Electric Heating

loco_ · 09-02-2014 3:02pm #1

I have just been left an apartment with storage heaters and living here since december. First time i have had electric heating. No other option available. There are 2 storage heaters in the living area called duo heaters. And then there are panel heaters in the bedrooms which are shocking poor. I have an issue with the storage heaters is that they one seems to go cold in the morning and i have to turn up the manual heating to boost the heat. I think i understand how they operate. You have 2 switches on. One been the background(storage part) and the other for the manual part. I have the background set to 6 and the manual at 3. They are using about 24kw of electric a night. And my bills are going to be about 150 a month going on Jan consumption. A friend of mine has Duo Heaters also and they are getting bills of about 200 a month. There apartment would be D rated and larger also. So im wondering if it is the radaitors?Now i have been looking at other options of electric heaters. What i am seeing on the market for sale are the following brands Farho, Lucht, Rointe, Technotherm and Dimplex Quantum. All bar the dimplex are on demand electric and claim to be cheaper. The following is the advice im seeking?

Am i operating my storage heaters correctly? Anyone with experience using Duo Heaters?

Would on demand electric heaters be better? If so which of the above brands would be the best?

Should i go for new storage heaters like quantum?

The apartment is about 9 years old and is C3 BER. The Duoheaters are about 5 years old. I only need heat from about 5-10pm 4 days a week and 3 other days someone is in the apartment.

thatssound · 13-02-2014 8:41am

I Am a sparkyI have fitted the farho heaters as a replacement to storage heaters in several apartments.have no heard back any bad news about them.
have got 5 no of themin my house in bedroom areas.
they work well for me but i do have good insulation.
also remote control available over wifi through app called nexho.

loco_ · 13-02-2014 12:52pm

thatssound wrote: »

I Am a sparkyI have fitted the farho heaters as a replacement to storage heaters in several apartments.have no heard back any bad news about them.
have got 5 no of themin my house in bedroom areas.
they work well for me but i do have good insulation.
also remote control available over wifi through app called nexho.

That's good to know. Don't see many places in Dublin selling them. What are the price range of them do you know?

thatssound · 13-02-2014 3:55pm

loco_ wrote: »

That's good to know. Don't see many places in Dublin selling them. What are the price range of them do you know?

Theyre expensive expect to pay from 350 euro upwards, but then again so are storage heaters.
the great thing about these is you can set them for say 20 deg when u are there and maybe like a 16 deg setback temp for other times also brillant as frost protection .
rooms not in use set them at 12 or 14 deg maybe 1or 2 hrs at 20 deg .
they are much more economical than storage heaters , but start off by getting one to start.
checkout www.southcoastsales.com in cork the guys there should be able to help you size them correctly.

Wearb · 13-02-2014 5:27pm

I would investigate your needs a lot more before investing a lot of money in a Farho or similarly expensive electric heater. Except for some advanced controls, they are not much different than a thermostatically controlled oil filled radiator.

loco_ · 13-02-2014 5:40pm

Wearb wrote: »

I would investigate your needs a lot more before investing a lot of money in a Farho or similarly expensive electric heater. Except for some advanced controls, they are not much different than a thermostatically controlled oil filled radiator.

I know they are expensive but I'm looking for Radiators that will hear the place properly on their own. Not looking for something that will top up the rads I have. I'm not in a major hurry but will definitely want a new system by next winter. The panel heaters in the bedroom are so bad they don't heat up the room even at full power. The 2 duo heaters are not great either. They barely warm the living/kitchen. Even neighbours I have asked are not happy. One is getting 400 Euro bills every 2 months while mine are at 300.

thatssound · 13-02-2014 6:40pm

I know that 300 euro sounds expensive but if you install a wet type system gas oil etc you are talking 5 to 7 k and a lot of apts arent suitable for these type systems.also you could still be looking at 2 to 3 hundred euro on gas or oil.
also wet systems are very prone to frost damage if theres no one there.
with the farhos u can have a fully controllable system over wifi from anywhere in the world and the beauty is u can build it as u go start with 1 heater in living area and u can add on next year.
other options are packaged aircon units or heat pump type idea.
also very expensive to install.

Wearb · 13-02-2014 6:57pm

If it took 5-7 kw to heat with oil or gas, it will take the same KW to heat with electric. Lots of cheaper electric heaters can have or can be controlled by thermostats and timers if one was worried about frost.

thatssound · 13-02-2014 8:15pm

Oil filled rads or other mismatch heaters are not a a permanent answer to a solid and reliable maintenance free heating system.
whatever system is installed should be a permanent fix.
in any case one of the key things to make any sytem efficient is adequate amount of insulation.
thats all I have to say about this am not a rep for farho just sharing what has worked well for me. 0.5 kw farhos in bedrooms and hall also lots of insulation.

Wearb · 13-02-2014 9:14pm

I am sure that the OP is much wiser from our contributions thatsound. This forum is a great place for threshing out experiences and I am sure that your experience has been helpful to the OP and other readers of this thread.

loco_ · 13-02-2014 9:56pm

Everyone has their own opinions and its good to hear them all. Yes you can get 2kw rads in woodies for 100euro or there abouts. But i always belieive you get what you pay for. I dont intend to fork out a fortune either. I cant put in a wet system as i am confined to electric. My preference is to put in a standalone electric system that i can fully control. Im tired of storage heaters and their lack of control.

shane0007 · 13-02-2014 10:05pm

I have fitted a lot of Farho's over the last few years & find them excellent & customers report they are very economical to run. I recently, for an elderly friend, removed a storage heater & fitted a Farho. She cannot believe the difference in heat & now when she wants heat rather than by evenin time, a cold heater.

There are 2 ranges one digital with a built in programmable timeclock, the other is analogue. Both are thermostatically controlled.

Very similar to the Farho is the new ATC heaters. Looks exactly the same, but about €100 odd cheaper. Smallest analogue though is 1,000w. Programmer is a little more difficult to use. Analogue if size is suitable is great value with a set back mode of circa 4C less than set temp.

BTW, one of my lads is an electrician.

loco_ · 13-02-2014 10:22pm

I have a few quotes in. they are interesting to say.

loco_ · 17-02-2014 12:08pm

Also would 1 large heater like say 2.4kw be ok or would 2 heaters 1.4kw and 1kw be better for the living room?

shane0007 · 17-02-2014 10:45pm

What are the measurements of the rooms you wish to heat?

loco_ · 17-02-2014 11:11pm

shane0007 wrote: »

What are the measurements of the rooms you wish to heat?

HI Shane

25sqm
14sqm
13sqm

ceiling is 2.5m

Thanks

Electric Heating

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