Storage heaters - expensive to run?

[smillion]

We've just had our offer accepted on a lovely big house :bannana:

One of the downsides is that the village has no gas and so it has electric storage heaters. The house was built 20 years ago and is a 3200 sq foot 5 bed.

Anyone got storage heaters - are they OK? I've heard that they can be expensive to run and a little inflexible.

Any thoughts/experiences welcome.

 

[Dieselman]

Your assumptions are correct, mainly because electricity is an expensive fuel and the heaters have to charge prior to heat being drawn off which can lead to wastage.
Upgrade the property by adding extra insulation and draughtproofing. Install underfloor heating powered from a heat pump and solar or even an immersion heater.
The UFH will be more efficient on it's own as it heats the structure not the air within.

 

[andy_k]

there's always calor gas, solid fuel or oil fired heating.

In large properties storage heating is incredibly expensive and unsatisfactory.

Andy

 

[smillion]

The house has 2 woodburners, and I am going to look into installing oil central heating although - depends on the cost.

 

[grasmere]

dont be shy about asking new neighbours about their heating experiences, if they have eg oil, gas tank, woodburners etc.

I also believe that UFH is superb and cost lower to run than you would imagine, research on the web should be a start,

and of course let us kow how you get on, could be an interesting project, good luck.

 

[pammy]

Oil is smelly - but if you site the tank out of the way it's fine. I have it in this house and it's incredibly economical and cheap. When I move I'll be back in Gas-land again - wish it was oil there!

Storage heaters are pants as you just don't have the level of control over them.

 

[IanA2]

Take a good look at heat pumps...there are gov grants....nice to get some tax back!!

 

[SGCW124]

Very Good advice above

Andy and dieselman have hit it on the head with the problem wrt storage radiators: it is that they charge up during the night (red hot at 4 in the morning!) and then ebb away during the day thus are relatively tepid in the early - mid evening

If you have to use them for a while make sure any convector flaps are closed to reduce air flow through them and thus hang on to any heat left. Also electricity companies used to offer an economy 9 tariff in addition to economy 7 which means a 2 hour extra top up in the afternoon.

If you have to re vamp I suggest
1) check insulation especially loft window and hot water tank.
2) Underfloor heating is excellent but I would opt for Rads in bedrooms
3) If you have space in tha garden a ground source heat pump will work at its very best with a system that includes UFH - low relative temps)
4) Oil is slightly better than gas but wood pellet fired boilers are said to be the green alternative and fuel price is to date less variable than oil.
5) Opt for a mains pressure system if you can depending og cold water supply pressure and flow
means powerfull showers and no cold water storage tank (hot water is stored at mains pressure)

the Mercedes Benz of heating is sold by viessemann (German made), Vailant are very good too. not cheap by any stretch of the imagination ,but they work on the "Gucci principal" which as Pammy as a lady, will especially appreciate " the qualtiy will remain long after the price has been forgotton"

Finally though it might sound trite get into the habit of putting a jumper on, it;ll buy you time to get your definitive solution to the house heating, a couple of houses ago I didnt and went out and immediately got the only system, I could afford - and regreted it every single day afterwards, fuel hungry boiler, poorly sized radiators and a woefully small hot water tank.

Good luck
Steve

 

[Roger Jones]

I'd give top priority to ensuring that loft insulation is as good as it can be, including lining the loft roof on the inside. I've done that and I don't need bedroom radiators in my small three-storey house. Neighbours who have fitted bedroom radiators have rarely used them, such is the accumulation of heat rising from below.

I envy you your woodburners and I agree with Steve -- a lambswool jumper is worth at least three radiators.

 

[lotusmark2]

I do agree with all above, however I have had storage heaters for 10+years with no issue, its just a matter of getting them set up correctly.
That said I only live in a small semi detatched so I can imagine it would be harder to set up in a larger place.
PS my electric bill is sub £400 for the year and I only have electric.

 

[GregE240]

Can't really add anything, apart from the fact that they are eye-wateringly expensive to run. My last property had them (built 1997; no gas in our area), and I have to say they were next to useless. Coupled with the cost of electricity, I paid nigh on £100 a month for electric.

