Oil radiators vs. Electric radiators

[cheeseandketchupsandwich]

Lying here stressing then realised I can ask you lovely lot for advice!

We've just moved into a house in a village that has no gas so we're relying on storage heaters downstairs for heating.

Upstairs has electric radiators which need replacing and we're struggling to decide between electric radiators vs oil-filled radiators in the bedrooms.

We've never used electric heaters of any kind before so would appreciate advice and recommendations on which type is best and your experience of them.

It's not the cost of running them I'm concerned about, more so which ones are longer lasting, more efficient, safer, better for health etc. Eg. a quick google says oil rads can smell but are quieter... any suggestions?

TIA

Always had oli- I feel they keep the heat better and have never noticed a smell. They take a bit longer to heat up, but the thermostat is usually pretty good on them.

Oil filled electric radiators definitely should not smell. The oil is sealed inside and is just used to circulate the heat around inside and ensure they provide gentle even heat. Is it possible the pages you found that talked about a smell were talking about oil-fired boilers, which actually burn oil to produce heat for a wet central heating system, rather than oil-filled radiators which just contain oil sealed inside permanently?

You need to be clear whether you are talking about oil filled electric heaters or oil fired heating.

They are very different but people often aren't clear which they mean or are confused about what they have.

If you are looking at electric heating all electric heating is 100% efficient. Storage heaters are cheaper to run due to off peak electricity. Other heaters are pretty much of a muchness, they are low maintenance and last well. Fans are the thing most likely to fail due to moving parts. With either an electric panel or oil filled electric heater it is likely to be the thermostat that lets them down eventually but there will be no noticeable did in longevity.

I have electric heating, a mix of storage heaters and panel heaters and fan heaters. I avoid oil filled radiators as they are slower to heat up and slower to cool than panels or fan heaters. I prefer the instant control.

If/when I replace any of the wired in heaters I will change them to modern slimline storage heaters. I won't buy more panels or oil filled rads.

I probably won't get anymore wired in fan heaters (apart from perhaps an under plinth heater in the kitchen) but I will keep a portable one for top up or emergency heating.

There isn't much difference between electric heaters, as pp says.

All of them are the same efficiency, just different characteristics. Oil filled radiators just take longer to heat up and cool down, because the oil is an energy dump. So it is like a storage heater.

For some reason people seem to talk a lot about how great their oil filled radiator is. Maybe the words "oil filled radiator" imply it is more cosy or something.

Convection portable radiators tend to be cheaper than oil filled ones.

One time I would recommend oil over convection is probably if you have kids. Convection radiators often have large slots/vents so the air can pass over the heating element. These are not good to poke stuff into, drop stuff into or spill drinks into.

The oil-filled maintains a more even heat in the room. Ordinary electric heaters have a more abrupt on/off. I find oil-filled keep the room more comfortable.

They are much safer. If you should accidentally drop paper on one, or a curtain should blow against it, it will not catch fire.

Thanks all, a lot to think about there.

So we have one DC and another on the way and the heaters will be in the bedrooms.

From what you've all said it seems like oil-filled radiators are the way to go as I would like even heat, especially in the kids rooms.

I can live with them taking longer to heat / cool down and assume they come with thermostats so we can set them to ideal temps and leave them to get on with it.

Do they need regular servicing?

Would it be better to get the plug-in types and put them on the wall, or are they better being wired into the electrics?

Hope I'm making sense here

@PigletJohn I've heard your name mentioned around here, appreciate your words of wisdom!

I don’t know anything about oil, but I’d be reluctant to get electric heaters if you’re rural enough for semi-frequent power cuts, I’d maybe ask around about that before deciding.

Not that rural but appreciate the suggestion, thank you

If you want to leave it on and let it operate on thermostat why not a modern storage heater? Much more cost effective, also safe and giving even heat.

You may well need to consider the electric supply implications.

Heaters draw a lot of current usually. If you are adding one to each room and all the rooms are on the same ring you could easily go over the current threshold for that ring (with all other devices as well) depending on how your house is wired.

Non permanent connections tend to be more resistive than permanent wired ones, which means they heat up more (sometimes the plugs). If you are going to add additional significant extra current draw it may be worth at least phoning an electrician and discussing what you want to do and what they would recommend as regards your supply.

You still need electricity for both oil-filled radiators and oil boiler central heating so neither would work in the event of a power cut.

