[Update: As nuclear and coal stations are wound down in the UK, this could mean the death of the Economy 7 tariff. This would mean storage heaters becoming more expensive to run, and as such we no longer recommend people install new storage heaters. Read our latest advice here under ‘The future of storage heaters’.]
Our view – Storage heaters
If your property is off the gas grid, storage heaters are cheap, easy to install, and combined with economy 7 tariffs can be fairly economical. There are plenty of other ways to heat your home off-grid, and we would probably recommend some other methods over storage heaters all things being equal, but we have to admit that some of the latest models of storage heaters offer a good option for some people.
Three reasons to choose storage heaters:
- You can get Green Deal Finance, sometimes to cover the full cost, unlike many other electric heating options
- They take advantage of cheaper night time electricity
- They can be installed anywhere and are pretty much maintenance free – no pipes to run around the property, just a few wires.
What type of storage heater is best?
There are 3 types: your older static heaters, fan assisted storage heaters, and next generation heaters with ultra efficient heat storage and control. Dimplex produces the Quantum heater, which we recommend.
How cheap are storage heaters to run?
Storage heaters have the same level of efficiency as standard electric heaters, the reason they can save you money is because they charge at night when you can take advantage of cheap electricity. To do this you must have a dual rate meter and be on an Economy 7 tariff. The savings will then depend on your night rate tariff – the lower the better, but you could cut your heating bills in half with storage heaters.
What is the cost of storage heaters?
A cheap fan-assisted heater will set you back just a few hundred pounds, but fitting it may add to the cost, especially if you need further wiring. The Quantum heaters will cost around £500 each, but will give a far superior performance.
[Update: As nuclear and coal stations are wound down in the UK, this could mean the death of the Economy 7 tariff. This would mean storage heaters becoming more expensive to run, and as such we no longer recommend people install new storage heaters. Read our latest advice here under ‘The future of storage heaters’.]
I’ve been recommended to fit Fischer storage heaters and they claim are cheater to run than duplex. They are wall mounted and have granted 2 year interest free credit.
Would you advise if your for or against this recommendation.
Having spent a fair amount of time researching replacements for our 5 old unsightly but fairly effective storage heaters here’s my two pennies worth which I hope helps.
As previously mentioned by another poster above, all electric heaters are pretty much 100% efficient, so if you put 1 Kilowatt of energy in you’ll get 1 Kilowatt of heat out, whether it’s a £20 heater from Argos or a £2000 heater from Fischer. So what you end up paying extra for is the type of controls, better thermometers, aesthetics, marketing etc. Certain salesman may spout stuff like “oh but our thermostats are incredibly accurate, so our radiators switch off when the exact temperature required is reached etc” This may be true but all thermostats are reasonably accurate and does + or – 0.1 of a degree really make up for your heater costing 10 or in some cases 100 times more?
Because all electric heaters are 100% efficient one way of saving money is to buy electricity when it’s cheaper, traditionally overnight in the UK. Storage heaters are designed to use off peak electricity to heat up large dense blocks, then release this stored heat during the day until the next off peak period. To use them you’ll need a special off peak electricity meter and cabling to the heaters that only works off peak. With this set up you then have 7 or 10 hours of electricity per day, (dependent on your deal) for about half the price of the day rate, to store in your heaters. At time of writing I have 7 hours off peak electricity per day and pay 6p off peak per KWH and 12p on peak.
Fischer storage heaters aren’t true storage heaters, in the traditional sense at least. Fischer heaters use a much smaller core so store much less heat and therefore are better run on a normal electricity tariff, as they need to constantly recharge their smaller blocks. The plus point of this is if you only need heat for short periods of time they could in some circumstances be more economic than traditional storage heaters to run. This is because you only have them on only when you want heat. On the down side they need to use electricity at more expensive times as they can only store heat for a short period of time and they are unbelievably expensive to buy. Storage heaters on the other hand basically charge a large core overnight that can release heat for hours the next day. In the colder months this means a fairly average base temperature can be maintained in a house but supplemental heating may be needed in the evening as the storage heater cools.
