how the old NSH were built? So maybe to replace the NSH?

This is baloney!  If the bricks had had the opportunity to absorb damp then it might take a day or two of use to drive it off again but after that it would be fine.   

Swipe

MQA said:

Appreciate the links, I had only one quote as there was no other certified person who knows how to repair the NSH in my area. Does it have to be a certified person, what are the risks for getting a non certified electrician to repair?

Also, I was told that with the double glazed windows closed (and / if there is not enough ventilation),  the condensation will be created from the bricks in NSH, due to how the old NSH were built? So maybe to replace the NSH?

I have some NSH older than 30 years, still fully working and no condensation problems. Sounds like you encountered a rogue electrician. Any electrician will be able to repair your NSH.

Robin9

MQA said:

Appreciate the links, I had only one quote as there was no other certified person who knows how to repair the NSH in my area. Does it have to be a certified person, what are the risks for getting a non certified electrician to repair?

Also, I was told that with the double glazed windows closed (and / if there is not enough ventilation),  the condensation will be created from the bricks in NSH, due to how the old NSH were built? So maybe to replace the NSH?

storage-heater-repair.co.uk   is one company within M25  charges £95 + VAT

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