Should my daughter install storage heaters or gas heating

chickmug

The position is that there is gas central heating in her one bedroomed flat that she and her partner own. However there are problems with the boiler and flue. So the likely cost to sort out will be around £5,000. On the other hand storage heaters could be installed for a fraction of the £5,000 (not sure how much - anyone know?)

So if she went down the storage heater route what effect would it have on the saleabilty, of the flat, and on the likely effect on value.

Any help is appreciated.

silvercar

£5000 to sort out a boiler and flue on a 1 bedroom flat!!!!

To install from scratch would cost half that. Get another quote from a CORGI plumber, get some recommendations.

lisal0u

Hi Chickmug,

I live in a flat that has storage heaters and I hate them! They are very expensive to run so I imagine the money you save by installing them you would spend in heating costs.

They are also very impractical. If you have them on to heat up over night and then the next day is warm there is no way of turning them off. So you end up having to open windows and waste money again.

I hope this helps with your decision.

Kind regards
Lisa

PasturesNew

I've never heard anything good said about storage heaters except the cost to buy them is cheaper and they don't need annual servicing.

That said, storage heaters are a pain. They don't look nice. They will put buyers off when you come to sell. They heat up overnight, then they let the heat go, which means if you are work all day you've lost any benefit and I also can't see that you can use them as an "instant heating" solution.

I have a storage heater in my flat. I don't use it. Nasty, scarey looking thing. I use a fan heater instead.

There are some other wall mounted electric heaters available which might be better than storage heaters.

As has been said above, £5k sounds WAY too much. I paid £2500 to install a system from scratch, including 13 radiators into a 6-bed house that was 50' deep and 20' wide on 2 floors just 8 years ago. So that included all the copper pipes to be run from the front to the rear and then throughout the property.

As it's summer, she's not got to decide right now. She could use portable heaters for now while she gets quotes in. And I bet there are some cut price deals in June-August on heating systems.

Megalomaniac

Gas anyday... it's much cheaper than storage heaters... MUCH!

Fred1_2

I've had an estimate of £3500 to rip out storage heaters and instal gas ch from scratch in a one bedroom flat. I reckon that estimate is over the odds, so £5k to sort out an existing gas ch installation sounds like a rip off to me.

I also have nothing positive to say about electric storage heaters and will be getting shot of them ASAP.

barrymoney

I think I've posted this before, but I do see some benefit to storage heaters... perhaps I am alone My gas CH has had problems, very expensive to fix due to the complexity of it all. Modern storage heaters are simple. Also, in a strange way I quite liked the fact you can't fine tune the exact minutes per day it is on. And, the house starts warmer in the morning since they've been charging up overnight.

I guess on balance for a normal house I'd take gas CH, but for a small flat I wouldn't really be put off by storage heaters...
I'll get my coat

Doozergirl

We've just got all the bits to re-plumb a two bedroom house for heating and hot water with all the fittings from B&Q for about £600. Not sure if it's still running but it was if you bought a boiler you got that and all the accessories with 20% off. They calculate everything for you so you don't even need to be technically minded.

We're paying a plumber £750 to fit it all for us. Even dragging our own plumber halfway up the country to do it for us and supply everything would have been £2300.

If you want to go for electric (why) then www.easy-heat.co.uk I think is far better than storage heaters. They are water filled radiators, exactly like GCH ones but they run off a plug socket or you can have an electrician fit them. You also buy a programmer which runs all of the radiators individually to either a certain temperature at certain times so you can heat rooms appropriately through the day - means it runs more economically than simply 'on' or 'off'. Cost to buy for a one bed flat will be about £1300 but you may need separate means of heating water. I'd only do it where gas isn't available.

clutton_2

i loved my storage heaters and regret the day i got rid of them

behappysmile

I have Storage heaters and they are a pain in the rear. You can't just switch them on when you want and get instant heat as they have to store over night and then they pump out heat all day when your at work, so when you get home there's nothing left and you then freeze, and you've paid for the pleasure.
I don't use mine anymore, I've got an electric heater which works lovely. If I had a choice I'd have central heating any day.
Next time I move I'm not even considering a place with storage heaters. However nice the place may be.

chickmug

£5,000 is over the top on the face of it but it is a conversion 15 years old and possibly a bit of a bodge!!! The only place to put the flue is up through the flat above. Workmen will be in that flat for two working days and have warned of potential serious problems with causing much dust and mess in there. The owner of the above flat accepts that the contract says she would have to allow access but has taken advice and now knows it would be impossible to force her to give the access. (Can't say I blame her)

There is one other spot for the boiler but there are two companies doing fine calculations as there is no obvious way to take out the flue so both frims may come back and say impossible.

Believe me there has been a number of Corgi registered companies look including British Gas and it is technically a nightmare.