Storage heaters

We have taken on a shop with no heating, not a problem now but will need to think of something in the next few months. There is a gas supply and a meter with 2 dials, can't decide whether to put central heating in or go electric.

What are peoples views on storage heaters? Do they give out plenty of day long heat after a nights 'charge'? Given the problem with heat 'bleeding' out during the night and when not required and trying to pre-empt the next days temp, do they actually work out economical?

Any input.....

Reply to
R D S
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In article , R D S scribeth thus

From what I've seen of them their bloody un-controllable. An office where I work occasionally has them and more often than not the windows are opened to let the excess heat out!..

Reply to
tony sayer

Yes, they are somewhat bloody uncontrollable, and tend to be fading to zero by the end of a winter's afternoon, however in a shop that may not be such an issue.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

They work well for somewhere that needs to be warm during the day but not during the evening. They tend to have gone cold by about 21:00.

Heat leaking out overnight is not a problem as this just makes it warmer in the morning.

Having to anticipate tomorrow's weather can be a bit of a problem.

They are a bit more expensive to run than gas/oil heaters, but should have zero maintenance costs. For a small system they will be cheaper to install than a radiator system. They are much cheaper than "on demand" electric heating, even allowing for wastage caused by guessing the weather wrong.

Note that they take a second charge to reach full heat so turning them off at the weekend will leave you cold on Monday!

tim

Reply to
tims next home

If you are on a 2-rate meter then they may well be ok for you as you won't be too bothered about them retaining heat into the evening. The problem is that the day rate is slightly increased when you get a cheap night rate! That means that you'll have to look at how much daytime electricity you'll need.

Modern storage heaters shouldn't need a midday boost, but older ones used to. You can get some with an automatic charge control that sets how much energy is stored overnight depending on room temperature.

Weather prediction isn't an exact science yet - especially in the UK.

Personally, I think they are devices of the Devil... >:->

Reply to
mick

Define "plenty". Is this going to be a busy shop with the door open with people coming in and out or a quieter one with a just a few customers an hour. I doubt that storeage heating would cope with a busy shop, even if you fitted a heated "air curtain".

The pre-emption is the really big draw back. Modern ones don't "bleed" as much as older ones.

Off peak electricity is probably the cheapest energy source or at least a very close rival to gas ATM(*) but that is only available at night and you'll be paying a significantly higher rate during the day. Will the shop use much day time power, lights and other "small" loads on for long periods chomp through a surprising amount power.

You need to do a sensible energy survey (building heat loss and shop power requirements) and get the calculator out to answer your questions.

(*) But with energy prices in turmoil what will be cheap (in relative terms none is going to "cheap" as we knew it) in 6 months is anyone guess and over a couple of year or longer...

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

The shop will be quiet, most likely a customer per hour tops. We do have a fair amount of equipment running during the day, I didn't realise the daytime unit price was higher.

Thanks for everyones input, plenty to think about, damn the energy prices!

Reply to
R D S

I had storage heaters and got shut for gas central heating. The storage heaters were on economy 7, so even in the summer I was paying far more for a daytime unit of electric. That's the only way you get a slight discount on the late night rate. The storage heaters did give off a bit of heat, but you couldn't just turn it up and down as required the same way as you can with gas. If you don't use all the heat then you have wasted loads of money. If you required a boost of heat that wouldn't be possible once the storage heater was drained. So they really are a crap idea and only really used when people can't get a gas supply. Gas central heating is FAR cheaper providing you don't use the most expensive supplier - British Gas, who doubled their price per unit within 12 months to keep shareholders happy. Also don't pay extra to fix a price for a set time when you can pay far less with another company. Storage heaters are a waste of time and I'm not sure why anyone would even have them now.

Reply to
Rob

It will if the door is opening and closing all the time and people are coming and going.

Reply to
Rob

You may well be OK with storeage heaters then as far as them being bale to heat the place until 1700 or there about is concerned.

Our E7 tarrif is 4.27p cheap 13.18 normal + VAT. But that is a domestic tarrif with no standing charge, not even a "hidden" one, only pay for the energy you use. The standing charge on an E7 tarrif is also higher than a normal one, at least for domestic tarrifs. I don't know what buisness tarrifs are like but I should imagine you should be able to get better unit costs that that. The only real way is to have a good look at how much power you are going to use during the day v night and get the calculator out (or use the online switcher sites if they do bussiness tarrifs).

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

Keep up at the back it's going to be a quiet shop 1 customer and hour. Though that makes me wonder how he's going to make enough money to pay the rent... but maybe it's not a shop selling "things" that people take away there and then but order stuff or provides a service.

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

The night rate is normally about 1/4 the day rate. Bit more than a "slight discount" and even against the cheapest of normal tariffs the night rate will be less than 1/2.

There are modern storage heaters that are easier to control and can take a boost during the day/evening. But that "boost" will be at the day rate... and makes the wiring slightly more complicated as they need an unswitched feed as well.

I think you'll find that most gas prices have more or less doubled in the last 12 months not just those of British Gas, though they are one of the pricier suppliers.

If the fixed price was good (say only 10 or 15% above the cheapest) and for a reasonable term (24 or more months) you could well be on a winner these days. Especially if you time it to have as much of the term as possible over winter, if the term is not a integer number of years. That is take an 18 month deal in oct/nov to get two winters not apr/may and only get one.

No mains gas and oil prices going stratospheric? It's very close now between oil and normal domestic tariff electricity for space heating. E7 rate *is* much cheaper. Oil is 60p/l or about 6p/unit but that's input, boiler inefficiency makes the real cost of useful heat about 8p/unit, I pay 8.415p/unit for lecky...

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

We are a dispensing opticians, there is a fair amount of profit per unit plus we do some manufacturing.

Who knows we might get dozens/hr through the door once established but we seem to live in a society where people struggle to see past Specsavers/Mc D's/Tesco.

Reply to
R D S

RDS ? - he's an optician, innit

Reply to
geoff

Our shop is comfotably heated by 2 Myson fan convector heaters The main one is a 20-10 or something, it's the full width of the shop door (where it's located above) and can heat things up pretty quickly.

The 2nd one is a bit smaller and across the door to the warehouse at the other end.

To save complication I wired each one up to it's own thermostat which just cuts the fan on and off while the boiler can still run through a couple of small radiators in the office and bathroom which dont get the full benefit of the heated shop space.

Our shop floor area is around 9M Deep and 5M Wide with an extra packing area going off a further 6 Meters x 3M

The daytime temp. can change very unpredictably and wouldn't consider Night storage heaters for all day heating. They just wouldn't have the ooomph when needed or too much heat leakage when not required.

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