electric radiators

[HCM]

I am thinking of changing my night storage heaters to electric radiators as I am out of house all day and need more heat in the evening. I know I would have to have wiring changed so that electric radiators use both Econ 7 and day rate.
Does anyone have experience of electric radiators and how good they are? There are several types - oil filled, water filled, and ones with thermpanels.
Any advice gratefully received - there is very little info on them available.

 

[stem]

Don't do it! Storage heaters use cheaper off peak electricity which is charged at about one third of the normal rate.

If you change your storage radiators for peak rate electric heaters I would expect to see your electricity bill double or even treble.

I would consider fitting a storage heater with a built in separate convector that runs on normal rate electricity as a top up to assist the storage heater when needed.

Some energy suppliers used to provide a tariff which allows you to have an afternoon/evening top up for storage heaters later in the day at a discounted rate. (Heatwise is one example) You could check to see if something is still available.

Have you tried setting the output or boost control to minimum whilst you are out of the house? This will conserve the heat until you come home in the evening when the output or boost control can be set to max.

 

[Steve]

Dont fit electric heat.

If you have the spare cash, have a look into heat pumps as an alternative.

 

[davy_owen_88]

Firstly, if you are running out of heat during the evening, check to see if your supplier offers economy 10, they may not advertise it, but that doesn't mean they don't offer it. E10 gives you cheap rates at (roughly) Midnight - 5AM, 1PM-4PM and 8PM-10PM allowing you to top up just before you get back from work and before you go to bed.

I hate to say it, but please ignore anyone who tells you outright to dismiss electric heating. Yes it will be more expensive per kw of heat output, but you do have to factor in the installation costs, the yearly servicing costs, the repair work from having the system installed and the systems estimated lifetime.

A standard central heating system installed from scratch is going to be upwards of £3k. A well insulated house (>270mm loft insulation, cavity wall insulation etc) will easily get by with a 400w panel heater in each room (perhaps 2 in the main rooms) and at £30 each for a slimline panel heater, you are looking at a standard house costing about £300-£420 for the heaters plus a days work to swop them for the storage heaters. Saving you about 2 grand initially.

Servicing costs for electric heaters are non-existant and there's almost nothing that can go wrong with them when installed correctly. Even at peaktime E10 rates (18p/unit ) each one only costs about 7p per hour and at off-peak E10 rates (8p/unit) only about 3p per hour.

It's definitely worth doing the maths and seeing which works out better for you, but I've got the panel heaters linked to above and I find they do a lovely job of heating the house without the expense and loss of space associated with central heating.