The other major downside is the utter lack of control you have - the volcanic bricks take forever to heat up, and a while to get completely cold, so if the weather turns, the following may happen:

It quickly goes hot-> cold so your house is chilly as the bricks need to heat up.

It quickly goes cold-> hot so you swelter for 24 hours as the bricks shed heat.

I could not find anything electrical that even came slightly near to replacing them, ergo we were stuck with them. My new house has an oil fired combi boiler, and the degree of control superb, as opposed to non existant.

HTH,
Greg

 

[imadoofus]

We're having electric dry central heating installed in our place in France. Apparently, it's very efficient, and cheap. Having said which, gas is by bottle, so it might just be comparatively cheap. Time will tell.

I don't know how widespread it is in the UK (it's still fairly new), but installation costs against oil-fired will be much cheaper, as the only thing to run between each heater and the thermostat is an electric cable.

PJ

 

[Satch]

The worst house I ever lived in had a hot air night storage unit! A single, immense unit got heated up and then fans blew air over the bricks and out via ducts. Appalling idea and utterly useless, second only to electric ceiling heating in the search for the cheapest and most stupid system developers could find in order to lay claim to the title "Centrally Heated".

In the short term make sure you are on the cheapest Electricity supply tariff. It can vary quite a lot!

http://www.ukpower.co.uk/default.asp

Insulate and consider your options carefully, not forgetting the existing solid fuel route. Old woodburners are hopelessly inefficient compared to modern enclosed stoves which can make a huge difference. The newer ones with stone cladding on the sides act just like storage radiators. Multifuel ones are best, the woodburning ones being limited to just that fuel source. Not cheap though.

 

[smillion]

Some great feedback here thanks everyone.

With 12 storage heaters in the house and three heated towel rails I fear the electric bill may mirror the mortgage.

I'll let you know how we get on.........

 

[grober]

Unfortunately this is not the best time of year to BUY a system. All the special discounted offers tend to be in summer when things are a bit slack in the trade.
Lots of folks in the country used to have big gas tanks in a corner of the garden. Dont know if this is still economical but assuming you can get it filled would ensure continuity of supply which may be an issue in future years. Same applies to a diesel tank of course tho they dont seem to be such a clean alternative..

 

[BTB 500]

We recently looked at a couple of houses that had gas tanks (and cesspits too - ugh). AFAIK oil heating is very expensive now.

We're in a rented house now that has storage heaters ... can't wait to get away from them!

 

[Shude]

My house presently has no central heating, just a couple of gas fires downstairs that are installed in open fireplaces with working chimneys etc, there is also a fireplace upstairs with chimney that is blocked off by a sheet of wood covered in wallpaper that is leaning against it!

Bearing in mind that the house needs damp-proof-course, to be re-wired, re-kitchened, re-bathroomed, re-plumbed and basically re-everything'd what would people suggest? I have the choice of basically everything!

 

[guydewdney]

we have an old house in the country, oil CH and an old style wood burner in the (temporary) living room. Havent been here long enough to know the rfate of oil use - but so far (3 months iirc) we have used about 500 litres of oil....


shude - how much land? pond? stream? if large or yes to pond, then ground source is well worth looking at. Ditto geothermal... Backed up with a basic combi boiler, or megaflow (brand name) system as your best / highest efficiency. Might as well lob a solar panel on the roof n' all... (water, not leccy)

 

[glojo]

the Mercedes Benz of heating is sold by viessemann (German made), Vailant are very good too. not cheap by any stretch of the imagination

Many apologies for asking questions, but just how good are these systems? I have just logged onto the viessemann site and they make the usual 50 - 60% saving on hot water water bills! Has anyone had this system fitted and if so what are the real world experiences?

Regards,
John

 

[Shude]

shude - how much land? pond? stream? if large or yes to pond, then ground source is well worth looking at. Ditto geothermal... Backed up with a basic combi boiler, or megaflow (brand name) system as your best / highest efficiency. Might as well lob a solar panel on the roof n' all... (water, not leccy)

Land? NONE! It is a mid-terrace! It is currently heated by conduction through the stone walls by my neighbours .

I am going to arrange to buy the land at the rear of the house though, my neighbours on one side have done this, it's only about a grand and it's about the same area as the house.