Under floor heating in house built late 60's

BLAKEY · Post by **BLAKEY** » Mon 20 Oct, 2008 10:10 pm

I agree with jon entirely - I live in a multi storey block in Headingley and the storage heaters have just been replaced with the very latest model. Their only advantage over the previous generation is that they are very pleasing in appearance but, like their predecessors, cost the earth to heat the place during the day and then sit there looking pretty while you perish in the evenings. The original concept of Economy 7 was more sensible. With that system the heaters were on cheap rate during the night, like these new ones, but also heated up for two hours at lunchtime which gave you a chance as the day wore on.Like jon I only have one of the two in the lounge on, and the others never.In my view there is nothing finer than that wonderful modern invention, the halogen heater. You can have immediate cheery heat (they glow strongly rather like a powerful gas fire) at 400, 800 or 1,200 watts (and some even have four elements allowing 1,600 watts) - they will if required oscillate to spread the heat evenly, and they are fitted with a wonderful safety device which cuts them off at once if knocked or tipped over. The best bit of good news - can be bought for £10 or a little more, and must be the cheapest of all methods of providing effective warmth.

magic · Post by **magic** » Tue 21 Oct, 2008 1:00 am

BLAKEY wrote: I agree with jon entirely - I live in a multi storey block in Headingley and the storage heaters have just been replaced with the very latest model. Their only advantage over the previous generation is that they are very pleasing in appearance but, like their predecessors, cost the earth to heat the place during the day and then sit there looking pretty while you perish in the evenings. The original concept of Economy 7 was more sensible. With that system the heaters were on cheap rate during the night, like these new ones, but also heated up for two hours at lunchtime which gave you a chance as the day wore on.Like jon I only have one of the two in the lounge on, and the others never.In my view there is nothing finer than that wonderful modern invention, the halogen heater. You can have immediate cheery heat (they glow strongly rather like a powerful gas fire) at 400, 800 or 1,200 watts (and some even have four elements allowing 1,600 watts) - they will if required oscillate to spread the heat evenly, and they are fitted with a wonderful safety device which cuts them off at once if knocked or tipped over. The best bit of good news - can be bought for £10 or a little more, and must be the cheapest of all methods of providing effective warmth. Hi Blakey & thanks to every one for there replies. We contacted LCC today & they said that once we move in we could be waiting 6 to 8 weeks for storage heaters to be installed. Also it looks like the underfloor heating does not work. I cant believe in this day & age that they are willing to let us move into the property without adequate heating especially with the fact that we have a 17 month old son. We are not sure what to do now. We really want the property because its a 3 bedroom house & we also have a 14 year old daughter & our current 2 bed house is getting too cramped now. We have been on the waiting list for approx 2 years & have only now been offered this property. LCC have now said that if we dont sign up for the house we will loose our priority band & will probably be on the waiting list for another couple of years. We are not on benifits & i pay rent & council tax but we cant afford a mortgage. I have a good mind to contact MP George Mudie for his opinion. Any way sorry for the rant. I have seen the halogen heaters on Ebay for around a tenner. Are the heaters expensive to run?

BLAKEY · Post by **BLAKEY** » Tue 21 Oct, 2008 10:03 am

MAGIC WROTE :-"Any way sorry for the rant. I have seen the halogen heaters on Ebay for around a tenner. Are the heaters expensive to run?."Oh please, no need to apologise - you are not ranting at all and you have an awkward situation to weigh up quickly. I'm sure George Mudie would be interested and sympathetic in this barmy business of moving into a nice house but with no heating, especially in Autumn.The halogen heaters are comparatively very reasonable to run as the specification shows. You can choose between 400,800 or 1200 watts switched on, whereas the minimum setting for a normal electric fire is 1000 watts for one puny bar. Just one thing to consider though, with a toddler as young as your little one - the halogen heaters are free standing and attractive looking while working so a close watch would have to be kept to see that the kiddie didn't crawl or walk too near it.At least at a price of around £10 you can afford to try one without breaking the bank and, if nothing else, they are a wonderful standby for quick and cheery heat anywhere in an emergency.Good luck with your LCC dilemma !!

magic · Post by **magic** » Wed 22 Oct, 2008 2:11 am

BLAKEY wrote: I'm sure George Mudie would be interested and sympathetic in this barmy business of moving into a nice house but with no heating, especially in Autumn. Guess what? i emailed George Mudie & a representative of his contacted my girlfriend first thing Tuesday morning saying she would be looking into the matter.

BLAKEY · Post by **BLAKEY** » Wed 22 Oct, 2008 10:45 pm

magic wrote: BLAKEY wrote: I'm sure George Mudie would be interested and sympathetic in this barmy business of moving into a nice house but with no heating, especially in Autumn. Guess what? i emailed George Mudie & a representative of his contacted my girlfriend first thing Tuesday morning saying she would be looking into the matter. Excellent, and if you like the house other than the temporary heating issue lets hope it can be sorted quickly to your satisfaction !! Good luck.

