Electric radiator advice please

[lookingforradiators]

Hi, I recently moved into a house with electric storage heaters and am looking to replace them with electric radiators. Gas and oil are not viable options for heating the house and heat pumps are too expensive, so I've narrowed it down to a choice between ceramic core radiators and oil/gel-filled electric radiators (wall-mounted). Could anyone give me some advice about which is the best option in terms of efficiency and safety? I'm not bothered about all the bells and whistles, wifi-control etc, all I care about is that they're warm and that they're safe.

There's so much information out there but a lot of it seems to contradict itself, so I would really appreciate some advice. Maybe the best option would be to get some of each?

Many many thanks in advance!

 

[davesparks]

Electric heaters are as efficient as it is ever possible to be, they convert as near to 100% of the input power into heat output as it is possible to do.

 

[lookingforradiators]

Electric heaters are as efficient as it is ever possible to be, they convert as near to 100% of the input power into heat output as it is possible to do.

Thank you, I had read that on some of the sites I've looked at. Do you have any thoughts on any of the other points I mentioned?

 

[Mikegh]

Some of the modern storage heaters will retain the heat longer

Gas and oil is cheaper for heating afaik

 

[littlespark]

If you go for modern “storage” heaters, you utilise the existing E7 or off peak tariff you have already, but they also require a permanent supply for their individual timer circuits… using up a nearby 13A socket, or having to wire in a closer point to supply it.


Electric radiators only need the permanent supply, so will need some electrical work doing at the consumer unit to move the off peak board onto the 24 hr side, and the tariff changed by your supplier.


As for which manufacturer is better? They are all much the same… as mentioned previously, converting electricity to heating is near 100% efficient.

What you need to watch out for is whoever is designing the size of heaters for each room doesn’t oversize or undersize for the area.
(A little simplistic, as height of room, insulation, doors and windows all come into it)

Also note which salesman is just trying to bad mouth every other product on the market rather than say how good theirs is.

 

[brianmoooore]

Electric radiators, using a 24 hour tariff, are always going to be the most expensive way of heating a house by far. The upside of them is that the initial investment is low.
They become viable as long as you are not needing a great deal of heat to warm the house, so a well insulated property is essential.

 

[grumpyjohn01]

oops wrong thread

 

[Rockingit]

My guess is that you'll need to have your existing re-jigged as you've probably got a separate consumer unit fed from the time clock side of your meter? Once that has been changed to being permanently live then you can utilise the existing outlets that feed your current storage heaters. I haven't looked at any makes for several years but fitted a heap of Rointe heaters for clients back in the day and never heard a single complaint.