Night Storage Heaters?

[di]

Sorry Minskey that you may not have got the answers you were hoping for, but this thread has made me feel a bit better about those two or three years that I thought I was just being a bit thick not being able to work them out.

[lizzylemon]

I lived with these things for years and years - Im with 2sheds. I would happily have ripped them all out and left them for scrap cos that's all they're worth. Rubbish system and expensive to run. Ours was a 3 bed house, which should use, for example 18 units in 24 hours, but ours used say 60 odd in 24 hours. I actually thought our next door neighbour was using our electric until I took a meter reading before they came on and what it was when they went off. Hate them hate them hate them.

In the past, I've actively ignored houses that have SH for heating. I'm not prepared to waste money or live in the cold. Horrible and stupid system.

Also, most properties I've visited that have SH seem to suffer from massive mould problems. Tenants try to keep the precious heat in anyway possible and block any ventilation so air never circulates through the properties. Bad ventilation and poor heating = chronic mildew.

In my honest opinion, gas or Electric to a wet system is the best.

The only thing is if you install a log burner, it wont heat all the house - I know I lived in a house that had one 1 log burner for the entire property. And you still have to have a secondary hot water system running otherwise you have to have the burner on in the summer for hot water. Pretty (apart from the ash that gets everywhere when you clean it) but I think wood to buy is expensive these days as is coal.

If you can, spend the money now on a good system that will keep the property warm and in good internal condition. Otherwise you might find you shell out for 2 lots of heating systems when the 1st one doesn't work very well, plus whatever it costs to get rid of mould and the such that poor heating / ventilation cause.

Just my opinion though

[Potstubsdustbins]

A thought passes through my head (yes VC it happens sometimes) before offering further advise can I ask what you intend to do with the property i.e. sell/rent/move in, as this will affect the advice given.

Colin

[veggiechicken]

I know, Colin, that you are a very thoughtful man and I agree 100% with what you've asked.
If the property was to be used for, say a granny flat or for subletting, its a bit different to living in it oneself. Whilst I'm not exactly a granny, I would not want to have to rely on my woodburner for all my heating and hotwater. Solid fuel systems mean fetching and carrying and clearing out.
There is also the cost element, both in installation and subsequent running costs.
Too many questions and options, as ever!

[minskey]

Hi All

Thank you for all your comments, I could have 'Googled' the question but I wanted an honest answer.

The reason I asked was that we have just stayed in a 17th century fishermans cottage for the week in Scotland. It was weeny, but around the same size of the building we will convert. The cottage had three storage heater and a heated towel rail in the bathroom. Plus an open fire. We only lit the fire in the evening. When we arrived the heaters had not been switched on so it was freezing inside. you could see your breath. By the next day it was warm. It stayed warm, we actually turned the storage heater off in the bedroom as it was too warm. The reasoning behind us installing them in our home it that we found them very good. I also thought that if they are so expensive to run they would not be placed in a holiday cottage as the people who rented them would go wild as they don't pay the bill. [all electric was included!]

We are going to have a wood burner in the living room with a back boiler for when it is really cold, you know spring, summer, autumn & winter

At the moment we have a rayburn on LPG, this is fab. But we are worried when we use it once the radiators are fitted and the central heating burner lights it will use LPG like it is going out of fashion. There is no mains gas in this area. Next door has an LPG tank and finds it very expensive.

The S heaters would be background warmth like a radiator. The though of just one bill is nice too, but not if its horrendous.

What to do for the best? I just don't know.

[Potstubsdustbins]

So you are going to live there. The reason I asked was that if you were going to sell then I would look at doing the cheapest presentable job. However if it is to be your home then initial out lay is not the only consideration future maintenance, running costs and your comfort will come into the equation.

What you really need to do is work out what heat output you need into the property, this will give you a fairly accurate idea of how much gas/electric your going to burn then you can make an informed choice.

Colin

[minskey]

Hi Colin

How do I work out the heat output needed for the property, I wouldn't know where to start

[Ananke]

I have modern storage heaters and they are absolutely terrible, we use a convector heater now.

[Two_Sheds]

How do I work out the heat output needed for the property, I wouldn't know where to start

Neither would I. Thank goodness for google: how many radiators do I need?

[gan heather]

Just to add my voice to the masses...we live in a rented flat and have them and we HATE them. You have to decide the day before whether you want heat or not the next day. That's ok in the middle of winter, but in the autumn and spring when the weather is more unpredictable, you don't always know what you'll want the next day. And we seem to spend an absolute fortune keeping the place (a small one bed flat on the top floor - where everyone else's heat is supposed to rise) warm.

[Potstubsdustbins]

Minsky, as the rooms are all on one level I would need to know the following. The size of each room, width, length and ceiling height, plus the number of outside walls and what the floors are made of i.e. solid or wood. Finally are the outside walls solid, cavity or insulated and what the room is to be used for i.e. lounge.

As you can guess without seeing the property in detail it will only be an estimate but it will give you something to work on.

Another one of those thoughts pass through my head. You say your neighbour finds things very expensive. I don't know of course but maybe he has very little control over his system i.e. just a time clock. Does he for instance have thermostatic radiator valves? Cylinder thermostat? Room thermostat? And is the system wired to have a boiler inter-lock.

Some jargon there but it may be worth asking as the above can make a very big difference on running costs.

Colin.

[cardiffsteve]

We used to have storage radiators and as everyone has stated they are a waste of time.
They give out heat during the day and when you need it in the evening all the heat is gone and you have to use supplementary heating.

We have just had installed some rointe heater which run off electric and use the same circuits as the storage heaters but converted to ordinary sockets and not run on economy 7.
We had out meter changed to just one tarrif.

They are quite expensive though and we are still checking how much electricity they use.
You can set them like ordinary wet central heating as in you can set them to come on at a set time in the morning before going to work, then set them again for evening then night time when you go to bed.
They are all invidually controllable so each room can be a different temperature.
They are also supposed to be very efficient heaters. We shall see.

ROINTE - Low consumption heating system - Radiators - Towel Rails - Water Heaters - Ecologic, Safe y Efficient

I do not work for them and do not receive anything from Rointe. This is just my recommendation.
Hope thats ok?


Heatstore also do a version which is similar but I dont know anything about them other than they are cheaper.

2.0kW Dynamic Radiator

[janeyo]

agree with all the haters - had them in my old bungalow, they were ugly and big on the walls, the house was boiling hot in the middle of the night and freezing in the day! (my nan actually burnt her hand on one when she left our New Year's Eve party sometime in thw wee hours...