DESPERATELY need some advice from some knowledgeable peeps, and this looks like the place to find it... 
I have just bought a 2-bed 1950's ex-LA semi, pretty well insulated in the loft, double glazed apart from the doors (1 front, 1 back), think it might also have cavity insulation as well but not 100% sure on that....
The heating/hot water system in this house comprises some really ancient NSHs - 2 in the lounge-diner, 1 in the hall, 1 in each bedroom - with a wall mounted fan heater in bathroom, a HYOOOOGE immersion tank in a cupboard in bedroom 2 (E7 main IH plus booster), and a coal-effect fan heater fire-thing in the living room (which is awful and chucks out hardly any heat).
I do not have a gas supply here, and don't really want to get one installed (even though I do prefer it, just too much hassle and expense and really not practical).
I'm on a standard E7 tariff and my electricity costs have skyrocketed! My previous house was a 3-bed terrace, full GCH (fed from a combi) with gas cooker, and my combined bills were £57 monthly (budget plan fixed payments), which was more than adequate to cover the bills. In this new place, I'm paying £80 monthly - my energy supplier wants to bump me up to £120/mth (which is way over the odds for a 2-bed semi IMHO) but I've only been here since October and I haven't had my summer quarter bills yet, so they can just hang on a bit... I appreciate energy prices have gone up a fair old chunk, but even so, the cost of heating this place is just nuts!
My NSH system (when I dare use it) is crap - I am baking hot all night and freezing my bits off during the day.
I'm at work all day, so the heating is really only needed evenings / weekends. My washing machine is cold fill only, so doesn't need a hot water supply.
My daughter and grandson might be coming to live with me for a while, so I might find that I need daytime heating as well for the little one, but we aren't heat freaks like that - 18-20 deg is fine for main lounge-diner, 16-18 deg for hallway and bedrooms.
To replace the heating I was considering getting EWCH installed. I'm now thinking about getting an electric thermal store installed, running off E7 for the heating, and undersink instant hot water (2 units, one in the kitchen and one in the bathroom) so that I don't need a huge thermal store (cos I don't have much room for it). I have an electric overbath shower which is what I use mostly, but I do like the odd soak in the tub to unwind now and then, so the HW unit in the bathroom would have to be up to the job of filling the occasional bath.
Can anyone see the obvious flaws in the plan? Is this going to be an expensive way of doing things? I'd much rather heat the hot water as I need it (a sink/bathful at a time) than heat a huge tank of water over and over every night, and have the heating on only when I need it (i.e. in the evenings, not roasting me in my bed all night). The thermal store + wet CH seems to me to be the best way of making use of E7 and giving me controllable room heating when I want it. I appreciate the electricity to heat the hot water will be at peak rate, but is it really going to be that expensive to do it that way?
Advice / opinions / ridicule - any and all of these are welcome!
I have just bought a 2-bed 1950's ex-LA semi, pretty well insulated in the loft, double glazed apart from the doors (1 front, 1 back), think it might also have cavity insulation as well but not 100% sure on that....
The heating/hot water system in this house comprises some really ancient NSHs - 2 in the lounge-diner, 1 in the hall, 1 in each bedroom - with a wall mounted fan heater in bathroom, a HYOOOOGE immersion tank in a cupboard in bedroom 2 (E7 main IH plus booster), and a coal-effect fan heater fire-thing in the living room (which is awful and chucks out hardly any heat).
I do not have a gas supply here, and don't really want to get one installed (even though I do prefer it, just too much hassle and expense and really not practical).
I'm on a standard E7 tariff and my electricity costs have skyrocketed! My previous house was a 3-bed terrace, full GCH (fed from a combi) with gas cooker, and my combined bills were £57 monthly (budget plan fixed payments), which was more than adequate to cover the bills. In this new place, I'm paying £80 monthly - my energy supplier wants to bump me up to £120/mth (which is way over the odds for a 2-bed semi IMHO) but I've only been here since October and I haven't had my summer quarter bills yet, so they can just hang on a bit... I appreciate energy prices have gone up a fair old chunk, but even so, the cost of heating this place is just nuts!
My NSH system (when I dare use it) is crap - I am baking hot all night and freezing my bits off during the day.
I'm at work all day, so the heating is really only needed evenings / weekends. My washing machine is cold fill only, so doesn't need a hot water supply.
My daughter and grandson might be coming to live with me for a while, so I might find that I need daytime heating as well for the little one, but we aren't heat freaks like that - 18-20 deg is fine for main lounge-diner, 16-18 deg for hallway and bedrooms.
To replace the heating I was considering getting EWCH installed. I'm now thinking about getting an electric thermal store installed, running off E7 for the heating, and undersink instant hot water (2 units, one in the kitchen and one in the bathroom) so that I don't need a huge thermal store (cos I don't have much room for it). I have an electric overbath shower which is what I use mostly, but I do like the odd soak in the tub to unwind now and then, so the HW unit in the bathroom would have to be up to the job of filling the occasional bath.
Can anyone see the obvious flaws in the plan? Is this going to be an expensive way of doing things? I'd much rather heat the hot water as I need it (a sink/bathful at a time) than heat a huge tank of water over and over every night, and have the heating on only when I need it (i.e. in the evenings, not roasting me in my bed all night). The thermal store + wet CH seems to me to be the best way of making use of E7 and giving me controllable room heating when I want it. I appreciate the electricity to heat the hot water will be at peak rate, but is it really going to be that expensive to do it that way?
Advice / opinions / ridicule - any and all of these are welcome!
