HHR Storage Heaters instead of a heat pump

JoeyMudflats

I want to retire my gas combi boiler, which is now only used for central heating in the winter months. I have no other use for gas, so I could remove my gas supply and save the daily standing charge.

All the advice is 'fit a heat pump'. But I don't have much outdoor space and my wife wouldn't like the look of it. Also we would still have water pipes through the house and radiators, which are ugly, and not easy to control individually and accurately.

I have solar panels, a Tesla powerwall battery, and an electric car. I'm on the Intelligent Octopus Go tariff. Peak rate 28p/kwh, off-peak 7p/kwh at 23:30 - 05:30, and export 15p/kwh.Gas is just under 7p/kwh. I hardly buy any peak rate electricity - the battery runs the house through the day.

I reckon if I install storage heaters I can charge them at 7p/kwh in six hours overnight, and if I get modern (Dimplex Quantum) High Heat Retention units they will keep the house warm until they recharge at 23:30 each night. Assuming the gas boiler is 90% efficient and the storage heaters are 100% efficient, I'll save a little money (if only on the daily standing charge for gas) and I'll be able to have each room at the temperature I want at the times I want. 

However I've trawled the internet and I can't find anyone (apart from the manufacturer Dimplex!) recommending this route. Is there something I've missed?

I have bought and installed one storage heater, in my hallway, and it has performed faultlessly for a year. I plan to rip the gas system and its radiators out next spring and install storage heaters through the house in time for next winter.

I've checked that my grid supply won't be overloaded. I have a 100A supply, which I know is higher than standard. I think this house originally had an electric hot air central heating system.

Does anyone have any advice for me? 

WiserMiser

How old is the boiler? How reliable?

Probably a bit premature to go for HHRs if you have gas, electricity is still about four times the cost of gas, and there's no guarantee that favourable tariffs such as E7 will always be available.

Scot_39

Getting too obsessed with todays prices is meaningless under the current net zero transition - and potential political changes.

Electric costs have been rising not due to markets but net zero transition and forecast to continue to do so for years.

The changes in the budget are biased to lower electric - to offset some of the cost - but plans only as far as 2029.

Forward prediction on price alone is a fools game for running costs.

Since control seems to be your main goal - have you considered going for a smart thermostat and linked smart room trv setup - that might provided a more regulated and programmable alternative to ripping everything out.

zxzxzx

Have you considered A2A, could be feasible with the new government grant. Added bonus of cold air con in the summer might be welcome in future years?

SCOP 4 ish, and great with solar/battery combo!

Having re-read, the heat pump can be high wall mounted to please ‘her’!?

RedFraggle

I prefer my dimplex quantums to the GCH most properties I've lived in have had. However, we are electric only with no choice.
I like all the things you like, super controllable, no maintenance. But, I've never lived with a modern fully controllable GCH system and suspect I'd have a very different opinion if I had. 

Reed_Richards

What do you do about hot water and how much do you spend on it?  You could heat a tank of water overnight using an immersion heater at your 7p/kWh rate and that would last most households through the day.  But doing the same thing with a heat pump might reduce that cost to 7/3p = 2.3p per kWh.  Would that give you a significant saving over the year?

QrizB

I'm curious. You say:

JoeyMudflats said:

... we would still have water pipes through the house and radiators, which are ugly, and not easy to control individually and accurately.

But you're thinking of storage heaters, which are bigger than wet CH radiators and aren't exactly attractive.

Control of temperature room-by-room isn't generally necessary (or even advisable) but if you want to go down that route then an integrated system with smart TRVs can deliver it.

IOWJJBTM2025

I have a combi boiler and was under the impression that this was one of the most economical ways to get hot water as you only heat the water you need. I thought combi boilers do not have a hot water tank so not sure how you get hot water?
My understanding is that heat pumps only heat radiators to 45 - 50 degrees. I did a quick test in the winter last year and for one day turned the heating temp to 45 degrees on the combi boiler and found it struggled to keep the house warm enough.
Therefore maybe do a test now it is cold to understand if you need bigger radiators if you convert to heat pump.
A benefit is I have noticed that EV tariffs seem to like to charge larger gas standing charges. Next Drive charges 60p per day for gas = £219 per year.

WiserMiser

IOWJJBTM2025 said:
A benefit is I have noticed that EV tariffs seem to like to charge larger gas standing charges. Next Drive charges 60p per day for gas = £219 per year.

Can you not have gas from a different supplier?

debitcardmayhem

IOWJJBTM2025 said:

I have a combi boiler and was under the impression that this was one of the most economical ways to get hot water as you only heat the water you need. I thought combi boilers do not have a hot water tank so not sure how you get hot water?
My understanding is that heat pumps only heat radiators to 45 - 50 degrees. I did a quick test in the winter last year and for one day turned the heating temp to 45 degrees on the combi boiler and found it struggled to keep the house warm enough.
Therefore maybe do a test now it is cold to understand if you need bigger radiators if you convert to heat pump.
A benefit is I have noticed that EV tariffs seem to like to charge larger gas standing charges. Next Drive charges 60p per day for gas = £219 per year.

Some mistake there it’s 30+p for gas , 60p for leccy

JoeyMudflats

Thanks for all your comments. I'm sorry I forgot to explain in my OP that I have installed a hot water tank, immersion heaters and a Myenergi Eddi 'solar diverter' to control the immersion heaters. I heat the tank at the overnight rate which usually lasts the day. If it doesn't, I can easily boost it, and the Powerwall battery usually has enough charge to bring the tank back up to temperature. So although I have a combi boiler I'm no longer using it to heat water.