I know it's very ROF to suggest doing something different, but if you are actually going to try to keep the place warm for much of the year, have you considered air source heat pump(s) ? Basically aircon units that can work in reverse, and are about 4x as efficient as normal electric heaters because they draw heat from the outside air. A lot more expensive initially but bills will be 75% lower.

Have just put one in a large bedsit to replace storage heaters, very pleased with it.

Honestly burning tenners to keep warm will work out cheaper.

"Mr Hargreaves13 Mar 21 09:45

Reply | 

Report

Air source heat pump is pointless unless it's a new build with a shiteload of modern insulation"

Couldn't be more wrong. The lower the insulation, the greater the heating requirement and the greater the difference in bills. FFS.

I have these in one of my new properties and they are very expensive to run. A lot more than I expected. 

TBF I suspect you're thinking of the large expensive systems that replace gas boilers and push barely adequately heated water through radiators. But why would the OP do that in a cottage that doesn't have radiator based central heating currently ?

Yes HJ I rented a place with them and the first months leccy bill was for £450 for a1200 sqft house.

And we were still fooking cold.

Thank you, property not suited to heat pumps etc, and only really works with direct electric heat source (no gas and extending the oil/biomass not practicable), hence the specific question.  Any resonse on the specific question?

I replaced quite old space heaters with 'efficient' electric radiators and generally I found the heat was more even in the room, was easier to control and the leccy bills went down.

I bought them from Screwfix. All the same manufacturer, ranged from 250 - 500 ish as have different sizes in different rooms. All have the same thermostat and timing programmes so found them easy to work out a good temperature maintained.

Just looked up brand - Acova. Not sure if that is a good or bad brand generally but they suit my requirements.

Also quite easy to install.

Thanks Davos, just what I needed.  Will have a look.

👍

I’ve got air source for my pool because they work best if the air temperature is above 15C so not great for winter heating.  Anyone got experience of water source?

Water source would be a little unusual. Do you live very very close to the sea ?

We have a Dimplex panel heater in a downstairs loo.  The white glass panel complements the decor. 

No idea about efficiency. But apart from two indicator lights all the energy used goes to warm/hot air.

The flat I'm renting has "Farho" brand electric radiators. They're mounted to the wall, but not wired in - they use a normal plug. Because they're controlled by a switch and dial on the side, and not on a central thermostat, I have the one in my room plugged into a smart plug so I can set timers for it and use voice controls.

Fairly expensive as a heat source, but because we only heat the rooms we're in, on demand, the bills are manageable (ITRO £75/month between two people in a mid-sized flat). 

Would not have thought there could be a large variation in efficiency.  The electricity pumped in can only becine heat light or sound.

Before you do this google  biomass domestic rhi 

As a holiday cottage you might even be able to get non domestic rhi - if you’re on business rates which will basically give you free heating for 20 years 

I don’t understand why extending the biomas isn’t practical- you can get a standalone biomass system for one house or a district heating system 

anyone done ground source?

electric rads will always be expensive- can’t remember the make in my London flat but v expensive to run plus stupidly fiddly controls, all the rads communicate with each other via the mains cabling, have always just programmed them individually and it’s a real faff plus the thermostats are shite. keep it simple is my advice. 

Eeyore I have a fairly large pond which is why I’m interested.  By fairly large I mean about a third of an acre and six to seven feet deep.

@ all washed up 09.42

Completely off topic but someone was quoted as saying that competitive yachting (i don’t recall if he was referring to Round the World Yacht Race or something else) was like “Standing in the freezing shower of the bathroom of your house while all the time tearing up £50 notes.”

Summersails may like to comment.

Let’s just say there’s a reason I’m a hired hand rather than owning a boat.

All sorts of issues with extending the biomass.  The 40kw log boiler is at full if not beyond capacity for the house being the main one.  Having to be around to provide heat to guests as they won’t be able/allowed to control it is another.   Electric heaters are a good solution when you only need heat occasionally at either end of the season, or for a week or two at a time if you have winter bookings or friends/family staying.  It is economically marginal replacing the existing storage heaters at all in terms of payback from savings, but as two of them now have duff controllers (again) and it costs about £100 each to replace the pcbs, now is the time to swap them out for something more easily controllable and probably more efficient if Lot 20 compliant, though I am dubious about how long the tech will last before it expensively goes wrong.

Now considering Dimplex Q rads on the advice of a random sparky from Suffolk on an electricians forum I subscribe to who also says “Don't get drawn in to the ceramic, german, super efficient, oil filled, NASA tech bull crap. Avoid over priced companies like Fischer future heat and the like”, in case this is of value to anyone else.

How the fook is it still possible to install any form of electric heating that doesn't rely on a great pump?

🎃