Alternative heating options to Economy 7/Storage heaters

[pertinky]

Hi,

I'm just about to complete on an ex-local authority house with Economy 7/Storage heaters. There is no mains gas in the area.

I live just around the corner (renting) and share an LPG tank with my neighbours; it's bloody expensive and do not want this.

In terms of budget im fairly flexible, but this is our first house and it needs renovation - I've allocated about 3k to it from our budget.

My initial thoughts were to change the gravity fed water tank to an unvented solution that would run on economy 7 (as well as other appliciances). My main concern was immediate heat during the winter/evenings where we planned to use some newer storage heaters on timers to release their stores when needed.

Mains pressure should not be a problem as I've had a chat to a few neighbours using an unvented water tank.

However, I still have concerns over the relative efficiency of this solution as I am not fully aware of all the variables that living in the property reveal and don't want to find myself having to constantly top up from the high tariff during the winter due to quick drop off of room temperature!

I have also considered installing an oil tank and putting in a full wet solution but at the moment I dont know how much this would cost exactly (installation + running costs).

Are there any other alternatives?

Note: We have plans to install a wood burner when finances allow. The placement of this will attempt to convect heat into the hallway and upstairs (in theory!)

 

[mysteryman]

I lived with this system for several years. The first thing is to improve the building insulation as much as you can. The storage rads will be timed by the night electricity supply. We found it best to keep the outlet dampers closed, and let the charging thermostats control the input. These 'stats sensed the return air temperature below the heaters, and therefore increased the heat input in colder weather. You may need more DHW storage, but it doesn't have to be unvented unless you also want that. I had an electro-mechanical timer on the day immersion heater set to come on at 6.00pm and with several off pins in place so that it went off after a bit when switched on manually. You don't want to heat water on the day tariff that you don't use. In the absence of mains gas, this can be a reasonable system. Heat pumps are very expensive, and the energy source is still electricity.

 

[pertinky]

Its a case of trying to find whats best for our property. Our prospective neighbour has installed an oil central heating system for example.

There isn't going to be a one-stop solution for us so its finding the balance. Obviously insulation is something we're going to address during renovation where possible.

I like the idea and simplicity of just continuing on the E7, but my head says its going to work out very expensive notwithstanding all your usual appliances that will be running of the high tariff every day: fridge, tv, computer etc.

An electric boiler may be another alternative (getting rid of the E7).

 

[mysteryman]

An electric boiler will be worse; they are using day tarrif power.

 

[dcawkwell]

Cheapest install would be lpg combi and wet central heating.
A modern boiler will be quite economical. Install plenty
of insulation you should find it runs ok.
Next up from this would be air source heat pump with lpg boiler as a booster.

Economy 7 is yuck!