Gas OR Electric

[Grenage]

If you hate (or don't really care) about your tenants, choose electric.

Before I was a home-owner, I ruled out any rental that had storage heaters; they're bloody awful.

 

[cjard]

One thing I would point out....many people who rent never learn how to use storage heaters properly and efficiently

Pray tell us then, how do you use them properly and efficiently if you're out at work all day long, may not know what time you'll be home, nor know particularly well what the outside temperature will be?

You leave them "on" - get out of the mode of thinking that the house should be left to go cold when youre not in it and heated when you are. People who think like that cannot work storage heaters

All of you above should ask yourself one simple question - would you rather have electric storage heaters than gas CH for your own house?

Never had a problem with storage heaters, I knew how they worked, the house was well insulated, I was always warm and the heating bills were on par with my gas-using peers

 

[dishman]

If you hate (or don't really care) about your tenants, choose electric.

Before I was a home-owner, I ruled out any rental that had storage heaters; they're bloody awful.

Again....I take exception to this idea that landlords get some kind of perverse joy from subjecting tenants to "horrors" of storage heaters....please......

"hate".... "don't really care" ...are you serious?

It is a heating solution. It a very decent heating solution....it keeps people warm. I have lived in my flat (I must hate myself by your standards) and they were excellent.

Could it be that the houses you rented were not suitable for storage heaters? Or they were not very good storage heaters?

My house has a gravity fed heading system with a late 1970s boiler... it works great! I personally would never put a modern combi into this house because every house I have been in with a combi has had awful water pressure and takes ages to heat up so I have to run the tap for 5 mins. They also seem to need repairing every few years. Does this mean all combis are awful....no..... Are they suitable for every situation.....no.....

The storage heaters in my flat are quite modern circa 2005. They had options for evening boost (so heat is stored and kept until the evening the next day).

The tenant has had no issue at all. They have been there for two and a half years (including one of the coldest most prolonged winters) and not a peep or complaint. They are also the type of tenants who would not hesitate to flag it up as an issue. They are also the type of tenants who could easily move elsewhere in a heartbeat. They must hate themselves too!

 

[JohnD]

get out of the mode of thinking that the house should be left to go cold when youre not in it and heated when you are.

hahaha!

quite apart from electricity being an expensive fuel, he now expects people to pour heat into a home when it is unoccupied and there is no-one to benefit from it!

 

[noseall]

People aren't still installing these things surely? I would have thought they would have been outlawed due to thermal efficiency laws by now, a bit like non condensing gas boilers etc.

I think they should only be used as a last resort where say gas can not be brought to a property. And, that's only after better alternatives have been exhausted like say oil or propane etc.

Total waste of money and a time. I have yet to meet an owner of these things who can not wait to hoof them out. I guess it is only mean landlords that use them now.

 

[cjard]

get out of the mode of thinking that the house should be left to go cold when youre not in it and heated when you are.

hahaha!

quite apart from electricity being an expensive fuel, he now expects people to pour heat into a home when it is unoccupied and there is no-one to benefit from it!

By that logic, I expect your teacup is solid aluminium with radiative fins, and you have a special device that heats the tea up just before you want to drink it, and you let it cool in between sips..

 

[JohnD]

you are, of course, being silly.

 

[dhutch]

I would encourage gas, even though the landlord's running costs are a bit higher, if the property is anything above 'minimum spec'. It will be more attractive to most tenants.

You won't get a good shower from a vented hot water system or electric (10kW) shower. Good showers are important to 'working professonals' who have to be out in the morning quickly and don't want to wait for the cylinder to reheat. With, presumably, 1 bathroom shared between 2 bedrooms, a combi will handle 1 shower well, be adequate for a bath, no reheating time, and won't take up a cupboard.

Mains pressure cylinder or thermal store are expensive to buy and mains pressure needs annual servicing too.

Combi boilers are very competitively priced.

Storage heaters and panel heaters can be a fire hazard too as people try and dry clothes on them.

Electric cooker though.

I'm with this, and even as a student discounted anywhere that was electric only for heating.

In fact we actively looked with somewhere it a gas hob (electric oven) so it does depend on what your aiming for.


Daniel

 

[dishman]

My last word on the subject.....

If you read the OPs post, they are considering panel heaters and electric underfloor heating for the whole flat. That in my mind would be far more wasteful and expensive to run than any storage heater system or any other system. You would be using standard electric tariffs and it would be extortionate....

Modern storage heaters....modern...have a lot more input and output controls that those of yesteryear. It is like comparing a first generation combi with those of today. The storage heaters in my flat have variable input and output controls (you have to know how to correctly use them). Leak very little heat when charging, high thermal insulation and are quite slimline. You also have options to delay the heat release until the evening, or have a bit in the morning and then the rest in the evening.

If their flat is small and they were considering an all electric system, which they were, I do not see this as being a bad consideration as it can be easily retrofitted in. As I have said, I have visited many new luxury flat developments and nearly all have plumped for modern storage heaters. Some even have Duoheat systems which combine storage heating with a panel radiator in some way.

Now, if it is a larger flat and the infrastructure is already in place and they can afford to install and plumb in a central heating system, this may be more appropriate....depends on what his budget is and the size of the flat.

In my mind, reading peoples comments, there seems to be a misconception or confusion when comparing modern and old storage heaters. Storage heaters of the 1970s -1980s (with poor thermal insulation and controls), unsuitably installed into poor housing stock (or housing stock that was not designed for them) and then not maintained (over the decades that followed).

Those are not the storage heaters I have experienced....

This article is a few years out of date, but the principle is still the same:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property...45310/On-the-level-what-gas-really-costs.html

I am not pro storage heaters over combis or any other system, just that there is a place for them all and one system is not suitable for all situations.[/url]

 

[dhutch]

Those are not the storage heaters I have experienced....

This article is a few years out of date, but the principle is still the same:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property...45310/On-the-level-what-gas-really-costs.html

Interesting article, it states the elec is around 3.5p and gas is around 2p/0.8=2.5p equiv which in fairness is still around about current price difference.

Taking my house (fairly well insulated 3/4 bed semi with three professionals) which of the top of my head given I have just renewed my contact uses around £500 gas a year, mainly on heating, but also all the hot water, showers, and cooking.

(500/2.5)*3.5 = £700 if heated on elec, crudely.

Which leaves me 700-500=£200 a year to spend on servicing and repairs.

I set the aim of getting my boiler serviced after other year, but actually have had it serviced as part of the sale agreement, its now done three winters without a service and any other maintenance being required.
My expectation is that if I get it serviced at the end of summer there will be no major surprises, and £65 seems to be to going rate for a service.

(200*3)-65 = £535 suggesting three years on gas, not electric, and I am effectively getting my fourth years heating for free. Not bad!

I also get to cook with gas, and bung £65 to the local economy.

Clearly a smaller house will use less heating, but still have the same fixed price servicing costs, but short of a small mid-terrace bedsit or flat I doubt it works out?


Daniel