Heating by electricity is always more expensive than gas or oil but these weren’t an option for us. I wanted a more controllable heating option but still wanted to benefit from off peak pricing so settled on replacing our 2 largest storage heaters with new, more aesthetically pleasing storage heaters for about £400 each. I removed the old ones and fitted the new ones myself which isn’t technically difficult at all but the blocs are heavy so you might want to get someone to help or do it for you. I then replaced my 3 other old storage heaters with Dimplex wall mounted Q-rad heaters at about £275 each. I now have two basic large storage heaters that look quite nice, benefit from half price electricity and keep the chill off the house all day and smart looking three instant heat Q-rad radiators that have all sorts of built in fancy programmable thermostats and timers so I can have extra heat when and if I need it for those few extra hours a day. Basically I set a minimum temperature at certain times of day for each Q-Rad and then let them get on with it. They’re silent in operation and once set I completely forget about them. If the Q-Rads have to come on overnight they of course also benefit from cheap electricity. My total cost for replacing the 5 old storage heaters was £1700 plus £100 to an electrician to change the cables to the Q-rad heaters to anytime electricity rather than off peak only. Since then we’ve never been cold, we’re not heating rooms when we don’t need to and our electricity bills haven’t risen, in fact overall they’ve gone down as we’re not heating when we don’t need to.
In my view the initial outlay for Fischer heaters is exorbitant. Their main selling point seems to be that they heat up quicker than traditional storage heaters, have an accurate thermostat and programmable timer and are therefore more controllable. All true in my opinion, however any programmable electric radiator will do this for much less outlay.
So to sum up the main points I’d make are…
1. No electric radiators are more efficient than any others,* 1 Kw electricity in = 1Kw heat out. If anyone tells you different ask them to explain how they’ve rewritten the laws of physics. (* Wet electric central heating is less than 100% efficient)
2. Heaters with thermostats and timers will save you money but you can buy a basic programmable wall mounted radiator from about £50 online, so anything more than this is for aesthetics and fancier controls.
3. When you have to use electricity traditional storage heaters using an Economy 7 or 10 electricity tariff are probably the cheapest way to heat a house, because you’re buying your heat off peak. (NB Heat pumps may be cheaper to run but are expensive to install)
4. Additional normal electric radiators are great for supplementing storage heaters and giving you that extra control.
5. If you do have cheaper off peak electricity then try and run everything you can on it, Hot Water, Washing Machine etc the savings are significant.
Thanks Bob for an excellent summary. Just this morning the postman brought fliers from Fischer so expect more salesmen armed with dubious physics. We have run storage heaters since the 1980’s and have been largely happy with them but it now looks as if we may have to plan for the demise of Economy 7. Another factor is the future of the long wave radio switching as the BBC want to close Droitwich down.
Yet another factor of which many people may be unaware arose when we had a smart meter installed. This meter has given us relatively few benefits but we soon found that billing is calculated by the smart meter and that EDF have standardised on midnight to 7AM as their Economy 7 hours running on local time. The long wave switching still runs on Greenwich Mean Time. This means that in the summer between ‘spring forward’ and ‘fall back’ any heating between 7AM and 8AM is charged at the full day rate. In summer we don’t have Economy 7 but Economy 6! EDF are unapologetic saying that we still get our 7 hours.
Anyone with EDF, a smart meter and Economy 7 would do well to check and it may apply to other suppliers.
Hi I had Fischer heaters installed a year ago, 3 heaters in my two bedroom house, I was delighted, my house was lovely and warm. This good feeling soon ended when I saw my electricity bill, my unit consumption had doubled!, I am left with a bill for £800 for 3 months.
I have been trying to get advice from fischer but I am fed up calling them as they keep saying their tech team will call me back but so far no one has bothered. I now have trading standards involved as the salesman promised me these were cheaper to run than my old storage heaters. I am upset that I have been mis sold these heaters and I am dreading the winter as I know I cannot afford to use them.
Hi Tony,
I think you mean dimplex rather than duplex? I would be very surprised if the storage heaters you have been recommended are more efficient. All electric heaters heat the bricks at the same efficiency, it is the ability to keep the heat in for later in the day and the controls on the heater that ultimately save you money on your bills.
Dimplex have some of the best heat storage technology on the market with their quantum range, and the controls are second to none. Whilst I’m sure the Fischer heaters will do the job, I can’t see how they would be cheaper to run – although they should be cheaper to install.
Having said that your credit deal sounds good, so good luck whatever you choose!
