Electric boiler vs new storage heaters

N_Pars

Hi all👋

We have a 2 bed house with 2 very old storage heaters (lounge and hallway) and we use 3 (2x bedrooms and 1 in lounge) oil filled heaters on the colder days. 

The discussion has started again about what we could do to make things better. We had an electrician here the other day (doing a separate job) who suggested an electric boiler system but I have no idea what the running cost will be. I don't know if it's something we should consider or whether it would be better to upgrade our old storage heaters to something more modern. 
Please help, I feel like if we don't make a decision soon we never will 😩

Robin9

What's wrong with the storage heaters - thermal links are easy to replace.

Avoid Electric Boilers and panel heaters (especially the magic dust ones)  - they cost a fortune to run.

N_Pars

Robin9 said:

What's wrong with the storage heaters - thermal links are easy to replace.

Avoid Electric Boilers and panel heaters (especially the magic dust ones)  - they cost a fortune to run.

I don't know if they aren't performing as well as they could be or whether it's just that 2 is not enough for the house. 

matelodave

Electric boilers are probably the most expensive way to heat a place, with electric panel heaters/radiators (whatever exotic unguents they've got in them) coming a close second as they use peak rate electricity when they are operating.

Replacing your existing storage heaters probably wont save much in the way of energy costs over the existing ones although they are a bit more controllable, are a bit prettier but quite expensive

TBH the only way to reduce your energy cost is by installing mains gas, oil or a heat pump driven central heating. All of which involve a high capital outlay and significant disruption.

Robin9

Make, model and size of your storage rads please..

N_Pars

Robin9 said:

Make, model and size of your storage rads please..

Dimplex xms718n in hallway
Same make in lounge but the next size up (3. Something kw)
Sorry not at home atm to check number.

N_Pars

matelodave said:

Electric boilers are probably the most expensive way to heat a place, with electric panel heaters/radiators (whatever exotic unguents they've got in them) coming a close second as they use peak rate electricity when they are operating.

Replacing your existing storage heaters probably wont save much in the way of energy costs over the existing ones although they are a bit more controllable, are a bit prettier but quite expensive

TBH the only way to reduce your energy cost is by installing mains gas, oil or a heat pump driven central heating. All of which involve a high capital outlay and significant disruption.

Thank you. Gch would be my first choice. Oh how I miss it! 

coffeehound

Hi N_Pars.

A few things you might consider

Have an electrician (probably not the one who advised to get an electric boiler!) check your NSHs to make sure none of the heating elements has failed, which would reduce the amount of heat they store.  Elements are quite cheap to buy for older NSHs.

Consider supplementing your existing NSHs with a modern high heat retention NSH in the sitting room.  These retain most of their stored heat by the evening if not used during the day.  Therefore that heat will be available to use if the older NSHs run out of heat in the evening, saving you from using very expensive peak rate electricty for fill-in heating with the panel heaters.

You could replace all your NSHs for new, but really the older NSHs work well during the day if you are at home giving radiant heat, or giving background heat (with the output control shut) if you are out.  Whereas the output from modern NSHs is blown warm air which might not be as comfortable.  Overall, just adding one new modern NSH would probably be the most cost-effective measure in the longer term.

N_Pars

coffeehound said:

Hi N_Pars.

A few things you might consider

Have an electrician (probably not the one who advised to get an electric boiler!) check your NSHs to make sure none of the heating elements have failed, which would reduce the amount of heat they store.  Elements are quite cheap to buy for older NSHs.

Consider supplementing your existing NSHs with a modern high heat retention NSH in the sitting room.  These retain most of their stored heat by the evening if not used during the day.  Therefore that heat will be available to use if the older NSHs run out of heat in the evening, saving you from using very expensive peak rate electricty for fill-in heating with the panel heaters.

You could replace all your NSHs for new, but really the older NSHs work well during the day if you are at home giving radiant heat, or giving background heat (with the output control shut) if you are out.  Whereas the output from modern NSHs is blown warm air which might not be as comfortable.  Overall, just adding one new modern NSH would probably be the most cost-effective measure in the longer term.

Thank you. The 2nd storage heater in the lounge could be a good idea. We would benefit from a nsh upstairs but no space as I'm sure I read they aren't recommended in bedrooms. 

Gerry1

You can easily check yourself for a failed heating element.  When it's chilly and after the E7 cheap rate has started, switch off everything except for one storage heater.  Turn its input control to maximum then look at your IHD if you have a smart meter.

The Dimplex XMS718N has four 840W elements so you should expect to see the instantaneous consumption at about 3360W.  If one element has failed it'll be 2520W, and 1680W if two have failed.

If you have a traditional meter, look at the LED marked 1000 Imp/kWh or similar and count the number of flashes (Impulses) per minute.  If the LED is 1000 Imp/kWh then 56 flashes/min corresponds to all four elements working, 42 suggests one has failed and 28 that two have failed, otherwise it's pro rata.

The test even works with spinning disk meters, just count the revolutions and note how many correspond to 1kWh.

N_Pars

Gerry1 said:

You can easily check yourself for a failed heating element.  When it's chilly and after the E7 cheap rate has started, switch off everything except for one storage heater.  Turn its input control to maximum then look at your IHD if you have a smart meter.

The Dimplex XMS718N has four 840W elements so you should expect to see the instantaneous consumption at about 3360W.  If one element has failed it'll be 2520W, and 1680W if two have failed.

If you have a traditional meter, look at the LED marked 1000 Imp/kWh or similar and count the number of flashes (Impulses) per minute.  If the LED is 1000 Imp/kWh then 56 flashes/min corresponds to all four elements working, 42 suggests one has failed and 28 that two have failed, otherwise it's pro rata.

The test even works with spinning disk meters, just count the revolutions and note how many correspond to 1kWh.

Thanks for the tip!