Electric Central Heating

[lizziebag]

There is an ad in my local paper for a 'new' form of central heating boiler and systom which they claim runs on economy 7 and is cheaper than storage heating. Does any one know of this?

[Oneeyedvic]

Were there any web links on the advert, or is there a name of the product?

[ianess]

Click here for weblink. Looks interesting but be sure to check out claims about running costs.

[buildersmate]

At face value this may be worthwhile, but beware the hype for what is basically electric heating. For example, all heating by electricity is 99.8% efficient, but that doesn't mean it is cheaper than another form of energy. What is interesting is this new tariff, which purports to give cheaper electricity at selected times of the day. As most people know, Economy 7 works at night when demand is lower, but the downside is that the electricity must be converted into heat and held in a storage radiator until the consumer wants it during the day. Systems that do this are only so good and the very time when the consumer wants the most heat, in the cold evenings, the storage rad. is at the end of its storage period from the previous night when it was charged up. Logically if some Utility companies are willing to provide punters with a new tariff that can provide a boost at chosen times during the day, the 'loss' of heat of a storage rad at times when one doesn't want it could be reduced - assuming the tariff is similar to Economy 7. The size of the storage rads could be more compact as well.

[stanleyman]

There is nothing new about these boilers, they've been around for many years. All they are is a number of immersion heaters in a tank heating the water just like a gas, oil or solid fuel boiler. They are limited on output. The cannot store heat so they have to use day time rate electricity. Unless you can get a very good day time electricity rate they are not worth touching. Even with the economy 10 rate if it were available, there are times in the day when full rate is being charged.