Electric storage heaters

adnoif

Hi, does anyone have a definitive answer/useful information about electric storage heaters? We are looking to rent an apartment, and many seem to have these instead of GFCH.

Are they much more expensive?

Thanks

Red Alert

Depends on your schedule. My granny had them and they were great because she was there all day, but for most people doing a normal workday they're not such a great option. If you do rent somewhere with them, make sure to learn the controls well - you can save a lot of money if you know how to use them properly.

JohnnieK

Make sure they are storage heaters and not fan convector heaters. A lot of apartments have fan convector heaters and they do cost a lot to run. Ask the letting agent or landlord what exactly they are. Also remember to ask for the Building energy rating cert for the apartment (BER) this will give you an idea how efficient it is. You are entitled to by law.

Red Alert

Fan convectors with electric heating elements - they do sound awful. There are some storage heaters that have fans:

One type is a normal storage heater with a fan convector heater mounted under it that's essentially a separate heater.

Another type is what's called a Fan-assisted Storage Heater. These are a lot more controllable than your average storage heater: you set the charge as normal, then the room temperature control is by a room thermostat (or programmable stat if you want). This controls a fan in the heater that blows air up through the storage bricks. It might also have a direct-acting element that you can use if the stored heat runs down. These are a lot better than either the type above, or your average storage heater, but they cost more to buy.

yoshytoshy

It wouldn't be the storage heaters I'd be worried about ,it would be the design of the apartment.

Some apartments don't need much heat during the winter because they are sandwiched between floors.

Ground floor apartments are the coldest ,anything above a couple of floors is much warmer.