Cheapest/Best Electric Heating System

UKSBD

I have a small 2 bedroom cottage.

Previously had oil central heating with traditional rads, replaced oil boiler with electric boiler but heating the water in existing rads.

Rads are nearing end of life so thinking, rip out the wet heating system and just replace with electic heating (can't have oil as nowhere for a compliant oil tank, cant have heat pumps)

Never really liked the idea of storage heaters as just want to switch on when required rather than have on constant.

seeing so much contradictory (and probably biased) opinion of what is best.

Anyone here care to share their knowledge?

Are infrared as good as the people who sell them make out?

Any advantage in a wet system, would it make sense to just fit new rads in existing wet heating system?

Are the ceramic ones better than others?

Are oil filled ones good.

It's a total minefield looking online as the ones that appea to be best are the ones that the company is selling 

Is there anywhere to get completely honest unbiased advice on the best sort of electric heating?

Newbie_John

Just purely from the cost point of view.

Whatever electric you choose - it converts 1kW of electricity into heat with almost 100% ratio.
So from that point of view they are all very the same. Heat pumps are different, they generate 4x amount of heat compared to other electric ones.

If your house is perfectly insulated you would never need to heat it 😉 but our houses aren't and they lose the heat - so this is probably the most important part - improve it as much as possible then you would need less heat.

The price of electricity can vary, standard is about 29p per kWh, but depending on a tariff it could be different - smart Agile with Octopus brings very random prices - tomorrow 12p at 1:30pm (so more than 50% discount) and 34p at 5:30pm (so more expensive) - so if you can find one that works with your patterns of being at home etc. could result in great savings.

And down to types of electric:
a) electric fan heater, ceramic heater - they are quick, little bit noisy - work like hairdryer - point heat in one direction, also they're the cheapest to buy
b) oil ones - a bit like fire place - slow, but heat goes everywhere
c) infrared are slow, but warm surface rather than air, I have old ceiling heating and it's slow but does the job, cold under duvet, hot on top 😅
d) storage heaters, load heat at night, release later, most expensive £600+ to buy

Safety aspects also need to be considered.
Ceramic are small and keeping them on the floor can be dangerous if you leave something in front of them
Oil rads ger really hot.

I have no idea what's best, but hope that helps a little with figuring out.

UKSBD

Thanks, about what I thought really.

Thing I'm not sure about is, an electric boiler that heats the water that then goes in traditional rads.

Do you know anything about those?

FreeBear

An electric wet heating system is probably the worst system to install. Next best would be high heat retention storage heaters on an E7 tariff, but it is still going to be expensive to run. If you are wedded to the idea of using electricity to heat the property, then a heat pump would be the obvious choice. There is currently a £7500 grant available to help with the cost of installing a heat pump.

onomatopoeia99

Why can't you have an air source heat pump?  They take up about as much room as a non-bunded oil tank, which you imply is what you had before.  At least the 1000 litre single skin oil tank I had at my previous home was similar in size to a heat pump.  They are much cheaper to run than any other form of electric heating and when my gas boiler dies I'm seriously considering one to replace it.

Newbie_John

Electric wet heating system doesn't make much sense - it would work similar to oil radiators plus you need to do all the piping, boiler etc. It only makes sense if the heat comes from another source - heat pump, gas, external etc.

How often will you be at home?
How long do you see yoursefl living there for?

If often and many years - then:
a) heat pumps with grant
b) storage heaters WiFi controlled

We are rarely at home (away 7am - 7pm) and use electric fireplace programmed 4:30-6:30, 19-21 for downstairs on Agile - recent heating costs for small 3 bed were £100 in December, £140 January, £80 February.
Upstairs we have old ceiling heating which is at the end of its life expectancy and when it all breaks I will go for a heat pump, maybe temporarily replacing with oil radiator for a few years as they are quite cheap initially to buy (£25):
https://www.currys.co.uk/products/logik-l15dor22-portable-oilfilled-radiator-black-10236911.html

UKSBD

onomatopoeia99 said:

Why can't you have an air source heat pump?  They take up about as much room as a non-bunded oil tank, which you imply is what you had before.  At least the 1000 litre single skin oil tank I had at my previous home was similar in size to a heat pump.  They are much cheaper to run than any other form of electric heating and when my gas boiler dies I'm seriously considering one to replace it.

