Extra heaters in most rooms on house viewing

[ShiraShira]

We viewed a house last week that we really like. We did notice that almost every room had a plug in portable heater of some kind. They weren’t switched on though. The house has central heating and lots of new looking radiators, the central heating was on and the house felt lovely and warm while we were there. But my husband is worried that the portable heaters being there is a bad sign, that there must be something wrong with the boiler, or the house has got damp or something . We were told that the owners don’t live there full time.

If they are not living there full time maybe when they are there they don’t run the central heating and just heat whatever rooms they are using? Make sure you check the central heating is working properly as part of a survey if you put an offer in?

I’d just ask the vendors why. If it was a reason regarding the property they’d have likely moved them before a viewing. We have electric heaters even though our boiler etc is fine because my grandma used to be here lots and she felt the cold terribly. (They’re in the loft now she’s gone. I keep thinking about giving them to someone who can source them to elderly people but I have huge anxiety they might fall and catch fire and then I’ve effectively killed the new owner of them. Not normal at all but they used to worry me when grandma used them.)
Also gas is more expensive than electric and electric heaters throw out more heat. Even the wealthiest of people don’t want to spent excessive money on gas bills so electric heaters are a smart choice. What I would suggest is when you move into the property you get the boiler serviced and insured with your pipes and electric so if their are any problems you’re covered. British Gas home are homecare usually have deals on for new members.

Nothing wrong with the central heating but we have a blow heater in Conservatory and bedroom for a wosh of hot heat when its abit chilly and a oil heater in the frontroom which we sometimes have on instead of the central heating

I'd be worried about this. I wouldn't trust the vendor to answer honestly. Are the radiators the right size for the rooms? Our kitchen and lounge both have small radiators relative to the size of the room. We have additional heating in those rooms otherwise we'd never be warm. Electric is not cheaper than gas as a previous poster said it's much more expensive.

Now if they're not living there it might be they're using them to warm up the house for viewing. Our house is big so if I want it properly warm I have to switch the heating on in all rooms for hours to get it up to temperature. A blast with a portable heater will make a difference to the time it takes to get it there.

Some people don't like permanently centrally heated homes. We have an oil filled radiator that we use when it's not quite cold enough for the heating to come on but we need or want one room warmer. We move it between rooms but I can imagine if we had the space it would feel convenient to have a couple.

I would ask and get the central heating & boiler checked. It's not necessarily a sign of anything other than their personal preferences.

I would just ask to see the service history for the boiler. If they don't have it annually service, which not everybody does, then stipulate that it is to be serviced prior to exchange and a copy of the service sheet to be provided. It won't cause any issues as its not expensive to get a service and if there are issues with it they will be highlighted. Perfectly reasonable if that happens to ask for rectification or an appropriate reduction.

I have portable electric heaters in a couple of rooms. I often WFH and have a separate office set up. If there’s just me in the house I’ll just have a heater in the room I’m in. My central heating works fine and when it’s on the electric heaters aren’t.

We have them in the bedrooms. The heating is off at night so we use them to keep the rooms warm overnight.

You should definitely ask why they have them.

How old and large is the house? In a big house with high ceilings and sash windows it can take ages to warm up if the heating hasn’t been on for a while, and it’s sometimes better just to heat the room you’re in. My DH still does this sometimes when WFH in the much better insulated house we live in now!

Id have thought if they were trying to hide something they’d have hidden the heaters tbh.

Again, if a bigger house, one potential issue is the pipes not being physically big enough to get enough hot water to all the radiators to get them really hot.

I would ask the vendors and take it from there. Ask them about boiler servicing as well.

Get a heating engineer round to check before you buy.
In our 1930’s terraced house, our radiators weren’t getting very hot. We called in a plumber (heating engineer). It turns out when the massive kitchen/family room extension was added, the pipes from the boiler should have been upgraded from 15mm pipe to 22mm, to achieve enough pressure to push the water around the system. The radiators never get very hot and struggle on extremely cold days. We can’t afford to upgrade, as pipes are under a solid floor, instead we run them constantly at a lower temperature, to avoid condensation and damp.

I would be concerned about this Op, it certainly suggests an issue of some sort.
if an old house it could be the pipes are too small as others have said. This could be the boiler was replaced and the spec doesn’t match the older pipes, or the radiators you say looked new may need to bigger pipes to work effectively. Are these radiators flat or nice old style ones? Again with small pipes and new radiators/boiler you need flat for maximum heat out put.

there is no logical reason to have freestanding heaters in every room. (Where these used to heat it before you viewed?)

there is no logical reason to have freestanding heaters in every room.

I can think of three:

Maybe they used them while the new radiators were being fitted.

Maybe as pp suggested they use one sometimes to take the chill off one room rather than turn on the central heating

Maybe they think it's a good idea to have an alternative form of heating in case of problems with the central heating.

We do this too.

Unless it is under 10 degrees outside we just use electric heaters to heat the room we are in.

what is the EPC rating, or better, what is the wall construction and does it have insulation? Because solid wall houses take a long time to heat up and often heating is best left on. Any signs of damp/mould? If so investigate that becasue its usually cos walls are v cold. Or vendors might just like it hotter than the sun.

Sorry but no...this is not normal.
We have an E or F rated house and dont have this.

If i didn't like the house I wouldnt care.
If I did I'd be suspicious and want to grt to the bottom of it.

I often want to warm just one room and not put the heating on for the whole house so will use a portable heater. There's nothing wrong with our heating but it seems very wasteful to heat the whole house if you're just going to be in one or two rooms. We also have solar panels so using the electric radiator is better for us for one or two rooms than putting the heating on.

Are you aware that from October-march it is advised to keep your heating on, at least 16°-18°C permanently to avoid damp? In rented houses it almost always forms part of the tenancy agreement to do so… If you keep your heating switched off unless you require it on, then you’re as good as inviting damp into your home.

https://www.homebuilding.co.uk/advice/minimum-house-temperature

Please see my comment I’ve just posted.

I've always had fan heaters in most of the rooms I use frequently. Sometimes I don't want the heating on but just want a few minutes of heat from time to time - particularly in bedrooms when I'm undressing.

And you do realise that alot of people can not afford to do that

Mad to choose the most expensive form of heating then. It would be cheaper to turn off the radiators on rooms you don't want to heat and use central heating in rooms you do. My parents are forever using electric heaters to "take the chill off" and then wonder why their electricity bill is so high.

We've a large house in the country and have oil central heating - it's very expensive so unless we've guests staying we don't have the heating on much and heat just the rooms we are using-we light a stove in the sitting room or kitchen where the oil range is also on 24/7 ( it also heats the water) and we put a portable radiator on in the bedroom before we go to bed.We also have electric underfloor heating in the bathrooms.

Central heating dries my skin out and gives me horrible sinus problems. If i had the space for portable heaters, I would far prefer them.

Is it a large Victorian house?

The boiler just isnt up the heating the place. You ll need check the energy rating of the house, and budget for improving it thermal qualities.

Consider a new bigger boiler, doouble glazing, loft/floor. insulation. You might just pass on it

It’s a modern house, built in the 80s. Each room has those big modern vertical radiators and the house was lovely and warm during the viewing. The small heaters weren’t on but the central heating was. Front room also has underfloor heating.