Wibo night storage heaters

russell_church

Does anyone have any experience of these heaters. They are only sold direct to the householder via a leaflet posted through the door. My very old Auntie has been sold two, and they look to be very expensive.

gpitkin

You will be v interested to see http://www.asa.org.uk/asa/adjudications/non_broadcast/Adjudication+Details.htm?Adjudication_id=42322

toni_carter

I bought 2 wibo heaters in May 2007.Although more expensive than most heaters,they have proved very economical to run and provide a good heat to the room.I am very pleased with them.

Cardew

toni_carter wrote: »

I bought 2 wibo heaters in May 2007.Although more expensive than most heaters,they have proved very economical to run and provide a good heat to the room.I am very pleased with them.

Why are they more economical?

They cannot give out any more heat for your money than any other form of electrical heating.

Do you not believe that the ASA ruling against the firm was justified?

This forum is full of posts from people recommending electrical heating systems that make the most outrageous claims.

It cannot be said often enough that all forms of electrical heating give out exactly the same amount of heat for your money.

So a £20 Heater from Argos or wherever will produce the same heat as these devices for the same money.

Inactive

toni_carter wrote: »

I bought 2 wibo heaters in May 2007.Although more expensive than most heaters,they have proved very economical to run and provide a good heat to the room.I am very pleased with them.

Good for you, you could have saved money by just buying cheaper storage heaters.

Cardew

Inactive wrote: »

Good for you, you could have saved money by just buying cheaper storage heaters.

I don't think they are storage heaters as such. i.e. they don't heat up at night on an economy 7 tariff and discharge that heat during the day.

As I understand it, they work on the principle of oil filled radiators in that they retain the heat after the power is switched off. - but of course neglect to mention that they take longer to heat up.

There are a number of similar products on the market, all claiming to have radiators filled with different substances with special properties!!

Steer well clear!!! Just a waste of money IMO

alfie-m_2

I have put a lot of research into these heaters and they are a really good idea..

The facts

• Look almost identical to central heating radiators - I still cant understand why storage heaters look so ugly!
  
• Uses tungsten heating elements accross the base of the radiator - tungsten (unlike oil) heats up extreamly quickly and takes a long while to cool down.
• There are 2 fire clay storage blocks for heat retention aswel as tungsten mesh heating matts across the front which heat up and radiate the heat, these also stay hot long after the power is cut off.
• Remote/Wireless thermostat enables you to program the heaters so when you leave the house in the morning it automatically drops the temp by a set amount and then increase when you get home, this way you never forget to turn down the heat thus saving you money.

I will agree however that they are seriously expensive. A 1.5kw version will set you back nearly £1500, you could almost run a normal convector heater for 3 years and break even.

I however just bought a 2kw and a 1kw second hand, got the pair for £100 as the people who sold them had installed centeral heating in the rest of their home. They are not THE BEST heating ever but for people without central heating its an economical alternative to storage heater (which by 7pm appreox) tend to have gotten cold and you end up using a convector to backup the heat anyway.

If anyone has any better suggestions im all ears but I wouldnt just rubbish them straight away without knowing whats what.

Alfie

Cardew

alfie-m wrote: »

I have put a lot of research into these heaters and they are a really good idea..

The facts

• Look almost identical to central heating radiators - I still cant understand why storage heaters look so ugly!
• Uses tungsten heating elements accross the base of the radiator - tungsten (unlike oil) heats up extreamly quickly and takes a long while to cool down.
• There are 2 fire clay storage blocks for heat retention aswel as tungsten mesh heating matts across the front which heat up and radiate the heat, these also stay hot long after the power is cut off.
• Remote/Wireless thermostat enables you to program the heaters so when you leave the house in the morning it automatically drops the temp by a set amount and then increase when you get home, this way you never forget to turn down the heat thus saving you money.

I will agree however that they are seriously expensive. A 1.5kw version will set you back nearly £1500, you could almost run a normal convector heater for 3 years and break even.

I however just bought a 2kw and a 1kw second hand, got the pair for £100 as the people who sold them had installed centeral heating in the rest of their home. They are not THE BEST heating ever but for people without central heating its an economical alternative to storage heater (which by 7pm appreox) tend to have gotten cold and you end up using a convector to backup the heat anyway.

If anyone has any better suggestions im all ears but I wouldnt just rubbish them straight away without knowing whats what.

Alfie

Welcome to the forum.

The 'rubbishing' (as you term it) is of their claims - rather than the products.

As has been stated time and time again, all electrical heating is 100% efficient in turning electrical energy into heat. So your £30 heater of any type produces exactly the same amount of heat.

For all your tungsten/clay virtues, they still produce no more heat(measured in any way you wish) for your money than any other heater - including the humble oil filled radiator.

These hugely expensive systems are marketed so that the uninformed public reading their advertising blurb think that they have some magic way of producing heat cheaply - and they do not.

