I'm thinking of buying an apartment and it has storage heating in it, what do you think?
Answers:
I have storage heating and it is a good background heating system BUT... do you like to sleep in a cold bedroom or a warm one, personally I prefer a cold bedroom which means that the bedroom heater is never used and the lounge heater has to heat the whole flat. I also have a gas fire for the evenings in the lounge but if you're all electric the extra heating costs can be expensive as the day time electricity rate is higher than normal. If you get timers for your washing machine, dishwasher etc then you can save money by setting these to work during the off-peak night hours (12.30 to 7.30 summer and 11.30 to 6.30 winter). If the apartment is all electric then go for the house.
Personally I would chose the house over the flat regardless of the heating. Flats can be noisy places and your neighbour's heavy footsteps, squeaky bed, loud music can ruin your enjoyment of your own home. The repayments may be difficult to start with but further down the line you'll be glad as you won't have to move to get peace and quiet. Also houses appreciate in value faster.
Good Luck
Other answers:
From experiance storage heaters are expensive and a right royal pain the bum to use!
From experiance storage heaters are expensive and a right royal pain the bum to use!
Storage is difficult to to control, unless you can predict the weather, and it's to dear to run
Storage Heaters arn't ideal as you have to predict what the temperature is going to be the next day as they take in their power overnight, its not easily controlable and I would opt for gas heating every time, but 20,000 difference between the two porperties seems a lot, you can put a basic gas central heating system into a 2 bedroom property for about £1,500 .
Storage heaters are a pain in the backside - and not generally that effective.
My last place had storage heaters - now I've got gas, and it's wonderful.
used to have storage heaters...they are a nightmare to use as u cant just switch them on when ur cold and get instant heat...gas is instant on or off and cheeper i have gas now and its a million times better! i live in 3 bed semi detached house with gas heating and water and it onlt costs me an average of £5-10 sterling a week depending on time of year.xxx
Storeage heaters are simple to use but not as effective as other types of heating, you wont have the benefit of 'instant' heat
Gas is just about to become VERY expensive...in fact its happening already.
If I were you Id take the apartment and rip out the storeage heaters and replace it with oil. You'll have relatively cheap heating and add more value to the property than what you pay for upgrading straight away.
Storage heaters are not a great long term idea, why dont you see how much it would cost to have gas fitted at the apartment.
From my experience storage heaters are good for single rooms but dont seem to heat the whole house/flat. Once the heat has been used up , you have to wait until the next day until they've heated up again.