Electric heating

[bellalou1234]

Hi, I hope someone can help. I've recently bought a 2 bed ground floor flat on like a block. It's got old quatz heaters in the rooms and a pulse coil water tank. They are both very expensive and inefficient. I've looked into gas but think it's going to be too expensive and messy to install.

Does anyone know if dimplex heaters and electric combi boilers are ok? A water pump thing can't be done as its a shared garden.

I'm so cold in here.

A bump

I'm afraid they aren't likely to be anymore efficient than the ones you have, as they just turn electrical energy into heat.

Gas via the mains will (currently) be much cheaper to run. Presumably you can't consider an air source heat pump either?

If there is gas in the road it might not be too bad. Ours was about £600 for a mains connection about 7 years ago and then the price of a new boiler and heating system which was about £7000 but it will be cheaper for you because you are a flat rather than a 3 bed house. You will need permission from the lease holder though which could be tricky to get.

Three things :

Insulate. Make sure the heat leak is as low as possible by finding the worst heat leaks and stopping them.

Use tariffs. You can use nighttime tariffs to get cheap electric. You can heat the house up during the evening and let it cool down during the day. Also look at storage heaters for this.

If you have mains gas, find a cheap way of using it. For example for a small flat it may not be worth putting in a full central heating system, but a gas fire may be possible. I have a relative who has just electric heating and a large gas fire in the lounge. they use the gas fire in the day which at 6kW is large enough to keep the whole house warm (or at least the living room) and then if necessary they use the electric on a cheap tariff at night.

Your current heaters are not inefficient. All resistive electric heating is 100% efficient. What you might find is re siting new heaters to different places may work better. But be careful of plugging a lot of heaters into normally plug sockets, as they take a lot of power if full on.

Your current electric heaters and immersion are already 100% efficient, so new heaters and an electric boiler will not improve on that. To lower your energy costs, and assuming gas isn’t an option, you need to invest in a heat pump or storage heaters.

We had to have a gas meter installed in our last house and central heating put in. I didn't find it too bad to be honest.

Have you had your first bill and what temperatures is your home reaching? There's no gas in my Auntie's village. She has modern heaters, sets the heating to 25c! It's gets far too hot in there and her bill is extortionate.

Are your auntie’s modern heaters storage heaters?

I've applied to get a gas connection. They came out from Northern gas network and said it would cost approx 10k as it needed a 75 yard pipe. They advised to contact the gas suppliers who supply the development. The houses and some flats on the development have gas, although not my block.

Fingers crossed. I'd put up with the upheaval to be warm.

Look into the eco4 government scheme, it's worth investigating if you're able to apply for it, as it can save thousands. I know someone who's just had £35k worth of work that's been fully paid for!

I'll definitely look into that

You will need 'consent' from the freeholder to do this.

Yes I did get the ok from the management company is that the same thing?

No, you will need written consent (evidence) and there will probably be a fee for providing it. Without that it will cause you problems when you come to sell in the future, especially if the 'pipe' runs across/under communal areas. Might be worth checking your lease to see what it says about obtaining consent.

You won't be able to get any eco grants for installing a gas connection! That's the opposite of what they are trying to encourage.

There's no real difference between modern and old storage heaters, other than their appearance and the controls, which may have stuff like wi fi on them.

Electricity is always pretty much 100% efficient.

Indeed. I wondered if they meant they’re modern convector heaters. People, eg OP, often seem to think that new electric heaters are somehow more energy efficient.

Yes, installed late 2023. Looks very smart and she has a thermostat. I think the massive bills are due to it being electric and the fact she has it set so high.

So helpful mumsnetters. I've been quoted £13200 from northen gas network for a gas connection and £2000 from the supplier who supplies gas to the development. So I'm going for gas. Yah. Can anyone who's had gas central heating installed say if its a big job?

Does anyone know how I get consent from landowners to install the gas? I've got everything else in place