Electric heaters don't usually get serviced. The ones with integral timers eventually have the timer fail. There is hardly anything else that can go wrong, just a switch and a thermostat, and they are cheap enough to send to recycling.

Convectors should have any grilles brushed and hoovered at least annually to remove dust and fluff. Oil filled nothing goes wrong unless you drop them.

Storage heaters are expensive enough to repair, the usual cause is someone has stacked towels on top and they overheat because the heat can't get out. Storage heaters are only worthwhile if you are at home all day and can get cheap-rate overnight electricity. If you are out at work they will have lost most the heat before you get home. They are quite popular with retired people.

That's a very old fashioned view of storage heaters.

Used correctly and correctly sized they absolutely have heat in the evening and the newest ones are much more controllable.

Mine aren't modern but they do give heat all day, and would be even better if I remembered to turn the output down at bedtime and while out, and if I had enough. I have an extra plug in heater for cold evenings so we are cozy watching TV and when it is really cold to take the chill off rooms without storage heaters but this month one large and one medium storage heater have heated the whole house.

They get a bad press because most people have inadequate size/number of heaters and don't understand how to operate them.

Oh and DH has been living in our house for 20 years and has never had a heater serviced. The house is older.

We have had one problem with a storage heater with a blown element which was sorted by a competent DIYer.

They really aren't as bad as people make out.

@JesusMaryAndJosephAndTheWeeDon Sorry to jump on this over a year later, but I'm really curious about how this works!

I just moved into an all-electric flat which has a couple of storage heaters, but the landlord says they don't work. I'm not convinced and want to give them a try, as you and others have said it's the cheapest way.

But obviously we have other appliances that we use during the day - computers, cooker, kettle, electric shower, washing machine, lights... plus 2 panel heaters and a pub-style heater in rooms that don't have storage heaters in.

If we change back to an Economy 7 tarriff won't the extra expense of using our other appliances on a more expensive tarriff during the day outweight the benefit of having the storage heaters on the cheaper one at night? (Especially considering we'd only use them in the winter months.)

I read someone else say that storage heaters are on a separate circuit. I don't know enough about electrics to understand this. Does this mean that other appliances are on a standard (not Economy 7) tariff and the storage heaters are on Economy 7?

It depends on your meter, but usually all electricity used during the off peak period will be at cheap rate.

Post a photo of your meter and the cables and devices around it. There are a variety, some very old. The Scottish Hydro area has some unique ones.

You have to sign up for an off peak rate, and the daytime rate will be more expensive than standard. They will probably insist on a smart meter if you don't already have one.

"I read someone else say that storage heaters are on a separate circuit"

This is so they are automatically switched on and off at the beginning and end of the cheap rate period.

Thanks for this. My question was, would all electricity used during the daytime (i.e. not off-peak) be then above standard rate?

We only have 2 storage heaters and would probably have to top it up with other heaters in other rooms. But also we'd be using lighting and all our other devices during the day, so would the higher expense of that offset any gains from using the storage heaters? I was curious about what JesusMaryAndJosephAndTheWeeDon could say about it given their experience, but they seem to have moved on.

Sorry only just seen this!

It really depends upon your meter, there are different arrangements.

My old meter was very complex, I had two MPAN numbers, effectively I had one E7 meter for everything but the storage heaters. So cheap rate over night for all appliances, slightly higher rate in the day. Then the meter for the storage heaters gave 10 hours cheap rate at set times in the afternoon, evening and at night, then the facility to boost the heaters at peak rate.

As that was a legacy tariff, my legacy provider switched me to a new E10 smart meter so now I get 10 hours a day at set times at cheap rate for all appliances and the remainder at peak rate.

Although peak rate on an economy tariff is a bit higher than with a normal tariff with storage heaters it will probably be worthwhile. If your water is heated on cheap rate too it will almost certainly be worthwhile, especially if you can run other stuff, like the washing machine during cheap rate.

I run the immersion and washer during cheap rate heat as much as possible using the storage heaters and avoid using supplemental heating when possible. I try to use the electric shower during cheap rate. I also have some timer and smart switches so that I can run other stuff on cheap rate if I want to.

Hope that helps

Just seen you are in a flat, you should be able to manage with two storage heaters without too much trouble.

I have two for a 3 bed house, so we have to use other heaters to top up when it is cold.

Remember to turn the output righg down when you are out and when you go to bed to prevent them losing all their charge.