Replacing old electric storage heaters

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fizzy

Registered User
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hi all,

firstly, i've read the key posts and done some searches already so apologies if this is covering old ground but i would really appreciate some advice.

i'm considering buying a 20-25 yr old apartment at the moment. it is in a large block and has electric storage heating. the apartment needs redecorating, and from the surveyor's report it needs a bit of tlc behind the scenes as well e.g. new water tank and signs of bad ventilation/poor insulation.

the surveyor said that the storage heaters are very dated and are not much use, so i should consider replacing them. i have no experience of storage heating in a home (just brief experience in an office) but i am not keen on it from the bits i have heard. it seems to not give out much real heat, to make places stuffy and to be quite fiddly to get to work well and costly.

now, my mum got onto esb about replacing the storage heaters to be told that they stopped doing everything to do with electric heating when they shut their shops. we have found a couple of electricians in the phone book who will do replacement heaters but not everybody seems to dabble in it.

so i am quite concerned. bad enough as i thought putting up with storage heating would be, if it is a legacy system that is no longer put in anywhere and is hard to find people to maintain, that could be a deal breaker.

the thoughts of putting substantial money into modernising an apartment, when something as basic as the heating may always significantly let it down, seems unwise too. :(

i would appreciate any advice on this from those who have recent experience of storage heating.

many thanks,
fizzy.
 
Hi Fizzy,

Storge heating is still common in new build apartments, so I doubt there will be any shortage in the neccessary skills and experience to install and maintain these systems for quite some time.
Leo
 
thanks for the reply leo. that sounds a bit less bleak! on looking through the golden pages last night, many of the large ads mentioned storage heating so i guess it should be ok.

i would still love some feedback from those with storage heating to know if it is any use though. i would rather not take the plunge and buy my first home, do all the redecoration and then find i can't settle because something as basic as heating is rubbish! :(
 
If you replace the existing heaters as recommended by the suveyor, you should be fine. A company who knows these systems well will be able to specify a set up to meet your needs.

I lived in an apt. with storage heaters a few years back, never had any problems.
 
Leo said:
Hi Fizzy,

Storge heating is still common in new build apartments, so I doubt there will be any shortage in the neccessary skills and experience to install and maintain these systems for quite some time.
Leo
Click to expand...

It's becoming less common though. any new apartment blocks I've seen in the past year or so in cork have gfch rather than storage heating thankfully.
 
thanks leo and whackin,

good to know you were ok with them leo but are you not a fan whackin?

i see the same thing in dublin - while builders used to put in elec heating because it must have been cheaper / easier, with the sky high prices now for shoeboxes, i'd say the market demands gas. or maybe now that bord gais are good to deal with and the esb have washed their hands, gas is just easier to put in??
 
There used to be a rebate of ESB capital costs for a new development if Gold Shield heating was fitted, which no longer applies.
This has swung the gas\electric decision in favour of gas.

Electric heating is fine in an apartment if the insulation is good.
There is a time lag when the outside temperature drops before the heaters react, so they work best when left on all the time, much the same as underfloor heating.
Hence the need for efficient insulation.
 
thanks for the info hoagy. my mum tells me the apartment block pre-dates the gold shield scheme though???

so, given that my surveyor has said that the old apartment block appears to be poorly insulated, and half the apartment has external walls, how would electric heating be? :( would leaving them on all the time not cost a fortune??

are the newer heaters that have a turn on/turn off convection/booster type part as well as the storage element any more effective?
 
I had storage heaters in my last place, and I thought they were awful. It's totally roasting in the morning, if you think the next day might be cold you have to put them on the night before and then you have no way of turning them off if it's not as cold as you thought it would be and in the evening when you come home, it's not warm enough so you have to boost them. We had a nightsaver meter and in winter the cost still spiraled up to loads and we were never happy with it. Invest the 4-5K and get gasfired central heating, this is what it'll cost approximately. Trust me, they're a right pain!!!
 
hi petal,

thanks for sharing your experience!

however, i only wish getting the gas in was an option!

when contacting bord gais about any apartment blocks, they have explained that when gas is not in the development as a whole, the cost for getting it in would be absolutely massive. once the gas is in for someone, the standard costs apply. so, unless the management company and residents committee decide to get gas in at some stage (unlikely!) i'm stuck with the electric heating :(

but if someone else has found that this is not the case, please fill me in!
 
Well in that case make sure you get the state of the art ones... Definitely ones that can be boosted or switched on and off individually. We had one that you only could switch on in the evening and it would blow out the heat the next day (morning-ish), you coulnd't boost or do anything with it, disaster!
 
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