Storage heating

SheRa

Im looking to rent a house or apartment in North Dublin City and its unreal how many places, even relatively have storage heating. In fact all of the properties that Ive liked:(.

Ive lived in a few apartments all of which have storage heating and I found them really really annoying so thats why Im so against it. Ive heard that they are also expensive but Ive never not had storage heating so I have nothing to compare it against.

Anyone have anything positive to say about storage heating? Is it really that expensive to run?

Thanks.

BendiBus

I have storage heating and have had for a number of years. It can be a pain in the hole sometimes, especially when the weather is changeable. You need to keep an eye on the weather forecast and set the heaters each night in anticipation of the following days weather. Forget, or get the forecast wrong and you can find the place too cold or too hot next evening.

In honesty it's too long since I've had gas to make a cost comparison but I don't find them too bad. For starters, it avoids the additional cost of a Bord Gais standing charge but I think that's been reduced significantly in recent years?

In terms of environment & general greenness I know electric heating isn't very green but using off-peak power isn't too bad imo.

Dandelion6

I have storage heating and I absolutely hate it!!! Here are the problems:

1. As noted above - you have to be able to predict tomorrow's weather (not really a problem at the moment, but can be tricky at different times of the year)

2. When it's really cold, like lately, the "storage" part alone isn't warm enough anyway. All week I've had to choose between either throwing on a blanket or putting on the (extremely expensive) regular heating part.

3. You can't actually control for the temperature at any one time without affecting the amount of heat you'll have later on in the day.

4. It's much warmer during the day than it is during the evening. That would be fine, if I was home during the day but not during the evening. Like the vast majority of the working population however it's the other way around

5. If you go away for a couple days and turn the heat off, you come back to a freezing cold apartment which, on your first day back, you can only warm up by turning on the very expensive regular heating. (Happened to me after Christmas hols last week )

6. And yes, my bills are MUCH higher than they were in my last place with central heating.

I'm actually baffled that electric heating of any kind is still being used - it seems so inefficient. My apartment is a new build and I would have expected it to come with central heating. Unfortunately having never seen storage heating before (not used at all where I come from) I didn't know what it was when I moved in.

Apologies for the long rant but it has been bothering me all week and I've really needed to unload!!!!!

matrim

My understanding is that storage heating will also negatively affect a BER rating for an apartment, which could have pricing implications in the future for apartments with storage heating.

markpb

matrim wrote: »

My understanding is that storage heating will also negatively affect a BER rating for an apartment, which could have pricing implications in the future for apartments with storage heating.

IBER says the opposite:

When buying heaters, make sure that they are the right size for the rooms they are to heat, and that they have thermostatic controls. Remember that electric heaters other than storage heaters consume electricity at the most expensive charge rate. Use a space or portable heater instead of the central heater, if only one room needs heating. Choose heaters with thermostat controls and timers.

matrim

markpb wrote: »

IBER says the opposite:

I was going by what I heard a friend in the industry say. He definitely said that GAS had a better rating than Electric, but I may have taken him up wrong on the storage heating part.

From your link it's only saying that if you have electric heating, then storage is better than the other electric one's. It doesn't mention any other heating type.

20goto10

It all depends if they're being used properly. You need 2 power supplies, one for peak supply and one for off peak supply. If you don't have 2 power switches for your storage heater then you're probably getting charged peak rates, which may explain why some people find it expensive. The storage heater should be connected to the off peak supply and the electric heater connected to the peak supply. For this reason using the electric heater is more expensive than using the storage heater alone, it is by no means "ricdiculously expensive". Its simply more expensive than if you were not using it. The same could be said for people who use gas. If a really cold day comes along you bump the temperature up, costing you more. This is the equivalent as switching your electric heater on.

You can also get more advanced heaters controled by a thermostat. Set the desired temperature and the heater will keep the room at that temperature with no fidling of inputs and outputs. So say your comfort zone is 19C, set it at that and it doesn't matter what the weather is outside your room should always be 19C or thereabouts depending on how good the thermostat is.

Del2005

20goto10 wrote: »

You can also get more advanced heaters controled by a thermostat. Set the desired temperature and the heater will keep the room at that temperature with no fidling of inputs and outputs. So say your comfort zone is 19C, set it at that and it doesn't matter what the weather is outside your room should always be 19C or thereabouts depending on how good the thermostat is.

Do you have any info on these? I've storage heaters in my place and dislike paying for it to be warm when I'm working. Would like to be able to set it low when I'm in work and higher when I'm home.

At the moment I'm not using the storage part, as I'm in work all day, and turn on the blow heater when I get home. Does anyone know which way is cheaper, heating an empty apartment or heating only when in?

20goto10

Del2005 wrote: »

Do you have any info on these? I've storage heaters in my place and dislike paying for it to be warm when I'm working. Would like to be able to set it low when I'm in work and higher when I'm home.

At the moment I'm not using the storage part, as I'm in work all day, and turn on the blow heater when I get home. Does anyone know which way is cheaper, heating an empty apartment or heating only when in?

You should not be heating the room while you're at work. Turn the output dial down to the lowest setting when at work and simply turn it up to the desired output when you get home. They dissipate heat when not in use, this is why there is a minimum setting as opposed to an off setting.

Wikipedia has all the info you need about how to use these. It does take a bit of trial and error to get familiar with the settings. They're not going to be the same for everyone, it obviously all depends on the room you are heating.

RuggieBear

yeah i'm literally moving this month as my present home has electric heating (not even storage) which take the harshness out of the cold but don't really warm the place.

Moving to a place with gas central heating... couldn't take the humongous esb bills anymore with little to show for it

Dandelion6

20goto10 wrote: »

If you don't have 2 power switches for your storage heater then you're probably getting charged peak rates, which may explain why some people find it expensive.

I have two power switches for mine and it does only use off-peak rates. It is still ridiculously expensive.

20goto10 wrote:

Turn the output dial down to the lowest setting when at work and simply turn it up to the desired output when you get home.

Mine doesn't have an output dial. It releases heat at the same level all day long.

Jamar

We used to have it in our apartment, and quite liked it. It was a one bedroom apartment. There main room was quite large - maybe 35-40 sq m, and had two heaters in it. The input and output could both be adjusted. The output is basically a thermostat.

Indeed, it was annoying that it heated the house when we were not there. (Leaving it down too low meant it was very cold by the time we got home). But the apartment was very well insulated - with other apartments on each side and above it. Therefore, this minimised the waste, and our clothes were always dry! (We also had a de-humidifier). We could also adjust the output, but I don't think that we did. And it was always warm!

I would say we used the convection heater perhaps 10-times a year, mostly in the weekends. Probably more often we opened doors and windows to cool the room.

In a house/apartment that had more rooms, or was not well insulated, I don't think it would work that well. Horses for courses type of thing. It also makes it hard to compare, as when we moved to a house (that was cold and draughty), we were heating more rooms, and had a baby in the house.

That's a little bit more positive than the general I suppose!