I believe they work best creating an ambient heat and to benefit most require underfloor heating, which we can't put in. 

Installation budget is a big factor too, they may save money over a period of time, but I am after a short 7 or 8 year solution as will probably be completey revamping/extending/modernising the property then.

UKSBD

Newbie_John said:

Electric wet heating system doesn't make much sense - it would work similar to oil radiators plus you need to do all the piping, boiler etc. It only makes sense if the heat comes from another source - heat pump, gas, external etc.

How often will you be at home?
How long do you see yoursefl living there for?

If often and many years - then:
a) heat pumps with grant
b) storage heaters WiFi controlled

We are rarely at home (away 7am - 7pm) and use electric fireplace programmed 4:30-6:30, 19-21 for downstairs on Agile - recent heating costs for small 3 bed were £100 in December, £140 January, £80 February.
Upstairs we have old ceiling heating which is at the end of its life expectancy and when it all breaks I will go for a heat pump, maybe temporarily replacing with oil radiator for a few years as they are quite cheap initially to buy (£25):
https://www.currys.co.uk/products/logik-l15dor22-portable-oilfilled-radiator-black-10236911.html

The electric boiler (slimjim), pipework and rads are already there, the rads just a bit tatty and old now.

It was originally oil central heating, but replaced the oil boiler with an electic boiler about 7 years ago. (leaving rads and pipework in situ)

Pipework and electic boiler is fine so was considering just flushing system and fitting new rads

Newbie_John said:

How often will you be at home?
How long do you see yoursefl living there for?

If often and many years - then:
a) heat pumps with grant
b) storage heaters WiFi controlled

That's the problem really, 7 years ago it was a temporary measure, and this time it's looking like the same 

Edit: just to add: original rads and pipework are probably 20+ years old now

UKSBD

FreeBear said:

An electric wet heating system is probably the worst system to install. Next best would be high heat retention storage heaters on an E7 tariff, but it is still going to be expensive to run. If you are wedded to the idea of using electricity to heat the property, then a heat pump would be the obvious choice. There is currently a £7500 grant available to help with the cost of installing a heat pump.

The system is already installed, it's just tha the new electic boiler was installed about 7 or 8 years ago, but the pipework and rads weren't updated, pipework appears fine, but rads are at end of life.

UKSBD

Newbie_John said:

https://www.currys.co.uk/products/logik-l15dor22-portable-oilfilled-radiator-black-10236911.html

This is why I find searching for a solution online such a minefied.
Those oil filled rads (bigger than that one for about £70) look the ideal solution, but then you see the same size fancy things for £300 and wonder just what the difference is?

Newbie_John

UKSBD said:

Newbie_John said:

https://www.currys.co.uk/products/logik-l15dor22-portable-oilfilled-radiator-black-10236911.html

This is why I find searching for a solution online such a minefied.
Those oil filled rads (bigger than that one for about £70) look the ideal solution, but then you see the same size fancy things for £300 and wonder just what the difference is?

You can buy tshirt for £3, £10 and £500 - as long as the £3 may be low quality - there isn't much difference between the £10 and £500 apart from marketing/branding. 

Apart from the above, the more expensive ones come with better warranty, better look, some fancy features (mostly gimmicknes :-D Like this one, AI powered technology :-)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CCPNS29G?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&tag=pepperegc-21&ascsubtag=2660009010

Anyway, regarding heat pumps - they are better with floor heating but they can be used with radiators - try contacting your energy provider and ask about it - this way you can get a free quote with grant applied and avoid all the sales man talks.