electric storage heating

sasha100

hi,
I wasnt sure what to post this thread under. Hope this is okay.
Im interested in energy saving and energy efficiency, and would like to try storage heating as opposed to my current central heating system. i know they can quite cheap to buy however am unsure about how complicated or costly they would be to install. Does anyone know anything about this or be able to diect me to a website? have searched a couple but havent come across what im looking for.
Cheers,

El Siglo

Moved to the Sustainability & Environmental Issues forum.

quentingargan

My tuppenceworth... The problem with storage heaters is that if you charge them tonight, they will emit heat tomorrow, whether you need it or not. So you need to anticipate tomorrow's weather.

To use off peak electricity if you have a central heating system already, you could just get a whopping great buffer tank. Use immersion heaters to heat it at night, and then when (and if) you need that heat next day, pump it through the radiators.

If you already have a network of radiators in the house, that would probably be cheaper than buying storage heaters for each room. And it would be as cheap or cheaper to run.

I've never seen it done, but I see no reason why it wouldn't work.

Markcheese

Main thing is you need to be on a night rate tariff , so contact esb , basically a second meter is installed that gives you cheap electricity between certain hours , your storage heaters are on a timer for the same time(ie heating up/ using electricity)
If u don't get the extra meter you'll pay standard rate no matter what time of day or night yr using electricity....
( ps I always liked the idea of hooking a storage heater to a small wind turbine, kind of a trickle charge... I think electric elements are quite forgiving in the type of power they can take (ie peaks dips ect, )
Cheapest and most effective green energy move is insulation and draught sealing IMHO