Electric radiators vs storage heaters

Spanishomelette

My 90 year old mum has storage heaters in both bedrooms and the living room of her all-electric flat.  We have had electric radiators installed in the kitchen and hall for her, and a warm air heater in the bathroom.

The storage heater (probably 14 years old) in the living room has stopped working, and I was wondering whether to replace it with a newer storage heater or an electric radiator. 

I like the electric radiators she has as they are thermostatically controlled and obviously come on when necessary.  I don't think the storage heaters are controllable enough for her needs: sometimes when I visit her it is ridiculously hot during the early part of day, and then cool/cold by mid afternoon.  Being 90, she can keep quite odd hours too, so I like the idea that electric radiators can be timed to suit her needs.

Although running costs are important, it is more important that she is warm.

I would be really grateful for any advice.

Gerry1

Storage heaters are cheap and easy to fix.  Assuming it's the old style Box of Bricks version without a fan, make sure she knows how to use the input and output controls: it's important to turn the output control down before going to bed and only turn it up in the afternoon or evening if it gets too cool.  This video explains it all.

lohr500

I guess the 1st question is this : Are the existing storage heaters on an Economy 7 type peak/off peak tariff?

Electric heaters running on a non Economy 7 single tariff, or worse still on the day time Economy 7 rate, will be the most expensive mainstream heating you can install. (From a day to day running cost point of view, not total installation cost)

If she has an Economy 7 type tariff then from a running cost and controllability point of view, replacing older storage heaters with modern more controllable storage heaters is probably the way forward. They will be a lot more costly to install, but I guess they will add value to the property. (Assuming she owns the property and isn't renting it).

Whilst I fully understand your priority is to keep her warm, with the way electricity prices are heading I think you really should consider alternatives to day time electric heaters if at all possible/practical. 

Gerry1

lohr500 s
If she has an Economy 7 type tariff then from a running cost and controllability point of view, replacing older storage heaters with modern more controllable storage heaters is probably the way forward. They will be a lot more costly to install, but I guess they will add value to the property. (Assuming she owns the property and isn't renting it).

That might well be the case for a commuter out all day during the week and possibly also out for part of the weekend, but probably not cost effective for a 90-year old who's usually at home.  The only saving would be on the overnight wastage, but Dimplex Quantum and similar HHR NSHs aren't cheap so they probably wouldn't pay for themselves in a reasonable timescale.

Spanishomelette

Gerry1 said:

Storage heaters are cheap and easy to fix.  Assuming it's the old style Box of Bricks version without a fan, make sure she knows how to use the input and output controls: it's important to turn the output control down before going to bed and only turn it up in the afternoon or evening if it gets too cool.  This video explains it all.

Thanks Gerry1, that's a really useful video.  Embarrassingly, I've never fathomed out how they work, so there's no hope for my mum!

Yes, it is definitely the box of bricks version.  Great big ugly thing.

I suppose it may be worth seeing if it is repairable first, and then see where we go.  Fortunately or unfortunately, we fixed her Economy 7 tariff back in October for two years, so that may be a consideration too. 

Spanishomelette

lohr500 said:

I guess the 1st question is this : Are the existing storage heaters on an Economy 7 type peak/off peak tariff?

Electric heaters running on a non Economy 7 single tariff, or worse still on the day time Economy 7 rate, will be the most expensive mainstream heating you can install. (From a day to day running cost point of view, not total installation cost)

Thanks lohr500.  Yes, she's on a two year fixed rate Economy 7 tariff (from last October), so I guess we need to weigh up controllability against probably having to give up that fixed rate tariff.

Gerry1

Check the obvious things such as the fuse in the wall spur unit and that a circuit breaker in the consumer unit hasn't tripped,  especially if the failed heater is not on the same circuit as the other NSHs.  Also try turning the input control from minimum to maximum a few times and giving the control knob a few gentle thumps with a fist.

If it works, turn the input control to maximum, output to minimum at bedtime and see whether it lasts the next day.  If it used to be up to the job, it may have a failed element; again, very cheap to fix.  You can check for a failed element in the Storage Heater Sanity Test.

As a back of envelope calculation, assume that an HHR NSH might save around 15% on the kWh consumption and see how that compares with the replacement cost.  It's only guesswork, but if she can be warm enough with the existing heater it might be better to spend the money on being tropical rather than having an expensive shiny new NSH that's slightly cheaper to run.

The old Box of Bricks will also be more suitable for a night owl: instead of fiddling with the potentially unfriendly menus of a programming unit (and then having to remember to change them back again the next day), if she's up late all she has to do is to set the output control to minimum in the normal way when she eventually goes to bed.

Spanishomelette

Thanks Gerry1.  We've got an electrician friend checking it over tomorrow.

She's definitely a lark rather than a night owl though, but that may be because she goes to bed very early evening, because the temperature starts to drop.

I suppose the other thing might be to persevere with the existing NSH, if it can be fixed, and get her a little plug in top-up heater like an oil filled radiator if she is still a bit chilly.

lohr500

All contributors to your question have raised very valid points.

I was suggesting replacing the old NSH with more modern units for two reasons.

Firstly as I understand it, the more modern units have better design and control, so are better at not "leaking" heat earlier in the day, storing more of it for later on. If she changes her sleeping hours as a result of the house being warmer in the evening, then new style NSH will facilitate this at a lower running cost than using standard electric heaters running at a peak rate.  

Secondly, and forgive me for raising this, but if your mother owns the property there is a possibility in the not too distant future that it may have to be sold. With the latest awareness over energy costs, prospective purchasers will probably be more savvy to heating types and could be put off by a house with a couple of ugly old brick style NSH and heated mainly by peak rate electric. (I know I would be). Whether the current heating setup devalues the house more than the cost of installing new NSH is debatable, but I think it is worthy of consideration. I guess it depends on the rest of the property to some extent and what any prospective purchasers may want to do with it.

Gerry1 is wise to point out that an NSH which can provide heat just in an evening for a house where the occupants are out at work most of the day, will not have enough capacity to keep your mum warm through the day.
So if you do go down the route of replacing the NSH with modern ones then it will be really important to get someone in who can determine the required capacity to provide enough output through the day with minimal requirement for any peak rate supplementary assistance.

EssexHebridean

The other advantage of the HHR NSH’s is that they provide a “boost” function if required - a pretty simple double press of a button in the case of ours, IIRC. That will run from stored heat if there is sufficient available, but otherwise yes, uses the peak rate electricity but is no more costly than any other form of electric heating and, IMO, is pretty efficient at increasing room temp. 

Gerry1

Spanishomelette said:

I suppose the other thing might be to persevere with the existing NSH, if it can be fixed, and get her a little plug in top-up heater like an oil filled radiator if she is still a bit chilly.

When the main storage heater is working correctly and has been proven not to have any failed elements, tell her to leave the input control on maximum, set the output control to minimum before going to bed and turn it up if necessary when it gets chilly.

If it still doesn't last the day then some top up heating or a new NSH would be necessary.

However, it may not be necessary to buy a new radiator.  Some E7 meters have a Boost button that allows a top up of the E7 circuits during the day (at the expensive day rate ). That could be be very useful but might not be very realistic if she is not very mobile and the meter is in an awkward place.