Electric Storage Heaters (off gas - 1-bed flat)

[GasManAlex]

Hi Guys,

My brother in law is buying a flat at moment that has old style storage heaters. He asked my advice but it's not something I've ever actually dealt with.
He can't get gas and it's only a small 1-bedroom first floor flat. I thought maybe get off Economy 7 and put a new style electric radiator in its place (also frees up some much needed room in the flat!)

(Water is heated by a 80/100L direct cylinder - so will be leaving that as it is!)

Anyone got any experience of this ?

Cheers!

 

[rpm]

Isn`t it worth staying with Economy 7 for the overnight water heater, re the rads a friend of mine brought water /glycol rads that look like conventional rads and all you do is plug in to a normal wall socket. Can be set for on/off times and work quite cheaply according to her electric bills and she likes living @22 degrees. lol

 

[GasManAlex]

I was thinking that - something like this:
Thermostatic Electric Radiators, White Atlantic Galapagos

I think I will advise to put a small water heater under the kitchen sink (10 Litres unvented) and then put an electric shower in the bathroom. Then there is no need to heat all that water up every day. Only for showering and washing up it seems silly.

 

[rpm]

There is a lot to choose from out there but £583 for 1 radiator!

 

[Chuck]

When you're used to paying ca 3p / kW hr for heat from gas you need to recalibrate your intuition when guesstimating the pay-back time for things like controls and insulation when using leccy at ca 15p / kW hr.

Some measures that are uneconomic with a gas system start making a lot of sense with leccy. I'm a big fan of 'boost' controls, like the 4hr timers made by Timeguard, particularly for things like towel rails that get turned on and are easily forgotten.

I'd be amazed if it worked out cheaper to come off the E7 tariff for an all-electric flat with a storage heater. Particularly a modern one that you can shut off during the day.

 

[GasManAlex]

I had a thought over night: How about putting a instant HW shower type unit with a pump where the cylinder is at the moment which will feed the whole house's taps?

 

[Chuck]

I had a thought over night: How about putting a instant HW shower type unit with a pump where the cylinder is at the moment which will feed the whole house's taps?

It's a flat, so don't forget to make sure the pump is quiet enough not to annoy the neighbours. (Pro tip: it won't be!)

 

[Chuck]

It's a flat, so don't forget to make sure the pump is quiet enough not to annoy the neighbours. (Pro tip: it almost certainly won't be!)

 

[GasManAlex]

Thanks Chuck. I guess not a great idea then because the flat is in the middle of a block too! I wish it had gas it cost me more work time to do it for him but it'd be much cheaper in long run. Maybe better to worry about this closer to the Winter!
It just such a waste to heat the water and I hate storage heaters!

 

[Sedgy40]

You can get efficient electric storage heaters now
Also fan assisted to blow the heat into the room.

 

[gpbeck]

Also,worth remembering he's not heating up a whole tank a day unless he uses it all. Otherwise he's just matching consumption and cylinder heat losses which can be minimised.
On economy 7 pretty much no cheaper way to heat water.