Heating in apartment

sandra_b

Hi,
I am looking to buy an apartment in Dublin.
Could anyone explain what is the difference between storage and central electrical heating?
Also - would it be possible or complicated/costly to change the heating from electrical to gas?
Thank you in advance.

mbiking123

Hi

looking at http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=76152088 I think for storage heating you need to install a separate meter to avail of lower cost electricity. Basically off-peak electricity is impossible to store so it should be cheaper. To get this cheaper electricity you need a separate meter to charge you at a different rate. So the storage heater, stores the heat and then basically a fan blows the heat out in the morning etc. ordinary electric heating is at normal electricity cost.

for apartment installing gas heating is awkward, did you talk to management company about this ?

sandra_b

Yes I had storage heating in previous apartment – it was expensive and not very effective.
I was not sure what “central electrical” heating is, but from your post I understand it is better?
I am still just looking … and will probably continue to avoid storage heating apartments.

Dandelion6

Is it even possible to install gas heating in a single apartment unit?

Marcusm

Dandelion6 wrote: »

Is it even possible to install gas heating in a single apartment unit?

Very hard to do a retrofit but lots of Dublin apartments have gas boilers.

djimi

sandra_b wrote: »

Yes I had storage heating in previous apartment – it was expensive and not very effective.
I was not sure what “central electrical” heating is, but from your post I understand it is better?
I am still just looking … and will probably continue to avoid storage heating apartments.

Central heating is where one heating system runs the heating in every room in the house (think turning on the oil/gas and all the radiators turn on). As opposed to storage/electric heating where each radiator is controlled and operated independently.

Storage heating is a nightmare; very hard to control, very expensive to run and next to useless if you work 9-5 and wont be in the house during the day as it stores and releases the heat so by the time you get home most of the decent heat is gone.

In a lot of apartments especially there is little other choice (unless youre lucky enough to be in a place that has had gas installed from the start), but honestly if electric heating is your only option then I would strongly advise investigating the range of alternative plug in heaters (such as oil filled radiators, which I have found to be a lot cheaper to run).

yoginindublin

Marcusm wrote: »

Very hard to do a retrofit but lots of Dublin apartments have gas boilers.

How would I know if the apartment has gas boilers (alk units there have electric storage heating)

Dandelion6

Marcusm wrote: »

Very hard to do a retrofit but lots of Dublin apartments have gas boilers.

That's what I meant, a retrofit. I wouldn't have thought you could do one in an individual unit after the building was all constructed with only electric in the apartments. How hard is "very hard"?

The_Conductor

Dandelion6 wrote: »

That's what I meant, a retrofit. I wouldn't have thought you could do one in an individual unit after the building was all constructed with only electric in the apartments. How hard is "very hard"?

Very hard- as in, installation of piping to bring gas to the property (this alone will probably be the deal breaker), piping in the property, additional ventilation (you're looking at knocking a fair hole in the wall for ventilation/outlet for the gas), upgrading of ventilation in the room the boiler is in (think holemasters here), piping around the apartment- lots of holes in walls/ possibly floors, etc etc etc

I've seen 1 attempt to do this fail (in Galway) and they went and installed horrendously expensive underfloor heating instead when they gave up on gas.

You'd easily be looking at over 20k to retrofit an apartment- and thats if it was even possible, which in most cases, it quite simply isn't.

The_Conductor

Lamees wrote: »

You can place a fire box in your apartment

Errr- it is an apartment you know?
You most certainly cannot put a firebox stove in an apartment.
At very least it would require structural work- including the installation of proper ventilation.
In addition- thats the block insurance for the whole apartment block, out the window.

Cushie Butterfield

sandra_b wrote: »

Yes I had storage heating in previous apartment – it was expensive and not very effective.
I was not sure what “central electrical” heating is, but from your post I understand it is better?
I am still just looking … and will probably continue to avoid storage heating apartments.

Like the plague!

Despite the fact that quite a lot of older apartments have had their storage heaters replaced by newer electric Faro or Lucht heaters which are 'meant' to be more cost effective, I would still avoid at all costs & opt for central heating.

With central heating you get heat when you want it, where you want it & for as long or short a time that you want it & doesn't dry the air as much as storage heating & is much easier to regulate temperature wise.

There are quite a lot of apartments that now have gas fired central heating. As you are searching make a list of properties not to bother clicking on or to click on. I just did a Dublin search & three out of the first four I clicked on have gfch, so you shouldn't have much problem finding one to suit your needs e.g.

http://www.myhome.ie/residential/brochure/28-glenesky-square-phoenix-park-racecourse-dublin-15/2626890
http://www.myhome.ie/residential/brochure/104-cathedral-court-new-street-south-south-city-centre-dublin-8/2627531
http://www.myhome.ie/residential/brochure/2-the-warehouse-clanbrassil-terrace-off-clanbrassil-street-dublin-8-dublin/2627331

seamus

Storage heating is fine in my experience, it's just a lot of bloody effort to keep track of it and adjust it to make sure you're getting it right.

It's also cheap, that's why it's used. Whereas gas or oil central heating comes with all sorts of eletronic dials and timers, that let you set you schedules and get it just right, the storage heating installed by builders is the cheapest thing going with basic knobs and zero way of automating it.

A lot of newer apartment buildings come "plumbed" for gas, the builder just didn't install it. So you can check that out to see if it's feasible.