Would you install these instead of storage heaters?

[CravingSleep]

We live in an 80s ex council house in a mixed estate. Our road is the only road without gas supplied. (I realise this affects the value of the property but that was how we could afford to buy when we did).

We have 2 storage heaters that could easily be the original ones. One works fine the other gives minimal heat. I'm not a fan of storage heating but it has been unbelievably cheap to run compared to our previous gas heated flat. (We don't use them until winter, then fairly low, don't use hot water for periods at a time so don't heat tank overnight).

We could replace the hallway storage heater but our neighbours have installed this www.economy-radiators.com/electric-radiator-advice.html .
I know absolutely nothing about these type of things at all, and guess whichever firm I ask for advice will be biased towards their product. The neighbours are happy with it, but they moved in and didn't have any intention of using night storage heating. If we changed over we'd move off of economy 7 tarrif (which is currently saving us money due to storage heating).

We don't have a lot of money at all so £2000 is a lot to us - and it feels a lot to spend when we don't really understand electric, replacing a boiler is more understandable!

• Does anyone know of this firm/ this type of heating? Does it work out cost effective. The benefit of being able to control heating is of course huge but we don't want a HUGE increase in bills.
  
  
• We're aware our resale value is sadly limited by not having gas - but would this affect it in anyway? We were hoping that recent-electric heating would sound better than storage heating but both sound expensive to someone used to gas don't they?
  
  We'd love to move from here but until I'm back at work that's unlikely sadly.
  
  We can get gas connected to the house for a few hundred but as the house has no pipework for anything, no radiators, boiler, etc etc it would be thousands and thousands to contemplate.
  
  I'd appreciate any advice.

[hAppyAlice20]

Hi, we bought our 1950's terraced ex council house last year. There was a very old woodburner which fired the central heating (although actually didn't do anything) didn't give off heat to the room or fire the radiators at all, so we took it out and put in a normal woodburner, which works great and keeps downstairs warm when lit. However we now need to decide on heating for the rest of thé house. There is no mains gas. What would people suggest? I've had one plumber , he seems to think lpg canisters in the garden would be best but seems a bit messy? Had wanted to avoid oil, but open to suggestions as honestly completely lost with all this! Someone suggested independent radiators or joule unvented cylinder (electric boiler) . It's starting to get cold so getting a bit desperate.
Don't plan on living here forever so also thinking about what would appeal to buyers in the future...bit confusing !

[stillwearingaredribbon]

We had gas central heating with boiler fitted
Didn't have gas in prior
3 bed semi. It was done by a corgi registered plumber and cost around £3,500

[LiselotteHampton]

Lindsey - neither can I. It says 31 messages but I can't see any. Must be another IT problem.

[Lindsey2104]

I can't read this post :-(

[DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen]

No, I wouldn't touch that company with a barge pole but we had a flat with storage heaters and we turned them off completely and used Argos convector heaters with timers on the plug, about 20 quid each and really economical, much cheaper than storage heaters.

[specialsubject]

as you've asked - a storage heater is a brick that stores heat and so can only store so much. Newer heaters may have better controls. Same as 'magic electric heaters' when the thread was started; the laws of physics are not affected by advertising.

you can try to get economy 10 but it seems to be getting more difficult.

[Sunshine63]

I'm moving to a well insulated flat that has no gas supply but 15 year old storage heaters. As I need heat during the day and like warmth when I get up, these won't be the disaster that some people experience! I'm wondering, though, in view of their age, whether to replace one or two of them initially with newer models, perhaps with a boost function, so they won't run out of heat in the evening or simply get an inexpensive electric heater as back up when their heat runs out? The current owner of the flat does the latter. His bills aren't too bad although they're 20% higher than my current ones using gas heating.Of course, the electricity used by the back up heater will be on the day time tariff which is even more expensive than normal non Economy 7 tariff. Basically I'm asking if new storage heaters are more likely to provide evening heat than the older models and can I avoid paying an expensive rate for additional heating? The washing machine and dishwasher will have timers so they can be used at night, at least!

[PigletJohn]

you can try Southern Electric, they are trying to break into BG's market so may be a bit keener or have a special offer.

One of the advantages of a big company (although their workers are just as average as anyone else's) is that you can be fairly confident they won't go bust or run off with your money, and they can't really get away without honouring a guarantee. If one guy makes a mistake there's always someone you can complain to.

But try to get recommendations from friends and neighbours for a local independent. If you keep your eyes open, over the next year or so you will see some installers vans parked outside customers' houses. Ask for a card and write on the back of it the date, and the address they were working at. Six months later ask the householder for their opinion, most will be pleased to tell you, especially if you chat to them when you're walking by.

[CravingSleep]

Small family - 3 year old and baby, only one bathroom. Managed so far on a storage heater and a half... but it was better with 2.

[CravingSleep]

Thankyou ever so much PigletJohn. Really. Can't thank-you enough. I was so close to going down the electric heating route before thinking I could check on mumsnet...

I know nothing about home improvements/heating/etc as you can tell. (However ask me about philosophy or theology or psychology or education and I will feel far more confident!)

