Are apartments with electric heat useless?

thewheel2.0

I'm looking for an apartment with a budget of up to €800 (but 700 would be the sweet spot). Everyone is advising me to stay away from electric heat, but is electric heat really that bad in the newer apartment blocks if they have good insulation?

I have yet to see an apartment with no electric heating.

Me and my fiancée hate noise from neighbours too so which ones are well sound proofed and quiet?

The places I am looking are:

1. Old Windmill Court
2. Riverpoint
3. The Strand Apartments
4. and maybe Bedford Row

Edit: We have been screwed so much by renting crappy places so I'm super cautious about this!

Axiomatic

I have always found halogen heating fine on electric. Because there is no metal coil to heat it doesn't draw that much ESB and they also give off a pleasant glow so you don't need extra lamps. Try and get a good one and keep the receipt as sometimes the bulbs on the cheaper ones can go after a year or so. Another great way to save ESB is to steam your food in a electric steamer. Grill your food on a George Foreman and if it suits you buy yourselves a slow cooker. You won't believe the drop in your ESB bills and not to mention the quality of food.

Hope this helps and good luck in your new place

kittycati

Depends on apartment really. Some are warmer than others and also can depend on what level you are up, in my opinion.Hot air rises and all that. So some will be cosy anyhow without you needing to use your own ! It is definately way more expensive though than gas/oil and takes longer to heat up.

Reckon no.2 and no.4 be warm enough anyhow.

fredo1664

I live in the Strand Apartments. It's gas heating here, not electric.
I haven't used the heating in 3 years though, my apt is never cold (I've seen 18°C in the winter but it's usually 21°C, and can be very warm if the temperature outside is over 20). They heat the corridors and I'm probably getting some heat from my neighbours as well ;-)

thewheel2.0

fredo1664 wrote: »

I live in the Strand Apartments. It's gas heating here, not electric.
I haven't used the heating in 3 years though, my apt is never cold (I've seen 18°C in the winter but it's usually 21°C, and can be very warm if the temperature outside is over 20). They heat the corridors and I'm probably getting some heat from my neighbours as well ;-)

Wow, you haven't turned the heat on? OK, well there's hidden savings to be made in those apartments!

Which apartment block are you in, this one?
€775 Rent Lansdown Hall, O'Callaghan Strand
or this one?
€900 The Strand, O'Callaghan Strand

It would be a big stretch to a €900 apartment but if there's no heating bills it could be worth it. What is the internet situation? Can you get UPC or is it provided by the building? Is it fast if its provided?

Thanks!

fredo1664

My apt is similar to the second one (I don't know if it's the same block, but same type of apt). The first one is not part of the "Strand Apartments" at all.

I moved in 5 years ago and I (well the reloc agent my company works with) was able to get a discount on the price since I agreed to sign a 2 years lease instead of a 6 months one. This was 5 years ago and I think they were a little desperate to rent their apartments, so it may be more difficult now. I only have one parking space, the apt on daft.ie has 2, maybe you can bargain a bit if you don't need the second one?

The internet is provided, I don't think you can get UPC. There are several options you can choose from, the slowest one is free (at least it was when I moved in). I'm on the most expensive one and it's 7.5Mbs for 50 euro. I think UPC provides a way faster internet, but 7.5Mbs is enough for me.

I'm not saying you will never ever heat the apt, but if you can live with 18-19° and not opening the windows too long during the winter, it's doable.

h3000

thewheel2.0 wrote: »

I'm looking for an apartment with a budget of up to €800 (but 700 would be the sweet spot). Everyone is advising me to stay away from electric heat, but is electric heat really that bad in the newer apartment blocks if they have good insulation?

I have yet to see an apartment with no electric heating.

Me and my fiancée hate noise from neighbours too so which ones are well sound proofed and quiet?

The places I am looking are:

1. Old Windmill Court
2. Riverpoint
3. The Strand Apartments
4. and maybe Bedford Row

Edit: We have been screwed so much by renting crappy places so I'm super cautious about this!

I lived in Old Windmill myself for a few years and like Fredo very very rarely turned the heating on. In fact we had the windows open most of the time.

In regards to sound from the neighbours you will always have to deal with it in apartment living. Old Windmill Court was not bad at all but I would be lying if I said it was silent every night.

thewheel2.0

While the heating situation sounds good, dealing with crappy internet could be a deal breaker (I'm currently on 100Mb with UPC but live in Elm Park, Castletroy - freezing, damp houses, and a bad area). Maybe I am better off in the suburbs getting a semi-detached house or something.

h3000

thewheel2.0 wrote: »

While the heating situation sounds good, dealing with crappy internet could be a deal breaker (I'm currently on 100Mb with UPC but live in Elm Park, Castletroy - freezing, damp houses, and a bad area). Maybe I am better off in the suburbs getting a semi-detached house or something.

I'd say you might be to be honest. It's a while since I moved out of Old Windmill but the internet was provided through the rental agreement and was not all that fast at all. We had no option of going with UPC either. All that could have changed since.

Pandiani

I lived in Riverpoint and had UPC internet and could only get UPC tv, no Sky!! Nice apartments, some better than others, heating was an issue at times but had a halogen as above as an emergency.

zulutango

Apartments built in Ireland tend to have been built with lower socio-economic classes in mind. Most of them have been built on the cheap, and storage heaters are a sure sign of a such a development. I'd stay well clear because:

1. It's a sign that the developer has cut costs. If he's cut costs in the heating system, he's likely to have cut costs across the board.

2. Electricity heating (any kind of electric heating system) is the most expensive you can get.

3. Storage heaters tend to be set up with night rate electricity meters (in a vain attempt to make them less expensive to run). This means that they impart most of their heat to the apartment during the day time, when it's needed least.


The Strand apartments are not heated with storage heaters, and in general they are very well built. I know somebody who owns one, and he very rarely bother to turn on the heating, even in winter. They're probably the best apartments in the city by far, and it's a pity that others aren't built to that standard.