Sure it is convienient to have an integrated control system, but some of those functions you can do with a remote controled timer costing a few pounds.
Of course it makes sense if you can buy equipment costing several thousand pounds for £100 - who wouldn't buy at that price if you have to have electrical heating.

However to buy from new is just a joke.

alanfrankie

Hi, first post from someone in a similar position to others in that Gas heat is not an option so cheap...most economical(!) possible electric option is being sought.

I still feel that there may be a benefit in finding an electric heater that contains a substance that heats up and cools down more quickly (unless it costs a fortune!).

If you turn on a standard £30 heater for one hour and a more advanced equivalent at same power level for the same time surely the faster heat up and slower cool down times of the latter will give you heat for a longer durationnat no additional cost?

I appreciate this has been an ongoing point, but wanted to put it across in my words and probably get put in my place before spending any money!

Cardew

alanfrankie wrote: »

If you turn on a standard £30 heater for one hour and a more advanced equivalent at same power level for the same time surely the faster heat up and slower cool down times of the latter will give you heat for a longer durationnat no additional cost?

!

Welcome to the forum.

Unfortunately that statement in bold is part of the misleading advertising and the heaters do no such thing.

A heater will not do both - heat up quickly and cool down slowly - it simply cannot!!

Without getting too technical, all electrical heating is 100% efficient. So for a given cost, all forms of electrical heating produce the same amount of heat - measured in joules.

So the heat produced from 1kWh of electricity has to go somewhere.

Now if you have a convector(fan) heater the heat is produced virtually instantly, but as soon as you switch off power the heat goes.

If you have a radiator filled with a 'substance'(water/oil/clay etc), the heat initially goes to warm that substance'. The denser that substance the more heat it will absorb and the longer it will take for the radiator to produce heat.

The other side of the coin is that the radiator retains the heat longer.

However the end result for all forms of heating is they produce the same amount of heat.

The misleading part of the advertising is to say they heat up quickly - and cool down slowly. Quicker than what? slower than what?

Your £30 oil filled radiator works on exactly the same principle as these clay filled radiators, and produces exactly the same amount of heat for your money.
If the oil filled radiator heats up at a slower rate than the clay wilbo heater, then it will retain heat longer and vice versa.

There ain't no such thing as a free lunch!!

cheekyjones

Hello Cardew,

Totally new to this forum. Actually first time on a forum at all!

We live in a cottage with old Dimplex storage heaters 7 XT24 and 2 XT12. + no heaters at all in the kitchen, only towel heaters in the 2 bathrooms (it is cold!) with 2 little fan heaters (noisy!) to supplement. Our storage heaters are a total waste of money. They are not working very well, we are cold in the evenings and have no control of our heat.

So, we have decided to change them all. We thought we should view this expense as a big investment and were prepared to pay the price for a great system.

First we are moving from economy 7 to economy 10 at the end of this month.

I have been looking at Wibo. You say there is not such a thing as a free lunch, I agree. But the reason Wibo say that their heaters do both (heat up quickly and cool down slowly) is because they seem to contain 2 different heat sources:
1 the tungsten element that gives the instant convected heat,
2 whilst charging the clay panel which will provide radiant heat and keep that heat longer and therefore cool down more slowly after being turned off...

It made total sense to me. I thought I'd found the ideal system. That, plus the fact that their thermostat and timer controls are so refined, it makes you feel in total control of your heat.

Then I went on this forum (initially to try and compare Sueka with Wibo, as I was considering them both) and I saw all your comments... And I felt SOOO depressed! I have been searching for hours over the last 2 months and just want to take a decision. Beside driving my husband mad, I have started dreaming about heaters!!!

So, if we want our rooms to be kept warm, how about Dimplex CXLS 18 (instead of 24 because they would charge over 10 hours instead of 7 with the 2.5 extra hours in the afternoon) combined storage heaters? they would hopefully keep our room at a decent temperature, they also, apparently, take into account outside change of temperature (HOW???) and when we go in a room and want a heat top up, we can just turn on the combined convectors for that instant heat top up...

They are very ugly though and enormous!!

Or how about straight forward slimline storage heaters with underfloor heating (to avoid another set of heaters) as a top up. Except underfloor heating probably would take too long to warm up, we are carpetted.

It is driving me mad. My husband believes that we should just buy straight forward panel heaters and turn them up when we need the heat. It is tempting but I am worried about the running cost as they will use up electricity constantly. We already pay about £2800 a year on our electricity bills. 12 rooms, all electrical. Having said that, how long will the electricity providers keep these deals of cheaper electricity going??

I now feel totally stuck. I don't know what to do and would welcome your impartial advice and comments over Wibo's 2 heat sources. Even if you probably feel you have already explained it... And do you know of any other brands that would have this easy radio controlling thermostat/timer. Could you also recommend other good brands for storage heaters other than Dimplex? As they are not the cheapest...

Thank you...