Electric Radiators Recommendations

Molep

Molep

Molep

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Devon
Hi

I am looking into getting some electric radiators for my mums flat, at present there is a mix of old dimplex night storage heaters and newer but still old electric radiators.

Has anyone got them and if so have any recommendations?


thanks.
 
We had some installed around 6 years ago as a trial for the housing association with a view to rolling them out across all of the properties. They replaced the Dimplex night storage heaters we had at the time and had ceramic cores in them. They were bigged up by the manufacturer as having instant heat and being extremely economical to run. Well that turned out to be complete bull as we then had the highest electricity bill for a single quarter that I have ever had, £546!! They came out to make sure that we were using them correctly which turned out that we were and I had to submit daily usage figures along with daily meter reads. Next quarter was another massive bill over over £400 so our complaints to the housing association increased. This went on for another year until the housing association gave it and ripped them out and paid for gas to be piped to everyone and gas central heating with combi boilers fitted. Since then things have been great but I never did get any help with the massive bills that were forced on us. I wouldn't recommend these things to anyone.
 
^ This bloke knows what's up. Electric radiators are horrific and none of the "top brand" variants are any more efficient or cheaper than the other, it's complete and utter BS.
My advice, do not buy Fischer leccy radiators. They are an absolute rip off.... The sales rep visited us as we can only have electric/storage heaters up here in 1962. It was essentially £4.5k for a small hallway radiator and a large kitchen radiator. He on the spot managed to give us a "deal" for £500 off and we gave him the "we'll consider it" nonsense and sent him on his way.... 5 days later their sales lass calls on the phone and out of nowhere she is offering us the same radiators with 0% interest payment plan for a total of £2.8k. Thus showing the markup and absolute scandalous prices they are charging for these things which cost a fortune to run.

I'm refusing to update ours. We will move house first and tolerate these piles of junk attached to our walls until then. The closest I came to pulling the trigger was on newer Dimplex units, they appear the best bang for buck, are as good as anything else and do not cost the earth:
https://www.heatershop.co.uk/dimplex-quantum-storage-heater-1-0kw?gclid=CMaJ7L37mdQCFQ4R0wodkOkMGg

Quantum is the brand line and the QM100, QM200 etc relates to their size/Kw output for which you will need to go up>down size wise depending on the size of the room you plan to put them in.
tradingdepot.co.uk is a good site for Dimplex, they were cheapest on these the other month but appear not to be now. They may price match.

PS, I got onto those Dimplex QM line via recommendation from 2 local sparkies in the area who said, whilst electric heaters are awful regardless, these are as fine for what they are and best value for the money if you truly are stuck with electric only as your source for heating.
 
Thanks all. I may look into economy 10 electric tariffs and stick with night storage, hopefully this would give more times to 'charge' the heaters so they don't run out in the evening
 
I lived with some 'nice' 'modern' electric heaters for 7 years. They are so expensive to run and although they do get hot, I still found myself chilly. No one should have to put up with them.
 
Just be aware also that having a economy 10 tariff will severely restrict your choice of energy companies. That was another thing we found that out when we had those awful electric radiators.
 
I'm considering putting an offer in on a property (small 19th century mid terrace house with thick walls) with electric radiators and this thread has put me off slightly.

It does have a log burner and I can get as much free wood as I can use so that is likely to provide significant free heating over winter. Not sure what to do!
 
Been to see house mentioned above today. It's a small house with lounge, kitchen and bathroom downstairs (total 45 sq m) and 2 bedrooms upstairs (23 sq m).

The kitchen and hallway to bathroom have electric heaters, the lounge has a log burner. There are no heaters upstairs but the chimney breast passes up through the master bedroom.

It also has an electric water heater. It isn't plumbed in to use gas bottles at the moment but I suppose that is an option if needed.

The electric heating is the only real downside to the house.
 
Skillmister said:
Been to see house mentioned above today. It's a small house with lounge, kitchen and bathroom downstairs (total 45 sq m) and 2 bedrooms upstairs (23 sq m).

The kitchen and hallway to bathroom have electric heaters, the lounge has a log burner. There are no heaters upstairs but the chimney breast passes up through the master bedroom.

It also has an electric water heater. It isn't plumbed in to use gas bottles at the moment but I suppose that is an option if needed.

The electric heating is the only real downside to the house.
Click to expand...


Funnily enough, I just viewed a 2 bedroom flat in a pretty posh area and loved everything about the place except for... Dimplex electric heaters everywhere. Place was built in the late 80s but considering the location etc seems really odd to me.

Are they really far more expensive to run then? I have asked if the running costs are covered by the flat's annual maintenance charge. If so, it's probably not an issue. If not... might be deal breaker.
 
Phonesis said:
Funnily enough, I just viewed a 2 bedroom flat in a pretty posh area and loved everything about the place except for... Dimplex electric heaters everywhere. Place was built in the late 80s but considering the location etc seems really odd to me.

Are they really far more expensive to run then? I have asked if the running costs are covered by the flat's annual maintenance charge. If so, it's probably not an issue. If not... might be deal breaker.
Click to expand...
Unlikely, services are one thing that don't tend to be covered by those charges except occasionally water is included.

There are only the two heaters in this place and its small, old and stone built so if its anything like the house I'm staying in at the moment (which is almost identical!) it will retain heat well. And a log burner with one of those conducting fans on it should pump heat around the house well enough.
 
Skillmister said:
Unlikely, services are one thing that don't tend to be covered by those charges except occasionally water is included.

There are only the two heaters in this place and its small, old and stone built so if its anything like the house I'm staying in at the moment (which is almost identical!) it will retain heat well. And a log burner with one of those conducting fans on it should pump heat around the house well enough.
Click to expand...

Do you know if a "Dimplex electric storage heater" is slightly better / cheaper to run? That's what this flat has apparently.
 
Skillmister said:
I haven't got the foggiest about anything to do with electric heating :p
Click to expand...

Haha no worries. It just sounds like it apparently somehow charges up with "cheap" electricity during off peak times. Then uses that to run making it cheaper overall. The EPC for the flat gives it a "fair" rating for energy efficiency though which is interesting as figured the electric heating would be classed as an inefficient system.
 
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