Replacing kitchen night storage heater with wall mounted panel heate or equivalent?

Stubod

Hi all,

Looking for suggestions regarding replacement of our (never used) night storage (Economy(?) 7) kitchen heater. We are doing a bit of a revamp in the kitchen. We have never used the storage heater in our kitchen as it seems a bit of a waste to have it on considering the amount of time spent in the kitchen. So we have decided to remove the storage heater and look for something we can hang in its place. Thw room is about 11 foot square, so I assume we will need something 1-1.5kw.

Just looking for some suggestions as to what sort of heater to get, ie somwthing we a timer, and something we can pu on as and when we are in there.

Mny thanks for any suggestiions.

lohr500

Any form of electric heater will pretty much use the same energy for the amount of heat output.
 
We have two plinth heaters in our kitchen which fit under the floor cupboard units and so don't take up any wall space in the kitchen. One is electric with two settings (can't remember the kW rating) and the other is actually plumbed into the central heating circuit.

Both throw out lots of heat when needed. The plumbed in one has a wireless thermostat/remote control (but no timer). The electric one just has an on/off switch and second switch that controls the heat setting. I believe you can get electric plinth heaters with wireless controls as well.

They both use a rotary fan to circulate the heat which you can hear but I don't find the noise intrusive.

markin

No point having anything in there if you don't need it or use it currently, If its warm its likely the windows and insulation is probably far better that when they were calculated and installed.

Stubod

markin said:

No point having anything in there if you don't need it or use it currently, If its warm its likely the windows and insulation is probably far better that when they were calculated and installed.

Ta for the feedback, we definately need something, we currently have a "plug in" heater for use as and when we need it, just thought it would be more convenient to have something fixed to the floor/wall in place of the soon to be redundant storage heater.

matelodave

AS suggest above a plinth heater would probably do the trick. They dont take up any wall space and they can be switched on & off as required, so if you are only in there for a short time they wont be everso expensive to run - but bear in mind they could be costing around 70p or more an hour but that's the same as any electric wall heater whether its a panel rad, oil filled or or convector. At least a plinth heater moves the air around and keeps your feet warm

I fitted one in my mum's kitchen and as she was only in there for short periods it worked out ok, I wouldn't use any sort of direct electric heating for all day use.

pseudodox

I have a plinth heater in the kitchen - does not need to be on for long to take the chill off  the 10ft square room.  Uses no wall space and as it is plugged into a wall socket accessed by a hole in the back of the cupboard I could put it on a smart plug to set a time schedule, but usually just switch in on manually on the front panel when needed.

Scot_39

Stubod said:

Hi all,

Looking for suggestions regarding replacement of our (never used) night storage (Economy(?) 7) kitchen heater. We are doing a bit of a revamp in the kitchen. We have never used the storage heater in our kitchen as it seems a bit of a waste to have it on considering the amount of time spent in the kitchen. So we have decided to remove the storage heater and look for something we can hang in its place. Thw room is about 11 foot square, so I assume we will need something 1-1.5kw.

Just looking for some suggestions as to what sort of heater to get, ie somwthing we a timer, and something we can pu on as and when we are in there.

Mny thanks for any suggestiions.

If you need heat and that's electric - then the cost depends on the kWh rate used - assuming you have other storage heaters and a suitable E7 style tariff - you will be aware of that benefit.

1.5kWh output would be a large if not largest model - for a NSH - but that is based on the quick blast output from your plug in heater - rather than area space.   And a direct size for size replacement if sticking with NSH or convection / radiator panel would be better - and proportionally cheaper - but not cheap - the smallest Quantum's are still c£700 - the non HHR Creda TSREs £450-500.

Depending on what you do with doors etc - the kitchen is probably actually drawing indirect heat from rest of house - when the plug in not in use. So it may cost no more to run a low background heat in their anyway overall during the day - and get frost protection for overnight too - if an issue / worry.

So a HHR panel - or perhaps a slightly cheaper option like a non HHR Creda TSRE smart NSH or equivalent - would be the obvious direct replacement - used on a low nominal temp setting most of night / day - and then wack the thermostat setpoint up for a bit before or when likely to be actually in the room - as these modern panels are programmable for say breakfast / evening meal - they then become essentially a fan heater - but using off-peak energy - when outputting that stored heat.

Whearas some of the other suggestions like the fan plinth electric heater - far cheaper to buy (c£100 ? from a quick google) if not run - as will use peak rate during day.  And these can even be programmable. But will still need a fused spur wired in by a electrician.

You don't say how long you need to run the current heater - if 1/2hr a day - then it's probably ok on peak rate - if hours - another issue.

Work out the costs of running a peak rate heater vs cost of same energy at off-peak at your rates and typical use - and costs of NSH vs heater of choice - and see if it's even sensibly short to consider the expense.

But don't just think of cost - you all want to be happy with the finished article = new kitchen - if your spending money - you want a result.

So then theres the big aesthetics Q - some people think NSH are ugly / bulky - and the plinth type system - has advantage of being almost completely hidden. It also potentially frees up the wall space - or floor space - depending on the location - for even more units / worksurface area or perhaps a layout you hadn't thought of - if doing a more major refit etc.

At the cheap heating end - my kitchen and bathroom fitted with simple pull cord wall mounted 2kW fan heaters - even cheaper than plinth - say c£50 - excl spur installation. Gets the panel wall space - not particularly aesthetic though.

But suspect the plinth will 'feel instantly warmer' - as heating at cold floor level - just seems likely to be better than heating from above head height for a quick blast of heat. And these are even from a quick scan of prices - potentially programmable these days - if choose the right model.