heating
Electric radiators and storage heaters
An electric radiator fitted costs £250 to £600 and a storage heater changeover £350 to £700 a unit. The heater is the small decision. The large one is the tariff behind it, because the same room heated on a day rate and on an off peak rate differs by more over a winter than any two heaters do.
What this covers
What it costs. An electric panel radiator fitted is £250 to £600 and a high heat retention storage heater £350 to £700 each. Full cost breakdown.
What the job covers
- Replacing night storage heaters with modern units
- Fitting electric radiators on their own circuits
- Wiring in programmers and room thermostats
- Checking the off peak supply and time switch
- Sizing heaters against the heat loss of each room
What is involved
Storage heaters work by charging overnight on a cheap rate and releasing heat through the following day. Older units released it whether anybody wanted it or not, which is why so many houses with them are warm at eleven in the morning and cold at seven in the evening. Modern high heat retention units hold the charge far longer and release it under control, and that difference is the whole case for changing them. They need the same off peak supply and time switch arrangement, and that arrangement is the part an electrician checks first.
Panel radiators are the other route and they run on the ordinary day rate unless a smart tariff says otherwise. They heat quickly, control precisely by room, and cost more per unit of heat than anything storing energy overnight. In a well insulated flat used in the evenings they work well. In a draughty house they are an expensive way to lose heat through the walls, and the money is better spent on the walls.
Every fixed heater wants its own circuit, or at least a properly sized shared one, and that is where the real electrical work lives. A house converting from storage heaters to panel radiators may need the off peak supply and its metering rearranged, the consumer unit adding to, and in an all electric property the total load checked against the main fuse. A heat pump changes the arithmetic again and is a different trade conversation, and it is worth having before committing to a house full of electric radiators.
Choosing someone for the job
Ask what tariff the design assumes and what the annual running cost looks like on it. Ask whether each heater gets its own circuit and whether the board has the ways. Ask whether the off peak supply and time switch are staying, changing or being removed. In an all electric house, ask what the main fuse is rated at before anything is ordered.
Common questions
Are storage heaters worth keeping?
The supply arrangement is worth keeping. Old units that dump their heat by lunchtime are worth replacing with high heat retention models, which hold the charge into the evening. Abandoning the off peak rate altogether usually costs more to run, not less.
Electric radiators or storage heaters?
Radiators for a well insulated flat used in the evenings, where control matters and total demand is low. Storage for a house on an off peak tariff with steady all day heat demand. The building and the tariff decide it, not the heater.