Installing Wet Electric Heating Economy 10 in a Very Small flat

[Graham Brooker]

I have a very small bedsit flat of about 40 sq m that needs a new boiler.
It has an old Biasi Prisma combi boiler designed for a 3 bed house that is
on its last legs and will have to go. An electric boiler would run the
existing 3 radiators because I hate night storage heaters.

The flat is high up in an old Victorian building with 18 inch thick
flint/stone walls and single glazed sliding sash windows. It gets quite
warm from the larger modern gas heating system in the large flat below.
There is no chance of adding extra insulation or double glazing.

There are good reasons relating to the building layout why electric heating
is much more convenient. They say Economy 10 is popular in old peoples flats
as it is cheap to run. If I remove the gas supply and use single fuel then
there will be only 1 standing charge.

Assuming I set the timers correctly will my running costs by reasonable or
will I get a nasty shock with the first bill. I am aware of the
installation costs of the new equipment and meter. Does anyone know if it
is a feasible exercise. The electricity supplier says it is a sensible
option but they would.

Any comments welcome.

Thanks

Graham

[ro...@cix.compulink.co.uk]

In article <OYKdndHxfrVzgX3Q...@bt.com>,
graham....@NOSPAM.cwcom.net (Graham Brooker) wrote:

> *From:* "Graham Brooker" <graham....@NOSPAM.cwcom.net>
> *Date:* Fri, 27 May 2011 22:51:38 +0100

Apparently not worth it - see the thread below:
http://tinyurl.com/3j93vcy

The general consensus is that, other than the convenience, there's no
difference between using an electric boiler and an immersion heater /
separate electric heaters. There is, of course, the cost of the actual
boiler to consider as well.

I'm not sure exactly how electric boilers work but, I assume that they're
the same principle as an ordinary gas system where the water is heated in
a tank - as hot water is used from the tap, or the heat from the tank is
transferred to the radiators then the boiler is turned on. This means that
any electricity used will be in real time.

Unless you're able to store a whole day's worth of required heat in an
extremely large water tank, then any economy tariffs that give you cheap
electricity will only be worth it if you have the radiators on or are
using heat at that particular time. Outside those hours, you will pay
normal peak prices.

I have two storage radiators and a hot water tank (with immersion). I am
on the old style White Meter tariff (the forerunner to Economy 7) and that
gives me a continuous spell of cheap electricity from 22:30 - 07:30. This
means that I know exactly when my cheap rate is and as a consequence any
electricity I use in that time is cheap rate. The immersion heater and
storage radiators are timed to be on between 22:30 and 07:30 which means I
get a full tank of hot water and heating at the cheap rate. I have an
electric shoer, so any hot water that's used is for incidental things such
as washing, washing up etc. If I need more hot water, I just switch the
immersion on as required.

If any additional heating is wanted, I just use oil radiators (the
portable ones on wheels from Screwfix for around £30) as required which,
because they are thermostatically operated, they are quite economical to
run. They also have the advantage in that they quickly heat a room up and
are ideal for those times when I don't really need the storage heaters on.

One of the disadvantages of economy tariffs is that whilst the cheap rate
is about half the peak rate, the peak rate is more expensive than if
you're on a single tariff. This is fine if you use lots of electricity at
the cheap rate and not much at the peak rate, but may be more expensive if
you don't, especially in the summer when you're not using heaters.

The other thing with some economy plans is that you may not necessarily
know when you're actually getting the cheap electricity. As I'm a white
meter customer, my hours are fixed, so that I know I will always be on a
cheap rate at that time. Depending on supplier, other economy plans may
guarantee you X hours of cheap electricity per day, but may not specify
the actual time. Some may give you less in the night and a boost or two in
the day. Because they can just send a signal to your meter to change the
rate from peak to off-peak, this means that they can do it at whatever
time it suits them, such as when there is less demand at that particular
time.

So, in your case, if you get an electric boiler, you're probably not going
to save anything (and perhaps even lose out) if you go onto an economy
plan unless you're using lots of water / heating during the cheap rate
periods. It will also cost you the price of the boiler compared with
perhaps just buying a couple of heaters (although if you haven't got an
immersion heater fitted you will need one, and that would up the price a
bit).

For information, the link below shows the tariffs for EDF and shows the
difference in unit costs between the normal unit and the cheap (night) and
peak (day) rates of the different plans.
Roger

[mock...@gmail.com]

Graham,

....it very much depends! There are a couple of things to consider:
- What's your total heating consumption. Gas is at least half the cost of electric per unit of energy. However as you rightly pointed out you would save approx £100 per year standing charge by removing gas. On high usage properties gas still makes sense.

I live in a flat where gas isn't allowed, so wet electric heating ('normal' radiators filled with water, and an electric boiler) is an excellent solution for me. I use the economy 10 tariff, and have the heating coming on only during these hours. Also have a digital thermostat fitted so that it doesn't overheat during these times. Probably saves me about 20% on my total energy costs.

Check out www.economy10.com for some useful info.

Cheers,
Mark

[Andy Champ]

On 24/04/2013 18:05, mock...@gmail.com wrote:
> Check out www.economy10.com for some useful info.
>
> Cheers,
> Mark

That'll be Mark as in Mark, Founder, economy10.com will it? It seems to
be a non-commercial site, but you really ought to say if it is.

Whatever his solution was he decided on it. His post is just coming up
for 2 years old.

Andy