Replacing Storage heaters

[Aislingwhite]

Hi

I've always had gas central heating so no experience of electric heating but just in the process of buying a small flat with storage heaters (which are about 25 years old). What are my options for upgrading/replacing these economically? Can i just buy replacements or are the panel heaters/electric radiators a better choice? I don't know where to start looking for info really so if anyone can point me to some good websites or have any advice I'd really appreciate it. Thanks

 

[ETAF]

is the flat on economy 7 tariff ?
The storage heaters maybe wired on s separate timed circuit , sometime hardwired into a Switch.

Would be worth working out the saving, replacing storage heaters and how long before you get any outlay back because of efficiency.
Be very very wary of some claims by companies , switching to thier all day type heating, I know someone who did this , first the outlay was £20K and the Electric bill went up by 2.5X as an elderly lady having the heating on all day.
She was told it would be cheaper than her existing 20+ year old heating and more controllable , looking at the reviews they had lots of complaints - Nothing in writing about any saving.

When will you be in the flat, all day , just in evening / weekends ?
How many rooms ?
Is there NO gas in the block ?

 

[AndyPRK]

If on economy 7 just stick with them.

consider adding additional heater in living room if room

electric heating costs what it costs.
It’s not going to be magically more efficient.

 

[flameport]

There is no direct replacement for old storage heaters. Old ones have a single supply, which is only active at certain hours, usually overnight.
Modern equivalents also require a permanent daytime supply, so replacing old storage heaters will mean a significant amount of rewiring.
For installed replacements, expect to pay £600 - £1000 per heater.
Old heaters can usually be repaired for a fraction of the cost of new ones.
Although modern storage heaters have better controls compared to old ones, don't expect massive savings on electricity. Savings will never cover the cost of the new heaters.

If heating is required all day for most days, storage heaters are economical as they use cheaper rate electricity.
Their disadvantage is that you are heating the building all day whether you need to or not.
If heating is only required for a few hours here and there, electric heating which is just switched on as required may be cheaper overall, but only because it will only be used for a short period. The electricity for them will cost more per unit, so using those for long periods will cost more overall compared to storage heaters.

Beware of places selling magical electric heaters which claim to have tiny running costs compared to other electric heaters. It's all lies.
Typical features include special ceramic cores, clays, gels, Italian aluminium, only being switched on for 15 minutes per hour and other nonsense.

 

[Aislingwhite]

Thanks so much everyone for your responses. ETAF, I'm not sure about the economy 7 tariff, we've only just offered on the flat. When I googled I was a bit overwhelmed really by all the info. There are 5 rooms including the hall and then the bathroom which I presume we can get a heated towel rail for? I don't know yet whether there is gas in the block and like the idea of keeping electric heating but the value of the flat isn't worth laying out a lot of money for a new heating system. I'm planning to let it and it would lend itself to an elderly tenant so would rather think about something that is economical for an older person who is at home often to run.

 

[SUNRAY]

There is no direct replacement for old storage heaters. Old ones have a single supply, which is only active at certain hours, usually overnight.
Modern equivalents also require a permanent daytime supply, so replacing old storage heaters will mean a significant amount of rewiring.
For installed replacements, expect to pay £600 - £1000 per heater.
Old heaters can usually be repaired for a fraction of the cost of new ones.
Although modern storage heaters have better controls compared to old ones, don't expect massive savings on electricity. Savings will never cover the cost of the new heaters.

If heating is required all day for most days, storage heaters are economical as they use cheaper rate electricity.
Their disadvantage is that you are heating the building all day whether you need to or not.
If heating is only required for a few hours here and there, electric heating which is just switched on as required may be cheaper overall, but only because it will only be used for a short period. The electricity for them will cost more per unit, so using those for long periods will cost more overall compared to storage heaters.

Beware of places selling magical electric heaters which claim to have tiny running costs compared to other electric heaters. It's all lies.
Typical features include special ceramic cores, clays, gels, Italian aluminium, only being switched on for 15 minutes per hour and other nonsense.

I have just made changes to a rental property with 3.6KW (dual feed) & 1.8KW (Single feed) NSH's in lounge area and 1.8KW single feed NSH in bedroom, I'd been advised by 2 or 3 local heating companies to replace with magic panel heaters.

A chat with my ECP inspector established the property would become unrentable as the rating would drop well below the minimum required if I did away with NSH's.

I was looking at replacements with just the cheaprate powersupply which do still exist. but again the advice from EPC went with replacing the 3.6KW with a high heat retention 3.3KW, do away with the 1.8KW for now to establish if it's required with the modern heaters and replace the bedroom with a programmable panel heater, calculations suggested 1.5KW or 2KW. EPC inspector recommended going for 3KW at only £5 more for faster effect and disconnecting one 1KW element if it proves to be wrong.

That has pushed the property rating up into the next category, way above the threshold for rental and tenant has extolled the virtues of the new lounge heater being warm all day and also noticed the drop in energy consumption. Additionally the location of the second heater was changed to a SSSO 24/7 and now created space for a computer desk.

 

[ETAF]

like the idea of keeping electric heating but the value of the flat isn't worth laying out a lot of money for a new heating system. I'm planning to let it and it would lend itself to an elderly tenant so would rather think about something that is economical for an older person who is at home often to run.

I know nothing about rental requirements , and SUNRAY has posted.
An elderly person may want heating towards the late afternoon , early evening, once the storage heaters are cooling off.
I know that was the case with the example I gave , and basically mislead into this alternative , and now very expensive cost to run heating Historically around 5k/annum, now spending 13K/annum.
During the late afternoon evening , they had electric heaters and fan heaters on in various rooms - BUT the sort of room temperature they wanted was kept around the 24-26C

 

[ericmark]

Said many times, an electric resistive heater is x watts in so x watts out, so no change in efficiency as such. However what can change is the losses, so we start with the building, then consider its use. So for example the church hall used twice every Sunday, for 1 hour at a time, and insulation near non existence, what matters is speed, so the inferred heater likely the best, as hot within minutes, and does not heat the air, so air changes don't matter.

Not quite the same with a home, but still looking at time to heat and heat retention and how long used for, so with a person who works every day, and does not need heating over night we could be looking at 1 hours in the morning and 5 hours in the evening, so likely a fan heater and inferred heater combined would be cheapest to run, not worth the expense of using a heat pump. But come the baby and then used all day, then heat pump or storage radiators may work out better.

In the main storage radiator will not store the heat for full 17 hours keeping the room at a fixed temperature, even with all vents closed in the morning rooms too warm, but in the evening with vents fully open room not warm enough.

There are other options but water tanks are heavy and large.

 

[SUNRAY]

I know nothing about rental requirements , and SUNRAY has posted.
An elderly person may want heating towards the late afternoon , early evening, once the storage heaters are cooling off.
I know that was the case with the example I gave , and basically mislead into this alternative , and now very expensive cost to run heating Historically around 5k/annum, now spending 13K/annum.
During the late afternoon evening , they had electric heaters and fan heaters on in various rooms - BUT the sort of room temperature they wanted was kept around the 24-26C

In the situation I've posted they are saying the stored heat is lasting right through but I'd imagine they're not running at 24°. The lounge area was 4.8KW (input) of NSH and is now 3.3KW and heating the space for longer through the day.

 

[Aislingwhite]

Thanks again everybody for your responses. I really appreciate your time.