Any views on economy radiators? Pigletjohn?

[bimbabirba]

Hi,
My plumber recommended this company [[www.economy-radiators.com/ for electric radiators]
We need to heat a garage conversion (it had already been converted when we bought the house) to make it into my son's room. We also need to heat the water. It was used as a work studio so although there's a loo, it doesn't have a shower and doesn't have hot water.
What are my options in terms of heating the room and water?
Gas could be brought from main house and a combo boiler fitted but plumbers advise it's not worth it and just go with electric.
I'm scared of the electricity bill!
If we go for electric, should be opt for an electric shower or fit an immersion heater?
Sorry about all the questions!

Link fail here

Do you know much about the conversion - when it was done? To what spec? Garages tend to be a bit gerry-built so I'd want to be sure that it had been insulated as much as possible before dealing with what sort of heating it should have. You can get very efficient immersion heaters (they are very heavily insulated so the water stays warm for a long time and, in a smaller tank - 50l or 70l - it only takes about 20 minutes to heat it up) but heating the room solely by electricity would make me a bit nervous unless I was sure the heat would stay inside.

All electric rads cost the same to run.
To save money when you have electric heating you need to increase insulllation all round - roof walls, ceiling, windows.

There are so many ifs and buts I don't think there is one right answer of what would be best.
If it is well insulated then fitting electric Under floor heating can be a good solution. Fairly cheap to fit and you can have timer and thermostat - which you really should have. You must go for the "backing board" which sends the heat up and means the floor will heat up within 30 mins.

If it was highly used and gets hot in summer I might invest in a air-air heat pump which is air con in summer and heater in winter. This is electric but (possibly) fr cheaper to run than electric rads. Installation could cost around £1,000.

Personally, I wouldn't use the Economy radiator company. I've had no end of problems with them. They don't answer the phone and if there is a fault they refuse to believe it!

I agree. I would not recommend. The radiators are really poor quality and they don't deliver what's promised. The Economy Radiator Company reckon that the radiators are great quality so are somehow cheaper to run.

I can tell you that they are very flimsy and have no weight to them at all. They go cold when they are supposed to be on. They are impossible to program. The manual is a nightmare and written in foreign language. The radiators make clicking noises. The electricity usage is no lower than older heaters.

because of the way they work, all electric heaters give out the same amount of energy (heat) as the amount of energy they use (electricity)

there are some crooks marketeers who will try to make you think that by paying extra for a heater you can cause energy out to be greater than energy in.

I notice that their 500W heater is priced at £222 incl VAT, and their 1600W heater is £312. By chance, this is almost exactly ten times the price of an ordinary electric heater of the same power from a high street supplier. You could spend the other 90% on improved insulation or a short holiday somewhere warm. Or send it to me.

I wouldn't say that it is crooked, but agree that no the heaters aren't worth more than cheap high street ones.

My point is that they are sold as a high quality heater so they cost more, but they are simply not good quality for the reasons I gave above.

Cost to run an electric heating appliance is kW multiplied by the hours it is on, this gives kWh. Cost per kWh is determined by your electricity tariff

Science doesn't change if you pay extra.

Facts aren't rude.

My mother had an electric instant hot water under sink boiler thing installed for her tiny flat, it works great.