Electric oil-filled wall-mounted radiators

LolekUK

Hello all,

I'm looking at replacing our old storage heaters for an alternative wall mounted radiators with 7 days timers and thermostats, oil filled would be ideal as we have found those were completely noiseless hence suitable for bedrooms. Storage heaters never worked for us and we have removed those at our previous property (swapped for Rointe with adding lots more radiators as well) and actually saved the money by managing the heating times and areas to heat better and had much warmer house when we were actually in it. We have 2 young children, wife is working part-time and we do not qualify for any benefits, so no help from government.

Priced up e.g. Rointe radiators (15 units ranging from 330W to 1.2KW including towel rails etc) for £4.4k with the view to mount them myself as electric installation is already in place - I will just get electrician to connect them and test. Planning to do it over few months time as don't have that amount of money upfront.

Are there any other recommended alternatives that might be slightly cheaper?
I've looked at:
Delonghi Fivy - just don't have enough variance in sizes, only come in 1, 1.5 and 1.8KW
Harmoni Lugo - not much saving in comparison to Rointe and I don't know their products
Haverland TT, slightly more saving but again, don't know much about their products.

Other options like air pumps - are just too expensive and would require running whole heating infrastructure in the house.

Thank you

Gerry1

Wrong forum - try Energy.

Assuming that these are not proper storage heaters, you'll be using electricity at daytime rates.  Nothing is more expensive and the cost will be the same for the same amount of heat whichever brand you use.  Clever storage heaters correctly programmed such as Dimplex Quantum would probably be your best choice if you don't want to go for oil or a heatpump.

danrv

Storage heaters are going to be a lot cheaper to run that direct electric heating as would a multi split A/C system.
You may be able to install air to air for not much than the Rointes. 

The electric rads are best used in well insulated, small to medium rooms and on cheap single rate. 
They all put out the same heat for their input so more expensive isn’t any more efficient. What they might be is quieter in operation with electronic thermostats rather that mechanical.

Gerry1

danrv said:

cheap single rate.

That's a contradiction in terms !

Reed_Richards

LolekUK said:

...Other options like air pumps - are just too expensive and would require running whole heating infrastructure in the house.

Heat pumps are a big initial outlay but you get a lot back over 7 years through the RHI.  "Whole heating infrastructure" might be troublesome to install but central heating might well add value to your house.  When I was buying 3 years ago we looked at one house that was nice, relatively new but which only had electric heating and that put me off.   

danrv

Gerry1 said:

danrv said:

cheap single rate.

That's a contradiction in terms !

Yes, should be ‘cheapest’ single rate,

Gerry1

danrv said:

Gerry1 said:

danrv said:

cheap single rate.

That's a contradiction in terms !

Yes, should be ‘cheapest’ single rate,

'Least expensive' might be better ! 

shinytop

Reed_Richards said:

LolekUK said:

...Other options like air pumps - are just too expensive and would require running whole heating infrastructure in the house.

Heat pumps are a big initial outlay but you get a lot back over 7 years through the RHI.  "Whole heating infrastructure" might be troublesome to install but central heating might well add value to your house.  When I was buying 3 years ago we looked at one house that was nice, relatively new but which only had electric heating and that put me off.   

@LolekUK,  you will also save a lot of money with a heat pump on running costs compared with direct heating, or even storage heaters. The maximum RHI will get you about £11k over 7 years for using 20,000kWh per year.  Depending on tariff, 20,000kW would cost you about £2k on E7 or £3k on peak rate.  An ASHP might cost £1200 or so for the same amount of heating.    The trouble is, it would be £15k or more to install and you need the money up front.  Your own figures will vary of course. 

We did buy an all electric house because we liked it so much otherwise but didn't get on with storager heaters either. 

QrizB

OP asked the same question here: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6270473/storage-heating-alternative - that thread has info on usage, tariffs and so on.

@LolekUK if you don't care about the cost you'll have a warm house but as @Gerry1 says, those heaters will be the most expensive way of heating a house short of fuelling a stove with banknotes. Almost any other option will be cheaper to run, and for £4.4k you could probably get a wet system or air/air heat pumps installed.

From the other thread:

LolekUK said:

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.

Call it 80 days.

5650kWh @ 11.27p = £636.75 - that's 70kWh/day

1527kWh @ 21.45p = £327.54 - that's 19kWh/day

80 days @ 26.55p = £21.24

OP for a 4-bed house that's an impressively large amount of energy over 80 days. Is your home particularly draughty, or one of those single-skin brick Victorian edifices?

Try Which? Switch and see what other tariffs are available.

Ectophile

Why would you want to spend so much on a few oil filled radiators?  Dimplex do perfectly good ones for a fraction of the price.

LolekUK

Thanks all for replies, 

@Gerry1 - I've looked at Dimplex Quantum, but they are far too expensive, would be probably not much more for the heat pump - awaiting reply from heat pump installers,
@shinytop - thanks and what did you replace your storage heaters with?
@danrv - yes, we are looking at quiet in operation and reliable, I do understand they give out same amount of heat as any other electric heater,
@Reed_Richards - I've asked local heat pumps installers (from RHI website) for quotes/rough idea of cost.
@QrizB - the house doesn't feel draughty at all, it's not single skin brick, it's 30 years old property, with current sunny weather upstairs is very hot, I've checked the loft - it's not insulated! We were possibly burning more in those first 2 months, heat escaping via the roof and we were still feeling cold? Perhaps this is where we should invest first!
@Ectophile - had Rointe for 7 years at previous house, none of them failed in that period of time, they were silent, and with timing them well, they were cheaper (with them being off during the day once we were at work etc.) than old storage heaters. 

Thanks