Electric heating and hot water

A question about : Electric heating and hot water

Hi

I've recently bought a studio flat for myself but it has no heating and a large, copper cylinder for the hot water. I want to install heating and update the hot water system to something more efficient but my options are limited as it's a Grade II listed building, so no gas or solar panels for example.

I'm not keen on storage heaters as I've had them before, so I'm thinking of going for a convection or radiant heater. It's a studio, so it's only for one room with one external wall, but I have fairly high ceilings (297 cm) and a large, single-glazed bay window stretching from floor to ceiling (which I can't afford to get double glazed). I can't seem to figure out whether convection or radiant heaters would be best - any suggestions?

I've been advised different things for the hot water. One plumber suggested getting an unvented cylinder; another said it would be more efficient to get an electric shower and 15 litre instantaneous water heater for the basin and kitchen sink (so no baths with that system). I'm not sure what to believe and can't seem to find the answer online.

Can anyone out there help?

Thanks!

Best answers:

• Your most economic choice by far should be to add NSH's to the existing(?) immersion heater (which is already 100% efficient, by the way). Convection or radiant heating makes no difference, it's all 100% efficient. But using either will mean that you will either need to come off E7 (if currently used) and switch to a single rate tariff. That means that your hot water will no longer be heated on cheap rate.
  If you fit any form of heating on a single rate tariff, it will increase your heating costs by around 250% over NSH's. Modern NSH's are much more compact and controllable than the older style ones you may be used to.
  I'd go with the elctric shower option as well as it gives you a backup option, and probably a stronger shower than one fed by gravity off a hot tank on the same floor.
  Finally, it's completely daft to spend thousands on installing heating and then leave a large window without double glazing-the insulation should be the first thing to tackle.