MrsG · Post by **MrsG** » Wed 22 Oct, 2008 11:07 pm

Guess what? i emailed George Mudie & a representative of his contacted my girlfriend first thing Tuesday morning saying she would be looking into the matter. good for you - let's hope they get it sorted by the time you move in! It should be a priority because you have a little one. at my little girls nursery there is a lot of children coming down with a cold virus and they've said its going round a lot of schools etc, and its worse than it usually is at this time of year. So they shouldn't be putting any children at risk of being poorly if they can help it, even if they're not at nursery they can still pick it up easily from other children they come into contact with.Good luck with the move

jonleeds · Post by **jonleeds** » Fri 24 Oct, 2008 5:24 pm

Hi!Regarding your heating, if you are moving into a council house as opposed to a block of flats then you will be able to sign up for the councils 'Heat' scheme which is a programme to install modern gas central heating, albeit at the tenants cost, unless you are claiming state benefits. The cost of the scheme is added to your rent and I believe its only about a fiver extra per week which versus the cost of heating your home using the storage heaters should actually work out cheaper, or at the very least be equivalent to. It also adds value to the house which, should you ever go down the option to purchase the house is well worth it - not that I agree with the sale of council housing! The halogen heater can be bought in many places including Poundstretcher and Leeds Market. I wouldnt buy one from eBay as you would most likely pay the same for the price of postage as what the actual heater would cost. I bought mine from Cross Green car boot sale for £5 brand new and its the same model as sold in Poundstretcher. If you are going to heat your whole house though then the council 'Heat' scheme would definately be the way to go. Also I would strongly suggest if you have been offered a house from the council that you accept it, knowing what the waiting list is like, plus they are now rehousing families in multistorey blocks now which they never use to do so houses must be like gold dust and if I was offered one I would snap it up and not be concerned with what type of heating was installed. The storage heaters are just the bog-standard heaters supplied with council houses that have not been properly modernised. Ironically if you had been offered a house that had been already signed up to the 'Heat' scheme you would not have to pay extra for the central heating installation! Its surprising that given all the concern about saving energy and the environment that the council is still using these storage heaters. Anyway thats my two pennorth worth! Good Luck!

magic · Post by **magic** » Fri 24 Oct, 2008 6:38 pm

jonleeds wrote: Hi!Regarding your heating, if you are moving into a council house as opposed to a block of flats then you will be able to sign up for the councils 'Heat' scheme which is a programme to install modern gas central heating, albeit at the tenants cost, unless you are claiming state benefits. The cost of the scheme is added to your rent and I believe its only about a fiver extra per week which versus the cost of heating your home using the storage heaters should actually work out cheaper, or at the very least be equivalent to. It also adds value to the house which, should you ever go down the option to purchase the house is well worth it - not that I agree with the sale of council housing! The halogen heater can be bought in many places including Poundstretcher and Leeds Market. I wouldnt buy one from eBay as you would most likely pay the same for the price of postage as what the actual heater would cost. I bought mine from Cross Green car boot sale for £5 brand new and its the same model as sold in Poundstretcher. If you are going to heat your whole house though then the council 'Heat' scheme would definately be the way to go. Also I would strongly suggest if you have been offered a house from the council that you accept it, knowing what the waiting list is like, plus they are now rehousing families in multistorey blocks now which they never use to do so houses must be like gold dust and if I was offered one I would snap it up and not be concerned with what type of heating was installed. The storage heaters are just the bog-standard heaters supplied with council houses that have not been properly modernised. Ironically if you had been offered a house that had been already signed up to the 'Heat' scheme you would not have to pay extra for the central heating installation! Its surprising that given all the concern about saving energy and the environment that the council is still using these storage heaters. Anyway thats my two pennorth worth! Good Luck! Hi jonleeds.Thanks for the info. I am not sure if we could join the heat scheme due to the fact that there is no gas supply to the house? Any idea if this would be the case?

jonleeds · Post by **jonleeds** » Sat 25 Oct, 2008 1:17 am

Seems strange that the council have houses that arent supplied with gas, i dont know if connection to the gas mains would be included as part of their 'Heat' scheme, you would have to enquire. With it been a council property the council should be responsible for supplying this basic utility to their houses. In the multi-storey block where I live we had gas cut off a couple of years ago as they said it wasnt safe in tower blocks - yet they put it there when they built the place!

BLAKEY · Post by **BLAKEY** » Sat 25 Oct, 2008 9:38 pm

jonleeds wrote: Seems strange that the council have houses that arent supplied with gas, i dont know if connection to the gas mains would be included as part of their 'Heat' scheme, you would have to enquire. With it been a council property the council should be responsible for supplying this basic utility to their houses. In the multi-storey block where I live we had gas cut off a couple of years ago as they said it wasnt safe in tower blocks - yet they put it there when they built the place! To be fair Jon, they are quite right - it most certainly ISN'T safe in tower blocks, especially these days with some tenants sloshed or drugged up and leaving things turned on but not lit !! This block came perilously close to being blown apart a few years ago when a dear old lady on the ground floor (deaf and no sense of smell) treated herself to a nice new cooker. The new model had the taps working oppostie way to the old oven so, taking every precaution to ensure that everything was "off" she checked gher five new taps and went to bed. Around midnight the entire foyer was thick was gas and we sent for the emergency lads. She could not be raised with knocking, and they were on the point of smashing her door down when she awoke. The gas lad scraemed through the door "DON'T PUT ANY SWITCHES ON !! Being deaf she didn't catch that and switched her hall light on.Luckily there was no explosion, and her well meant precautions had left all five taps on the new cooker switched on and UNlit !! PHEW.To return to the topic though, the danger was brought to the fore after the Ronan Point disaster in London when a gas explosion brought down an entire corner of the building like a pack of cards.Shortly afterwards legsilation was brought in to restrict gas supplies to buildings of maximum, I think, six storeys and that's too high in my humble opinio