Would You Buy a Flat with Electric Only Heating

radderfire

radderfire

radderfire

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Hi Guys

I would like opinions on buying a one-bedroomed flat that only has electric heating, i.e. electric wall heaters in each room.

I am concerned that it can be ineffective and can cost a lot. If anyone lives in a flat with electric only heating, can they share their experience.

Thanks
 
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It depends. If it is cheap enough and there's still the option of installing central heating.
 
It cost me a lot when I had economy 7. The heating wasn't great either, because the storage heaters would be out of puff by the evening and you'd have to put them on boost which cost £££ at the higher rate. The same applied if you wanted a shower in the evening or do any washing up; the water was only lukewarm by the evening.

I also missed cooking on gas.
 
Not that bad, but it should be a little cheaper because of it.

If you have small children/family then I'd suggest against it - a single male will be fine, just put on a jumper in the winter, just make sure the electric heaters are low energy use ones - the difference between them is incredible from a few extra £ a month to massive bills.

Double glazing/insulation again reduces the impact of this.

Personally I woudn't buy in the current climate, the chance of being left in negative equity is pretty high.
 
Really depends on the flat, mine is very new and well built so insulated to within an inch of it's life.

I don't have electric wall heaters, however i have an electrcially heated hot water storage system in the flat (which also provideds heated water to the radiators).

Cost hasn't been an issue in the slightest.
 
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We have a 1.5 year old 1-bed flat, all electric.

1 huge electric wall heater in the lounge, mid-sized one in the hallway, small one in the bedroom. Boiler is also electric, and we never use the heated towel rail.

With the boiler on 4 hours a day, and heating on between from Nov to end of Feb, our average electric bill across the year is £100 a month.

This includes use of:

42" plasma (5 hours a day)
Oven and hob (30 mins a day)
My pc (180w idle 3 hours a day, 450w load 2 hours a day)
Laptop charger, phones chargers, etc.
600w dehumidifier that was on 5 hours a day over the winter period.
 
krooton said:
We have a 1.5 year old 1-bed flat, all electric.

1 huge electric wall heater in the lounge, mid-sized one in the hallway, small one in the bedroom. Boiler is also electric, and we never use the heated towel rail.

With the boiler on 4 hours a day, and heating on between from Nov to end of Feb, our average electric bill across the year is £100 a month.

This includes use of:

42" plasma (5 hours a day)
Oven and hob (30 mins a day)
My pc (180w idle 3 hours a day, 450w load 2 hours a day)
Laptop charger, phones chargers, etc.
600w dehumidifier that was on 5 hours a day over the winter period.
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But does it include your wife's sex toys? KIDDING

That's pretty reasonable Krooton I must say, although I'd guess that your monthly gas + electric bill would be less than that if you had gas central heating.
 
Girlfriend pays £25 per month for all electric, and has to add a bit over winter. It's rather cheap, but it's not so fun cooking without a gas hob.

Using a dehumidifier is going to be expensive though - but useful if the ventilation isn't good within the flat.
 
In my present flat I have gas central heating with a modern Vaillant condensing boiler and my gas bill is £40 to £50 a month over the winter. Pretty good I reckon.
 
I had a vaillant boiler in my old flat, and have been paying £45pcm (dual fuel) and am currently in credit! However I hardly used the heating.

Single tariff bills are usually going to cost you a bit more - but it depends on what you use and when you use it.
 
In apartments, electric or electric storage heaters are actually better IMO. They're more efficient than running a central boiler system in space that is much smaller than a full sized house. You don't have to worry about servicing costs like with gas boilers. And also you don't have to worry that one of the others flats will neglect theirs and end up catching fire or monoxide poisoning or something crazy like that!

I had an apartment with full electric heaters (not storage) and it was fine. Takes a little while to get it tuned in perfectly but it's not rocket science.

The apartment I am buying at the moment has storage heaters throughout, and I think it will be fine. They are a little old ('96) though so I might replace them with some cutting edge ones.


Gas hobs are awful. You want an induction hob. They are the best. Nothing like electric hobs which are a nightmare (slow to heat up and erratic/difficult to control). >90% of the heat ends up in the pan. They're as efficient as a kettle! Whereas with gas, 80% of the heat just spills over the sides and ends up warming the kitchen rather than the pan. Very wasteful. Hard to clean also, whereas induction hob you just wipe down like the rest of the kitchen work surface.
 
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Whilst induction is efficient, it still lacks the fine-tunable control of gas hobs.

I miss gas hobs :(

We did opt for a ceramic electric hob upgrade which is still a damn sight better than normal hotplates.
 
No it does not. I have induction here and it is just as tunable as a gas hob. And responds just as quickly as gas, probably quicker actually.

Induction != electric hob.
 
NathanE said:
No it does not. I have induction here and it is just as tunable as a gas hob. And responds just as quickly as gas, probably quicker actually.

Induction != electric hob.
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Don't agree, i have an electric hob and wish i had gas, parents have had all sorts of induction hobs over the years with the current one being the most expensive, they still prefer gas it's far better for cooking on.
 
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