Electric Central Heating Company

Unlike Gas, every home in the UK has access to electricity. Around 5,000,000 homes in the UK do not have access to gas mains – but practically every home is connected to the electricity grid. This, alongside a growing concern over the impact of gas heating on the environment and many government initiatives, has helped to ensure electric heating has become one of the most popular means of heating the home in the whole of the UK.

But there’s a whole range of different electric heating systems and options on the market, and it can end up being a bit overwhelming at first trying to decide which option is best for you. We’ll discuss some of the options available, and the benefits that an electric heating system can bring you.

What is Electrical Central Heating?

In the past ‘Central Heating’ mainly referred to comprehensive home heating systems powered by a kind of boiler. For example, gas central heating using a gas-powered boiler, or electric central heating meant a central heating system powered by an electric boiler. This started to change in the 1960s with Night Storage heaters, which aren’t connected to a boiler or any kind of wider central heating system. Today, with options like electric radiators, ‘Electric Central heating’ just means any system where the primary source of heat is provided by electrical means.

Why Go for Electric Heating?

There’s a range of major benefits that come with Electric Heating. While some systems possess specific benefits, effectively all electric central heating options have the following five benefits.

• Require little to no maintenance, as they lack moving parts. This is a big contrast with boilers, which possess a lot of moving parts. This means far fewer call outs, less worry about insurance and in general far less hassle
• Quick and easy installation; in most cases electric heaters can just be mounted on walls. There’s none of the hassle of pipework and as such installation usually takes only a few hours. This contrasts with the often costly, invasive process of a new gas boiler system.
• They’re a lot safer – electric heating systems don’t have the potential to produce harmful gasses or leaks, so there’s no need to worry about safety.
• Effectively all UK homes have access to electricity; this is unlike with gas mains, where a lot of homes can’t get access. This means much less hassle over planning.
• And many Electric Heating options can draw power from eco-friendly energy sources as well, including solar panels and heat pumps.

These are the general benefits of Electric Heating. We’ll discuss the more specific benefits you can get when we take a lot at specific systems.

What kinds of Electric Heating can I get?

There’s a range of different Electric Heating options on the market. The most used products are Night Storage Heaters and Electric Radiators. We’ll discuss the benefits of the two, and which we consider to be the superior option for home owners today.

Night Storage Heaters

Night Storage heaters are probably one of the better-known forms of Electric Heating. They’re well known for being a cheap source of energy since they primarily run off low tariffs at night.

• Night Storage Heaters work by using electricity at night to heat up ceramic bricks. Over the course of the day, they’ll release this heat and warm the entire house.
• Night Storage Heaters are certainly easy to install, and they’re also cheap, but the problem is they’re not easy to control. Storage Heaters need to be set in advanced;
• older models cannot provide instant heat. Because of how they must be set, in many cases you’ll be left colder during the evening.

Electric Radiators

Electric Radiators (also called Electric Heaters) are the most modern option for electric heating on the market. Like Night Storage Heaters, they’re easy to install, but unlike Night Heaters they aren’t set on a timer and indeed are incredibly easy to control. Many can be set by their thermostat and there’s a range of apps and wi-fi based controls which will let you decide which rooms you want heated and for how long. This means you won’t ever be wasting electricity.

Unlike other heating systems, Electric Radiators are 100% energy efficient. This means that 100% of the power they use is converted to heat. This means there’s no waste. This is a big problem with non-electric systems, where at best you will get 90% efficiency.

The ability to total (and easy) control over what rooms are heated, as well as minimise maintenance makes Electric Radiators one of the best choices on the market. The quick installation (which will only take a few hours) furthermore guarantees you won’t have to worry about a lengthy of complex installation process.