Would a plug-in electric panel heater system be cost-effective

[TheOctagon]

In the autumn of 2010 I bought a semi-detached house whose seller claimed that it had a functioning gas central heating. It turned out that the central heating does not actually work, though the gas fire does. (The seller, after selling, went AWOL, so I'm not interested in fielding comments that I should have claimed something back.) The house was bought as a "fixer-upper". Since then, I've spent most of my spare time taming the gardens ("low-maintenance" gardens gone wild -- the worst sort) and the outbuildings. (I know, that's three years. But I have a full-time job, and I am by nature a keyboard-tapper rather than a hammer-wielder.)

Now I'm on to the insides of the house. The house currently has no gas central heating and no central hot water. I get my hot water by boiling a kettle or by turning on the electric shower. I heat my living room with the working gas fire, and the other rooms with cheap, plug-in, 400-watt panel heaters. The only time I want hot water out of a tap is when I am doing the washing up (when the kettle suffices) or when I wash my hands (when cold water will do, given that, at a push, the kettle can be used, and the electric shower always works). I work 9-5, so I don't need hot water throughout the day.

The house has radiators throughout, none of which do any good at the moment. I've managed perfectly well, for the last three years, with one gas fire and a few electric panel heaters. Each panel heater is turned on and off using an inexpensive (-£5) mains timer. Cheap, modern electric panel heaters can be changed at will, and their on/off status can be controlled using internal thermostats and/or cheap, plug-in mains timers. If one breaks, it can be thrown out and replaced quickly with a trip to Argos. A gas central heating problem requires a costly visit from a man in a van. The call-out itself is expensive, as is the loss of productivity if I need to book a day off work to wait for him to arrive.

I can afford the cost of getting gas central heating installed. I want to know whether that would be a good decision.

My question is, should I follow the public consensus and get gas central heating installed? Or is the public consensus based on thinking that is outdated, tens of years old? Is it reasonable to stick with my electric heating method, and to extend that to the living room? Or is gas-based heating so overwhelmingly cost-effective that electric is not even worth considering.

I want to hear from:

• People who have faced the same dilemma
  
• People who have all of the gas and electricity cost facts to hand
  
  I don't want to hear from:
  
  
• People who haven't considered my dilemma, but are irrationally wedded to their own method of heating, because that's what they do.
  
• People whose view of electric heating is based on storage heaters. I am not considering them, but modern panel heaters, run on timers.
  
  I'd be happy to be persuaded that gas central heating is still the way to go; but I would want to be persuaded by rational argument, not brow-beaten by axe-grinders. Equally, I'd be more than happy to be encouraged to rip out the ancient, useless gas central heating system and not replace it.

[specialsubject]

no need for persuasion, just maths.

Tell us your annual bill - presumably you have shopped around for the cheapest electricity supply?

then those who have gas CH can tell you their bill. You then add on the £3k or so for a new boiler and a system revamp, and see what makes sense.

both gas and electric prices will continue to go up, but by approximately the same amount. A gas boiler should also be serviced, allow £100 a year.

[PigletJohn]

The running costs will not be easy to compare if you are looking at a cold house with no running water and no baths vs. a warm house.

Energy per kWh costs about three times as much for electricity as for gas. Efficiency of boilers is much higher than efficiency of gas fires.

If you wanted to have a warm house and hot water, gas would be the cheapest way to achieve it, and reduce wastage by improving insulation and draughtproofing whatever your energy source.

We do not know what is wrong with your old system and what it would cost to repair it.

[MummytoMog]

Are you proposing to sell at any point? Gas central heating is a must for a lot of buyers. So worth considering. Of course if you're planning on staying forever, not an issue.

Do you have an idea of how much your panel heaters cost per month per room? I am currently deciding whether to run our central heating into an outbuilding (expensive and liable to cause problems with pipework freezing) or do something similar to you and run an electric heater on a timer.

[Bunbaker]

PigletJohn is spot on. Having lived in a freezer house with no central heating and now living in one with hot water and heating on tap, I know which I prefer. I associate boiling a kettle to wash up with my student days

[NoArmaniNoPunani]

We've got modern panel heaters as you describe. I can tell you my bills but as piglet john has said that might not be of any use to you. We don't have the option to install gas as our whole estate is electric only. I wouldn't go back to gas now even if I could

[specialsubject]

and of course there are many other factors.

do you live in a sunless Scottish glen or in a sunny southern place? Does the house itself get much sun? What insulation does the house have? What about the windows?

doesn't sound like you are a tropical type who expects to walk round in your knickers in the depths of winter, so that also means your bills will be different from those who do.

[wonkylegs]

We have had clients who have wanted us to investigate whether to go with modern electrical panel system or traditional gas heating set up and other alternative methods and every time on a life cycle costing of 10years the traditional system works out best when using typical average usage calculations + installation costs.
We often put in other systems for other reasons, environmental concerns, specific situations or client preferences.
The difficulty in calculating comes when you are looking at abnormal usage and factoring in what you've already invested in. Most of my clients are starting from scratch which is a whole lot easier to base calculations on.
One thing that is worth making sure if you are using lots of electrical panel heaters is that your electrical circuits aren't being overloaded.

[deste]

My sisters house has electric blown air heating which is very effective. It heats up almost instantly but is very old and probably needs changed. The reason we are going with electric panel heaters is because she has solar panels and the electric during daytime is free so she only has to pay for evening use.

[PigletJohn]

Some of the old UK warm-air heating systems use a big block of concrete as a heat store, which can be heated off-peak. There are probably not many still in use as Gas is generally cheaper. An electrician acquaintance was asking about finding parts last year and I was able to give him the trade name which helped him track them down.

[valiumredhead]

Many houses where I live have the old hot air system piglet, some friends are having problems sourcing parts as the systems are so old now.

Go for gas OP if you possibly can, especially if you plan to sell at some point. My mum is in an all electric flat-never again! And I wouldn't ever consider buying an all electric house in the future tbh.

It depends on so many factors such as insulation, position of the house etc as to whether it'll be cost effective to run. Which is unhelpful but true

[deste]

Can you name the trade name pigletjohn as we are trying to source a fan. I think it is an Airdun system or is that the trade name.

[PigletJohn]

I don't know Airun.

The brand-name that was used by the "Electricity Boards" was Electricaire and there are still people selling parts.