Infrared Heating for Home

WiserMiser

What do the occupants of the other flats use?

squirrelpie

Thanks for the link. That site says the project was completed in 2009, so relatively recently. But the website is a structural engineer's so doesn't give any detail on things like insulation. You'd need to find the architect and ask them I suspect.

Windows should be easy: if you look at the edge of the windows you can see the sealing strips that are used to seal the glass panes together. You should be able to see various things like - what colour are they? is there just one (double-glazed) or two strips (triple-glazed). The sealing strips may have things printed on them, and there may be writing etched in the corner of the glass. Those would help identify how well insulated they are. Are the frames wood or plastic, or something else?

Walls are more difficult unless you can find any holes. Which you shouldn't be able to!

2_4

Let's say it's well insulated. The glass is double and I can see writing something like ADJ GLASS KM5 1143 BSEN 1273-£ - or something like that. My father in-law did some electrics and commeneted on how much insulation there was in the walls but I can't remember what depth he said but he needed a very long screw!

tamste

Storage heaters work well if you can get on a TOU tariff such as E7.

Reasonably expensive to buy, but do the job with electric a fraction of the day rate.

tfhnota

You can get all-in-one A2A heat pumps that are like extra large radiators and sit indoors and use the normal 13 amp plugs so easy on the electrical side, they do need two adjacent 5/6 inch holes bored thru an outside wall which are covered by grills (drill from inside, fit grills whilst hanging off a ladder?), they are terribly overpriced in the UK and you want to go for the inverter type, around £800-1200, some on eBay.

2_4

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81999593#Comment_81999593

It seems there are fewer and fewer such tarriffs these days. Additionally our usage is quite unusual as we're probably away about 8 months of the year and then in a lot during the other four months. Storage heaters just seem like a bit of a headache trying to work out if they would be worth it.

QrizB

It seems there are fewer and fewer such tarriffs these days.

Every supplier offers an Economy 7 tariff. Several suppliers also have other tariffs that often work out cheaper than E7, for example Snug Octopus (currently not accepting new sign-ups due to energy price volatility).

We're probably away about 8 months of the year and then in a lot during the other four months.

Which four months are you home for? Being home for December to March will be quite a different heating demand to if you're home from June to September.

Or does it vary?

WiserMiser

Many if not most suppliers will allow you to switch from E7 to single rate. You could have E7 during the heating season and single rate at other times.

Needless to say, even if you're not in residence in the winter you'll still need heating (albeit to a lower temperature) to prevent burst pipes, mould growth and to keep your insurance company happy.