I hadn't realised it didn't need to be a mainstream supplier so it sounds like a bit of a project to find someone trustworthy/ good price etc so will look up some links to boilers then ask the companies for suggestions. I take it I can't get a rough figure from a website without getting individual quotes?

It won't be this year but it will be good to have something to aim for.

Thankyou so much. (Rather un-mumsnetty profusion of gratitude!)

[PigletJohn]

You can rely on British Gas being the most expensive. However it will not hurt to see what special offers or interest-free credit they offer. I was formerly employed by a utility company, and the Marketing Director offered me the employee discount, but it was still more than an independent approved installer.

If I were you I would go for a good brand of boiler (Vaillant or Worcester Bosch, say) then go to the manufacturer's websites and ask for a list of their local approved installers, ask if they give a 5-year parts and labour warranty, then get a few local installers to give you quotes. I have a Viessmann, which is a good brand, but not so many local installers. Find out how long they have been approved installers for that brand, and ask to see their Gas Safe Photo-ID badge. If they get offended at being asked, that is a Bad Sign.

If you are a small family with only one bathroom, a combi boiler will do, but run the kitchen cold tap into a bucket, time it, and see how many litres per minute you get. Less than 12 is not enough and you may need a new incoming water main as well, or else a loft tank. Don't mention this to the installers until they have given you a quote, watch to see if they measure pressure and flow first. If not they have not gathered enough information to do a proper design, which is a Bad Sign.

[CravingSleep]

House is a very small 3 bed end terrace (can't really fit a single in the third room and second room about the size of a double bed!) if that makes any difference?

[CravingSleep]

Thankyou all so much. I might see if I can get some central heating quotes then. I had assumed it would be closer to 10grand. I'd much rather standard heating. Should I just ask British gas? We don't have the money but it might well be worth saving for and we can just make do this winter.

[EssentialFattyAcid]

Piglet John has sound advice
Sadly you are likely to increase your bills and decrease your re-sale value because of this so called "improvement" imo

On the other hand, I think a new gas central heating system would probably add as much value to your house as it costs but I think £3.5k would be about right for the cost. Ask an estate agent for their opinion before you go ahead

[Flightty]

Actually it was about 8 years ago. Just looking at boilers online and they have gone right up. Sorry...but even so, I'm sure it could be done relatively cheaply depending on the size of your house.

[Flightty]

Maybe we got a rubbish boiler But seriously, if it was a little bit more even, it would add such a lot to the value of the property that it'd be a better investment than the electric thingies in the OP.

[DaisySteiner]

2 grand would be a bargain round here.

[Flightty]

no, really. Really John. I'm not arsing about. It wasn't that much. I don't think the boiler cost that for a start. You can easily get them for half that.

[PigletJohn]

wasn't over 2 grand. Including the two or maybe three days of labour and so on

I'm stunned
cheap boiler £650
five rads, say, £400
cheap programmer, £31
5 pairs rad valves, say, £40
inhibitor £15
some pipe
some more pipe
add bits and pieces, fittings and a living wage...

[Flightty]

It depends how large your house is really.

Ours was a detached two bedroom house, we had about 6 rads put in, I think - and a new boiler, all of it had to be drilled through ceilings and pipework connectedthroughout (and it had asbestos - yikes!) and I'm sure, sure, sure it wasn't over 2 grand. Including the two or maybe three days of labour and so on.

It's a much quicker job than you would expect.

[CravingSleep]

Getting connected to gas was about 300 as it's in the next road, but all new radiators and boiler and piping and labour would be a huge huge cost surely?

Wasn't going to replace just one heater with a day heater as day heating on economy 7 is really expensive. If we moved to electric day heating we'd change rate. Looking like it's not such a good option though. Hugely grateful for this thread!

We bought in 2007 just before the crash and we'd need a lot more to move so we might be stuck with replacing a storage heater for now.

[Flightty]

Btw getting an entire gas heating system installed in your house would cost less than this.

If you can get gas connected to the actual premises, you're laughing.

I actually paid towards this in our last house. They dug up the road a bit and connected us and put in a meter, then we got heating installed and I'm sure it was less than a grand...look into it, gas heating is v efficient now and very cheap.

And it works. If you are coping on two ancient storage heaters you will barely need the gas on at all.

Don't buy these electric heaters - it won't up the value of your house as the next people will probably go for the gas anyway.

[Flightty]

I would try to look into getting some solar panels installed on your roof.

You could probably get much more heat out of those than you do from your storage heaters.

There are grants available for doing this plus I think you actually earn money from suplying the national grid with your excess.

[PigletJohn]

I see their prices start at £235 and go up; you can buy electric heaters that work equally well for a tenth the price, personally I would put up with a bit less elegance for that

[QuintessentialShadows]

The thing is, if you are adding electric heaters, you should not need a specialist company to come and install them. It is simple, you fit them to your wall, and plug in the contact! Like you would a wall mounted lamp!

these look nice

Why not keep the storage heater that is working, and just replace with one or two small slim-line electric heaters?