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Original poster

Veiwed house no central heating- experience / advice please

42 replies

dietstartsmonday · 17/01/2013 14:14

Hi

Have seen a house that is ideal apart from has electric stroage heaters.

So heres the questions:

have you got storage heaters? How do they work? are they any good? are they expensive?

Centrel heating - how much is this likely to cost to install?

Thanks

OP posts:
gemma4d · 17/01/2013 18:02

I have a mid-terraced house (so reasonably insulated by other properties, except the kitchen extension) with night storage. Leccy bill is £70 per month (this does everything; no gas etc. Family of 4) so reasonable imo. Also my night storage heaters are decades old, but problem free. I get on fine with them. House is warm enough - including the kitchen which is a 60s add on with pitiful insulation and a small storage heater. We have fairly big rooms too. Re: damp, night storage heaters are very drying (unlike wet systems) - too much damp is certainly not the problem. I put a little pot of water on my biggest heater to return some water back, or we get dry skin.

All I can think is that night storage is fine for reasonably insulated houses, but expensive for poorly insulated houses? It certainly works though.

PigletJohn · 17/01/2013 18:34

do you know if gas is available in the house?

specialsubject · 17/01/2013 19:51

night storage does work if correctly adjusted (stop it losing all the heat in the morning), used with the correct tariff and reasonably modern. But you need to do a lot of planning ahead.

if mains gas is available, cost up having that fitted and consider that in your offer.

MmeLindor · 17/01/2013 19:53

gemma
I think our house would be ok if we had night storage in the whole house, not just in hall and living room.

I still miss the responsiveness of gas though.

ElectricSheep · 17/01/2013 21:43

Was amazed at the £3k quote above for boiler & 7 rads. Phew

I had CH installed 3 years ago boiler + 8 rads for £1.8k. Admittedly engineer used most of the copper piping from previous system.

Sorry OP, tis a very messy invasive job. Floor boards up. Obviously no water. Lots of drilling/mess (which the naughty apprentices 'hid' under the carpet Angry and I had to dispose of). I went to stay with mate for duration.

RE woodburner. They cost £1k-£3k depending on size, brand and length of chimney/flue. So deffo not a cheaper option - unless you've got a source of free fuel.

Original poster
dietstartsmonday · 18/01/2013 13:33

Am going for 2nd view so will really have a look at this and see if gas avalible

OP posts:
narmada · 18/01/2013 22:30

If you are in the SE then I think you need to budget about £5,000 for boiler and rads for a 3 bed house.

Does the house have floorboards or solid floors? If the latter you would likely have to have pipework chased into walls and then budget for plaster to be repaired/ reskimmed. Also removal and disposal of old water tank if you are having a combi.

Make sure your quotes include removal of and disposal of the storage heaters. They are seriously heavy - one of ours was 140kg - and some of the older ones contain asbestos.

Don't be put off tho, I was amazed how quick and straightforward it was to get CH installed - it took just under 4 days in our case.

narmada · 18/01/2013 22:32

I would make some enquiries also about when other fundamentals were last attended to - e.g., wiring, plumbing.

IME houses with storage heaters tend to have other unmodernised aspects...

CanIHaveAPetGiraffePlease · 18/01/2013 22:36

Ours is night storage. We save a fortune. Now we're on the right tarif we have constant heat all day in a 3 bed for 80 a month. Its fantastic and increased energy bills is one of the things that put us off moving.

You do need it set right so you don't end up using heaters on the day rate. But ours are fab.

noddyholder · 19/01/2013 10:23

No! We are in a rented cottage with these and they are awful Bills ££££££ and freezing after 4pm

noddyholder · 19/01/2013 10:53

Also hot water in a tank so much more expensive than combi boiler We are moving next month and can't wait to be rid of them

CanIHaveAPetGiraffePlease · 19/01/2013 10:55

Ours are hot all day. It depends on the rate. If you're on economy 7 it just heats up over night and can run out. Super deal means you get recharged in the afternoon.

Honestly its about how you run a storage heater. We used to hate ours as it got cold in the evening. Now its properly set up its fantastic. Constant heat (I'm a sahm so often home) and so much cheaper.

Central heating is more convenient, easier to control, but so much more expensive.

noddyholder · 19/01/2013 11:08

What is super deal? (shivering here)

CanIHaveAPetGiraffePlease · 19/01/2013 11:23

Its a different rate. We hated our storage heaters and spoke to a heating engineer to get them changed. He was the one who told up how to get on top of them -got us to speak to southern electric to get changed from economy 7 to to super deal. This heats up the storage bricks overnight, and again for 2 hours in the afternoon. Made a huge difference. Also told us how to set the controls - we now have a constantly warm house and pay 80 pounds a month.

gregssausageroll · 19/01/2013 14:16

Storage heaters are food but only when set up properly on the right tariff. If you are not get it checked by your supplier.

gregssausageroll · 19/01/2013 14:16

Good even!

noddyholder · 19/01/2013 14:17

Thanks am going to look into it

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