Storage heaters were hugely popular during the 70s / 80s when the UK was producing a large amount of electricity from slow reacting power plants. The power plants couldn’t be turned off at night (for example oil and coal powerstations), so were creating a huge amount of electricity even though demand during the middle of the night was very low.
The energy companies tried to encourage demand by introducing the Economy 7 (or Economy 10) tariffs. Economy 7 tariffs provided a home with a dual electricity meter (or in some cases two separate meters) allowing the household to access cheaper electricity at night – this came at the expense of charging a slight premium on electricity prices during the day. The storage heaters would use this cheap electricity to charge and then the heat would be released as required through the day.
Storage heaters are bulky and leak heat!
The storage heaters converted the cheap electricity as heat in well insulated bricks – the result of which is that the storage heater units were (and still are!) extremely big (to accommodate the bricks) so often take up a huge amount of space in the home.
The other major issue with storage heaters is that they tend to release the heat heat during the low cost period, so by the time you actually want the heat (during the day time), they would need to be recharged with day time electricity which is very expensive. Building regulations now require a minimum of 10% of a house’s heating requirements to be made up by infrared or equivalent electric radiators if you have storage heaters. For older types this increases to 15%.
Infrared – the perfect alternative to storage heaters!
We are seeing a huge amount of interest in our infrared heating, especially for those who live without mains gas.
Infrared is the perfect replacement for those that currently have storage heaters to heat the home. Remember infrared heaters heat an area directly not a volume of air, so they are very efficient. The infrared heaters are also much more stylish than the old storage heaters, taking up far less room – at infrared4homes we offer a huge range of infrared heaters including heating panels that can be hung from the ceiling (to minimise the usable room they take up), ones that also act as mirrors, we even have infrared heating panels that can carry your family portrait!
If you are looking to replace your storage heaters with a more efficient heating system, then look no further than our infrared heating systems. All our product carry a minimum 5 year warranty – in fact our Herschel Inspire range come with a industry leading 10 year warranty! The panels are fantastic value and offer a really sleek, energy efficient alternative to the old storage heaters!