Storage Heaters

taz70

I'm currently looking to move into a new rental and have found a great place in a terrific location at more or less the right price. The only concern I have is that it has storage heaters rather than gas-fired central heating (which is the only kind of heating I have encountered).

I have heard dreadful reports about the lack of heat by the evening, the smell (from burning dust?) and that they generally are not the best heating solution. I've also read numerous posts on boards.ie (some quite old) suggesting that they are quite expensive to run.

I suppose I am just looking for opinions as to whether or not storage heating is a dealbreaker for this property. Would you rent a place with storage heating? Or would you keep looking?

Any and all opinions are appreciated.

SueWho

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055860005

Well here's a very recent thread on them. I have no experience of them but you should def find out how much the ESB bills will be before you take the place- can you ask to see the most recent bills for the property to get an idea of how much you'll be paying?

3DataModem

What's the BER rating for the property?

j1974

taz70 wrote: »

I'm currently looking to move into a new rental and have found a great place in a terrific location at more or less the right price. The only concern I have is that it has storage heaters rather than gas-fired central heating (which is the only kind of heating I have encountered).

I have heard dreadful reports about the lack of heat by the evening, the smell (from burning dust?) and that they generally are not the best heating solution. I've also read numerous posts on boards.ie (some quite old) suggesting that they are quite expensive to run.

I suppose I am just looking for opinions as to whether or not storage heating is a dealbreaker for this property. Would you rent a place with storage heating? Or would you keep looking?

Any and all opinions are appreciated.

ive a nice apartment with two large storage heaters and they're fine. They generally come late at nite and store all the heat in the bricks inside the unit. then they release it during the day, you decide how slowly. leave them on low while your at work and boost in the eveining. theyre not as good as gas but they're by no means a deal breaker mate. theyre grand and you become quite efficient with them in no time trust me.

john kinsella

Hi OP,

I had storage heaters in my old place and i can tell you they are an absolute nightmare. Firstly the heat of them wasn't great to be honest would be similar to that from a normal rad. But most importantly the price of our ESB bills because of them was crazy!
We used them during the evenings during the winter and our bills were coming out in or around the €400 mark. Once the summer kicked in we were back to less than €200 when we wernt using them.

lalalovely

There are storage heaters in the apartment im living in now. I've been there for just over 2 months and almost had a heart attack when the ESB Bill came. Close to €400. We have 3 storage heaters, one of them is one of those combination ones. For the first two weeks we had them all on to heat up the place cause it was so cold. Then after that we only had the one on storage and the boost heat in the evenings.

So the guts of our ESB bill was from ONE storage heater with a boost of heat in the evenings.

Before anyone asks - the other two were switched off after the first two weeks, at the mains, and we have energy saving bulbs and run our wash/dishwasher after 11 when our electricity rates are lower.

D3PO

john kinsella wrote: »

Hi OP,

I had storage heaters in my old place and i can tell you they are an absolute nightmare. Firstly the heat of them wasn't great to be honest would be similar to that from a normal rad. But most importantly the price of our ESB bills because of them was crazy!
We used them during the evenings during the winter and our bills were coming out in or around the €400 mark. Once the summer kicked in we were back to less than €200 when we wernt using them.

That actually doesnt sound too expensive. €200 for 2 months of heating ?

You would pay that or close to it for heating using Oil or Gas central heating during the winter aswell.

I have no experience of them though but form a cost perspective that definatly cant be considered expensive

How Strange

We have storage heaters and we only ever have one turned on constantly over the winter. The thing about storage heaters is you have to use them properly otherwise they are inefficient. Always have them turned on to heat overnight, turn the settings down as low as possible for input and output and adjust them in the evening if you need to.

Our largest bill this winter has been €300 :eek: which was the largest in 5 years :eek: but you have to consider that it's the only bill we pay. We don't pay for gas or oil or solid fuels as well.

Personally I'd prefer gas or oil but I think storage heaters have an undeserved bad reputation which is largely based on the fact that people don't know how to use them correctly so they are inefficient.

taz70

Thanks for the responses, everyone.

The BER rating is BER B2 100-125 - not sure what that really means to be honest, but the ad did say that it was very low energy useage and I was told it was around €1200 per year for electricity, which doesn't sound too bad. Thanks for the suggestion about asking to see recent bills - very good plan.

Cathmandooo

B2 is a good rating, you don't come across many places that have it any higher.

Storage heaters arent ideal or the best but they wouldn't be a deal breaker if I found a place that ticked all the boxes for location, quality and rent.

I have just completed a year in accommodation with storage heaters. The bill was under €1000 for the year for all heating, cooking & electricity. It was cold during the cold snap but I survived it!