Night Storage Heaters

We had storage heaters in our holiday home which were on a ?white meter so heated up at night and retained heat during the day. This was, apparently, cheaper. I kept them on low throughout the winter if we weren't there (well, it was in the north of Scotland!). Could you convert to central heating? A friend got it put into her small 1 bed cottage with help from the local authority so the expense wasn't too great. That would be so much more effective and easier to regulate.

Not much help, but in our first house we had night storage heaters as there was no gas in the village. We left them on all the time (except summer). We were on a white meter. We also had an oil fired Aga, and open fires in the family rooms which we lit in the evenings. It was a very expensive way to heat a home. We sold up and moved into a property with had gas central heating when my DD was secondary school age.

I have night storage heaters on a white meter, no heat left come about
4.30pm, when very cold I run oil filled electric radiators all day.

Storage heaters do not give adequate warmth

The only experience I have of night storage heaters is that they were installed in a married quarter we had in the 1970s. As has previously been stated, they were cold by late afternoon, so by the time the children needed bathing, the bathroom was freezing in the winter. Hopeless.

I'm only renting the property so not able to make any changes, plus there is no Gas in the area.. The Storage Heaters do run on the cheaper Economy 7 electric tariff, but the downside to that is that my daytime tariff is over double the night time rate, hence the high cost of having the electric convector Heaters on throughout the day time. I think that Storage Heaters are probably only suitable if you are at home all day & go to bed relatively early!

electric heating is basically useless as warm air rises but storage and convectors don't put out enough heat to wam all the air in the room as warm air rises and then cools and falls and we sit low not up by the ceiling?
A single bar electric fire puts out more usable heat but only in a short radius from it.

If it was possible to safely prop a thin black tin cooking sheet in front of an electric fire it would warm the room by direct radiation and convection.

I've had all sorts of heating in my life and while central heating is obviously the way to go electric convectors and storage aren't.

I have an oiled filled electric radiator which I use occasionally when I don't want to have the ch on. I haven't a clue what it costs, but it certainly gives out a far better heat than a convector type heater. They are reasonably cheap to buy - perhaps you could look into the pros and cons of these?

What about halogen heaters Jenny?

I've no experience of them but have read that they cost about a third to run compared to other electric heaters. Some of them oscillate so the heat is spread around.

I second the halogen heater suggestion. They are warm and cast a rosy glow about the place. They are also safe because they turn off if accidentally bumped into. Also the oiled filled electric radiator is a good idea. I've used both heating devices in my previous chilly old Victorian house.
I have central heating now but the flat is very warm and I'm making do with a small electric hot air blower until it gets really cold.

I do like the sound of a Halogen heater, especially as it gives off light as well as heat. But having been bitten once by a huge electric bill I am reluctant to use any thing that runs of the daytime tariff, which is over double my night time tariff. I was hoping that there is someone on GN that uses Night Storage Heaters, that could advise me of the most economical way to use them.

No matter the appliance the cost of a kW is the same

We had Night Storage Heaters in a previous property, what we did before going to bed was turn the OUTPUT off, turn the input to between medium or high (depending on temperature for following day).
The house was lovely and warm in the morning and most of the day. Again, depending on outside temp. turn the output up late afternoon or when you return home, this worked for us, yes, I agree later in the evening the heat was not as it was in the morning, but it did make a difference, i.e. not too cold later on in the evening, hope this helps!!.