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I'll be buying my first house soon and have two I've had offers accepted on. Would be happy in either so just trying to work out the pros/cons between the two. The cheaper of the two has electric overnight storage heaters whilst the more expensive one has "normal" gas central heating. I've only ever lived in a house with central heating so wondering if anyone has any input on what storage heaters are like to live with, or if it's not really anything I really need to worry about when making the decision of which house to go for?
Can't find much info on the internet other than older outdated forum posts, afaik these are pretty new heaters so should be more efficient and controllable than older ones?
Generally not fussed about the house being boiling - don't mind putting an extra layer on if it's a bit cold! And the house also has a fireplace in the living room, and a woodburner in the kitchen/dining room area. I'm not really around in the day if I'm working, just want a bit of heat on the early starts and a bit in the evening (up at 6am, back home by 6pm generally). This doesn't really seem to be what the storage heaters are best at so wondering whether it's still easy to live with or whether I'm gonna get annoyed with cold mornings and evenings all the time?!
The downside of storage heaters is their inflexibility. So you can't really turn up the heat when you're cold and if you're hot, you have to open windows or strip off. It's a particular pain if you want a warm house in the evening, just when the storage heaters have lost most of the heat so you often need secondary heating. That said, they can be cheap to run - certainly cheaper than ch (not just fuel costs, but boiler maintenance) - and an if you've got a wood burner, maybe would work for you.
they are cheap to run if you enjoy being cold.
a friend has them in her house just now - they are bollocks - cost them an absolute fortune. i pay less to heat my house and im on oil !!
boiler maintainance neednt be expensive.
house would have to be significantly cheaper before i went for it - only caveat being if it had solar capacity to do the heating during the day instead of on economy 6.
Storage heaters are the worse form of heating. Absolutely useless things.
I was renting a house that had them and they are hopeless.
If I was buying a house with them, i would budget for replacing them with proper central heating as soon as I moved in.
It may be the reason for the house being cheaper than the other?
@trail_rat has a point !
My parents have them as they're in a village with no gas and didn't want oil again, they now regret not having put oil c/h in. They have wood burning stoves in two rooms. They are good flr taking the worst of the chill off a room but they are not good at keeping you hot. In reality nothing beats the convenience of central heating, essily turned up or down and with smart controllers to run different program's during the week and at the weekend. If you don't mind wearing jumper indoors its quite easy to run the c/h at a lower temp to save money knowing you can turn it up at short notice if required.
You might like to consider which is the best house and how much a c/h installation would be if the "electric house" is really better. C/H is a selling point, not having it will make the house more difficult to sell in the future
Bloody dreadful things.
We had them in our house in Cornwall which always felt just a bit damp and cold all year round.
This may have been the fact it was block and render and it's wetter than a wet thing in winter but the storage heaters were never sufficient to warm the house properly.
We have them in the barn where our offices are located and they are equally as ineffective.
As has been said ^^^ you have to set them and hope, if it's colder than expected you can get a quick boost but then your heat is gone for the rest of the day or if it's hot they keep pumping out the heat even if cranked right down.
We ended up using supplementary heating with open fires and oil radiators which just boosted the costs to that of central heating.
You have offers accepted on two properties? Do they both know you are weighing up your options or are they both out putting offers on their new places?
Bad form to keep them waiting more than 24hrs I'd suggest, unless you tell them its 50:50 so they are aware.
I agree with the comments above, storage heaters are pants for houses (not as bad in a flat). Assume that you've just got the fireplace & woodburner then budget for installing CH at a later date.
Cheers guys. Sounds like generally they're crap then! The house is probably going for about £3-4k less than the other. It's only a 2 bed rather than the other one being a 3 bed, but the rooms themselves are more spacious and have been finished a bit nicer. Not really sure which I'll go for now!
You have offers accepted on two properties? Do they both know you are weighing up your options or are they both out putting offers on their new places?
Yeah they both know my position.
I have storage heaters, they are not all that bad, if you use them properly. Took me a while to get the hang of them though. They are not a substitute for central heating but it is cheap. Older ones are pretty ugly but the newer ones can be quite subtle. Dont let it stop you buying a house, especially if its put together properly and doesnt leak air everywhere.
This was my first house and although they are far from perfect, they are nice and simple.
We've got them.
Step 1 Read the F***** Manual
Step 2 Set them up
Step 3 Enjoy everyone telling you that your very cheep heating system is crap form the cosyness of your own home.
Phone the electricity company and ask if they do an economy 5+1 tarrif which is far better than the economy 7 as the +1 heats them up again arround 4pm. If they can supply that (most do) then it's the same price as gas central heating per kWh and without the cost/maintenance assoicated with boilers/rads/plumbing/oil being nicked/whatever.
Our's is never cold and our 'lecy bill seems less than my previous houses gas+'lecy bill.
Yeah they both know my position.
Phew...glad you're not the one buying my house as I'll be royally miffed if our buyer pulls out!
dont you live in a flat tinas?
I'd go for the 3 beds, we bought a 2 bed cottage and are now having the pain of extending, should have gone for the 3 bed cottage we saw at the time.
Everything else can be changed comparatively easily.
yup but as flats go its ****ing useless, big roof area, shops downstairs are barely heated*, big windows, and 3 outside walls.
*ironically, one sells fire places!
Phew...glad you're not the one buying my house as I'll be royally miffed if our buyer pulls out!
Yeah I can understand, its been bad enough buying and waiting around for the vendor to find somewhere to buy etc! I just didn't want to get stuck in a massive chain hence why I've been looking elsewhere and found the cheaper 2 bed with no chain which I also put the offer in on.
Storage heaters are better than nothing, barely, and even then only if you can get on the Economy 10 tariff (which has a daytime top up). I'd plumb for gas CH every time just because of the vastly improved flexibility.