ᐅ Replacement of Old Night Storage Heaters with Modern Electric Heating Systems

Hello everyone,

I own and rent out a 20m² (215 sq ft) apartment, which is heated by a night storage heater from 1995. The unit looks quite ugly, and controlling a night storage heater is very inconvenient since you basically have to select your desired heating output a day in advance. Additionally, it has a fan, and my tenant keeps complaining because the noise bothers her.

I could have the unit removed for €100 and install a modern electric heater for another €100. In my opinion, this makes sense, as I believe the new heater would operate more efficiently than a 20-year-old night storage heater. Night storage electricity costs about 20 cents per kWh here, compared to regular electricity at around 25 cents per kWh. The savings aren’t huge, and choosing this option limits your choice of electricity providers quite a bit.

How do you all assess this situation?

Ask your tenant. She has to cover the 20% higher consumption costs, right?
Otherwise, if the heating output is sufficient, why not?

Keep in mind that it won’t look good under the stove once you remove it. You might need a few more euros to spruce up the floor there.

Also keep in mind that the efficiency of electric heating has always been very high, so there probably hasn’t been much change. (Even the earliest incandescent bulbs were almost 100% efficient heating elements ;-)

What you might save could only be the heat loss from storage during the night.

But that’s just my layman’s opinion – the heating engineer can definitely tell you more about this.

He was more concerned about the ugly tank barrier and the lack of comfort

What kind of electric heater can you get for 100 €?

Hello.
Have you ever considered whether one or two infrared panels might be the right solution?