electric oil radiators

[Markw]

Hi,

After 3 years I have finally had to bite the bullet and get some form

of heating. Having been away from the house for the winter, on our

return the house was very mouldy and damp. Not unexpected really. So we

have decided to spend some money on some heating. All I intend to do is

have some background heat for the cold winter months and just keep the

dampness away when we are not there.

I have looked at the oil filled radiators and these seem good value.

Has anyone used them and what sort of timers or thermostats come with

them?

Eventually I would look at some form of central heating but the initial outlay is to great at the moment.

Our French neighbours have just had a new house built and they have had

electric radiators installed as the heating system. I asked them if it

was expensive to run but they said it is cheaper than oil and gas.

Any tips or ideas would be gratefully received.

Cheers

Mark

[Dick Smith]

I take it yours is a holiday home. and you spend a few weeks or months a year there?

We use a combination of electric oil-filled radiators, calor gas heaters and a woodburner. The radiators are good for background heat, and the gas heaters boost it up quickly.

The cost is not too bad because we are not there full-time. Certainly we could run them for many years before we reached the cost of central heating of any type.

Be careful how much you load up your electricity supply; ours is 9kW and we have tripped it a couple of times.

[Markw]

Thanks for the reply Dick. Yes, we are not there as often as we would

like but the plan is to retire there one day. There being Brittany.

We have a wood burner that is great when we are there as well as

convector heaters. The only problem with the convectors is that I would

not feel safe leaving them on for weeks at a time, because of the fire

risk.Our  supply is 9kw and I was looking at upping it to 12kw for

that very reason. I also have looked at creuse heures, but don't know

if the increase in standing order will outway the cheaper electricity

for the amount we will use.

Thanks again.

Mark

[Dick Smith]

We felt that the extra costs of 12kW wouldn't be terrible, but we had no real need. Anything more was getting expensive. Like you, when we retire (3 years now) we will spend more time 'out there' but still probably not enough to justify central heating.