Electric heating in a house options.

Looking at updating our non existent heating for next year in the house, at the moment we have just 3 night storage heaters on economy 7.
We don't have gas or have room for an LPG or oil tank.
Now my question is to those in the know are modern storage heaters better now or is a electric wet system any good, we find that when we come home we could do with a boost off heat.

 

I have fitted a couple of electrically powered wet systems, the last one was an electric combi boiler.
All work as a gas system but are classed as 100% efficient as all the power used is transferred into usable heat.
Very controllable too.

Don't know anything about new night stores, sorry

 

100% efficient but based on rather expensive prices per unit energy?

 

My parents had storage heaters before they moved and swopped from Economy 7 to another one (Econcomy 10 I think) that basically meant they got a heating boost in the afternoon - might be worth talking to your electricity supplier to see if anything can be done.

 

a night storage heater is a metal box, some bricks and a cooker element

the design hasn't really changed in 50 odd years

they are no better of worse than they have ever been

the only electric heating i would use is a heat pump either air or ground source

(electrician for 24 years)

 

lol!

 

If you don't have gas or have room for an LPG or oil tank do you not have much of a garden?

As (if i'm right) for ground source you need to bury pipe of some length.

 

Spot on I have next to no garden.

 

Air source is a bt of a waste of time, but ground source is going to be massively cheaper to run than straight electric heating. Regarding space, there's 2 options - laying pipes around a big garden or drilling straight down. The drilling option needs hardly any space.

 

Disagree that air source are a waste of time, if the system is designed well and the house has good insulation levels then an ASHP is a very viable option for you. You would have to install larger radiators than normal to cope with the lower water temperatures that the ASHP kicks out. So new rads, hot water cylinder and ASHP. With the impending renewable heat incentive coming out (Supposedly) this year the government will give you money back for generating renewable heat and it is said that it will be set to a level where the cost of the installation will be paid back in 7 years.

Above all you will probably not see a reduction in fuel costs but you will improve you comfort level as the radiators will not run out of energy in the evening like the storage heaters.

 

What age house have you got Si?

And what type of walls.? Soild brick or stone, Brick built with cavity. And are the insulated (cavity filled)

Is your insulation value above the standard in the loft; eg At least 300mm thick.

Do you have Good double glazed windows.

 

Air sourch heat pumps are pants I have not heard of one being sucsessfull ground or water heat pumps are good but work best with underfloor heating and if left on all day

I have fitted two houses with these rads and both owners have reported savings and better heat than storage heaters
http://www.rointe.co.uk/

 

The ones I fit work fine just have to know what your doing and not treat them like a traditional boiler.

 

Lee my house is about 20 yrs old and well insulated with new windows fitted a few years ago. Cavity wall.

 

Matty I like the look off some off the rointe stuff.

 

the air source heat pumps i have fitted work well and have kept the fuel bills down for their owners

 

My experience of air source heat pumps is that at lower temperatures they condensate moisture and freeze it onto the heat exchanger rendering them useless when you need them the most. They need to be grossly oversized to cope with lower temps. Ground source heat pumps arent bad with deep-pile exchangers being the more efficient. Lake source, well you need a lot of water tbh to provide the thermal mass required.

Im interested in comments on air source as they seem to be improving and this seems the most practical solution but my experience hasnt been fantastic!

 

i'm in Cornwall and we do seem to have a much milder winter than the rest of you (no snow here yet)

maybe that helps

 

A ground source blown air pump vertically drilled ?

 

Heat pumps work like a fridge
A fridge doesn't cool it removes the heat so inside is a lower temp and the back of it is hot
To do this A heat pump needs a greater surface area outside than inside and a difrance in temperature between the two

It has been known that a ground sourch heat pump will frezze the lawn as it removes the heat from the ground
This is where a air source fails it doesn't have the diferace in temp so you have to oversize

All heat pumps work best with underfloor heating and left on for long periods as they deliver a low temp
most people's life's don't suit this they go to work and then come home wanting the house to heat up fast

The best way of heating is a well insulated box and a efficient gas boiler