I moved into a new property in August of last year and I have Quantam storage heaters in the livingroom and the hall and the more traditional Dimplex heaters in the two bedrooms. Whilst the Quantam heaters certainly offer more in terms of controlability and being better insulated to prevent heat loss, there is the issue of the running cost of the fan which runs any time you set for the heater to be on. Now unless you are some sort of a ‘night owl’, this means that the fan runs at peak hours and costs more to run than if the heat was just using natural convection like the old Dimplex heaters. It seems wholly unnecessary to me to have forced convection like this during periods of use that occur during peak electricity rates. The heater is so well insulated that if you do not run the fan then the heater remains cool and therefore will not even give radiant heat. The Dimplex heaters can retain their heat if the input is up to a reasonable level and the output is put to its lowest setting and this provides a constant radiant as well as convective heat that seems better at keeping the room at a comfortable temperature all day. I have found the Quantam heater to be expensive to run because I have it on the ‘home all day’ setting as my missus suffers from chronic anaemia and this I think is down to the unnecessary forced convection using the fan. Any thoughts on this would be gratefully appreciated. Thanks Alan
Hi Alan, so we often get people complaining about storage heaters, be it old fashioned or new the quantum range. Not only are they unhappy with the efficiency but also temperature control and cost. Thats why we are seeing a huge amount of interest in Infrared heating panels. These not only allow you to benefit from a standard tariff, meaning your day time appliances cost less to run, but the can be controlled with a thermostat. They also heat via infrared rays, so do not rely on convection that can often be unpleasant.
I would like more information on storadge heaters
I had a quote done by Fischer for 2 large storage heaters to be installed in my living room (60 square meters) and the total, with installation and remote programming system, came to £3235 that I can pay on an interest-free loan (Barclays) over 2 years. Is this a reasonable deal or vastly overpriced? I see y ou recommend Dimplex which is the same make as the night storage heaters I have but they are not very efficient – perhaps too old?
Hi Isobel,
I have to say that Fischer are very expensive for what they are, in my opinion. 2 storage heaters at over £1,600 each is a lot of money. The top quality dimplex quantum heaters are around £500 each. Even with installation you won’t be paying more than £1,500.
Make sure you shop around before you commit to an installer.
Alan
Just had a quote from Fischer Heating – 2 bedroom flat…..£8100 YES £8100!!!!!!!!
Quote from Dimplex – Storage Heaters £1000 per Storage Heater £250 per Panel Heater
Anyone know why Fischer Heating is so expensive is it Cheaper to run?
We have just taken a call about the Fisher heating system with someone quoting the same price. Really not sure about them to be honest. I think people should begin to move away from storage heaters especially mainly because the amount of electricity at night available (mainly from nuclear plants that can’t be turned off) is going to drop over the next 5-10 years. The nuclear plants are reaching the end of their useful life and therefore will be decommissioned. I think that they will be replaced with gas power plants on the whole (nuclear plants take so long to build and also many people are very anti nuclear). Therefore as night time electricity gets more scarce the price will go up, so while the principle of the storage heater is good (and to be honest new storage heaters work well now!) I think if you are investing in a new heating system I would look at other forms of heating.
We were looking at replacing our old storage heaters with new Fischer future heat German storage heaters. But we found that the sales rep that came to our house was really pushy and wanted us to give a deposit on the day. Also they were very expense to buy.
There are definitely cheaper heating options out there…
I’ve just had the very same experience with Fischer rep. Im a 43 year old male engineer and i felt compelled to TELL him to leave my flat when trying to sell the first £2000 plus radiator of which i needed 6!! He would not stop talking about how great the finance deal was and that to fit a wet system would cost so much more!!
Heaven help a frail OAP who would be conned out of their money.
Anybody considering installing Fischer Future Heat UK Ltd products, or any other so-called “miracle storage heater”, to replace existing storage heaters that run on the Economy 7 type tariffs would definitely benefit from reading the judgements made against Fischer by the Advertising Standards Authority. There’s also a very informative, if rather long, thread on the Money Saving Expert site. These heaters are not storage heaters in the conventional sense and do not utilise Economy tariffs in any meaningful way, infact, they are extremely expensive to run if you remain on an Economy tariff. Indeed, Fischer recommend that they are run utilising ordinary tariffs. Given that all resistive electric heaters are 100% efficient in converting electricity to heat, no matter what type of electric heater is used the number of kilowatt hours needed to generate a comfortable temperature in any room will be the same. Please do some research and you will save yourself a lot of expense, a lot of disappointment and a fair amount of embarrassment.
i am getting the new quantum heating fitted in my home for free we have no gas in the area,can i get a smart meter fitted with having the quantum fitted,and how good are they compared to electric and price,would oil be better, i still have the old storage heating just now but it`s getting changed within the next 2 months
Quantum storage heaters are nothing like old storage heater the difference is amazing the actually heat the room instead of just sitting in the room wasting electric and dont seem to be that expensive to run if on economy 7 tarrif.
Fisher radiators seem to be really expensive to run about £10 a day!! As my daughter has just moved into a house fitted with those
I am looking at replacing my gas powered central heating system with a all inclusive Fischer storage system. Having read the comments below I think not. I would value views of others about wether I should upgrade my current boiler and have the radiators serviced. My current power bill electricity and gas is no more than £1200 per annum for our 3 bedroomed detached home.. Any advice appreciated.