Hello

I have a wall mounted (wired into the socket) electric panel heater, about 10 yrs old I guess.

It has stopped working and I have changed the fuse in the socket but no luck.

Are these worth fixing, is it likely to be an element for example.

Or should I just buy a new one, I have been looking at these on ebay which seem ok, has anyone used these at all?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 97.c0.m619

Thanks

Hiya,

What sort of room is this for - is it your primary heating?

My last house was all electic - no gas (aside from my contribution) and we had a similar arrangement with dimplex heaters upstairs and storage heaters downstairs - upstairs was a pain in the bum as the rooms never got cold and we was scared of leaving them on.

After double glazing and loft insulation, we changed to the slim line heater panels which we could leave on all the time - they had thermostats too, wchih was nice.

Looked like these, but can't find the exact models I had: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B002 ... e=&seller=

The ones in your link look good too though.......says 5 year guarentee as well, which is nice.

Cheers,

BG

Hi Billy

Like you the house is all electric with Dimplex economy 7 storage heaters in all but this one room

The panel heater is stated and timed.

On another note have your dimplex ever gone on the blink, no heat. Mine did and I almost spent a grand on new ones when I came across a reset switch behind the front panel, Phewwww

Heya,

Can't remember any problems with the ones I had and we've moved since....they must have been around 10 years old though, they were what was put in the house when it was built - top tip though!

Best thing we ever done downstairs (it was a 2 up 2 down semi) was to remove the storage heaters and install underfloor heating - it was tiled and electric cable in the kitchen and carbon film mats under the living room laminate floor. Rabbits loved it too, they used to sprawl out all over the place (don't leave shopping bags full of veg on the floor - they just go brown almost straight away).

:)

Does the veg brown,,,, or cook, Saves the oven going on

How much was the underfloor heating. does it save you cash.

I was thinking at one point about getting an electric boiler and central heating. I hate the fact that the house is warm all day while im out

I wish it did cook...although it would have still tasted better than anything I could make, even if it was just brown!

Can't remember how much it was or what it cost to run, but for us it was all about comfort while we were there. We both worked during the day, so when we got home around 6pm each day the storage rads were putting out heat, but not enough to keep us happy.

The floor heating wasn't roasting hot, it was just nice - all over the living space, same temperature everywhere we went. Plus, it meant we could walk around bare feet on the tiles in the middle of winter :)

First thing though - spend your money on insulation and decent windows before heating. Never fancied an electric boiler, just seemed pricey (isn't it 3x the cost per kW of heat made? or somthing).

BG

Forget underfloor heating it takes too long to react.

As for the existing heater where I worked we had 100's of them and the main fault was faulty thermostat and we found it cheaper to replace whole unit than to get spares. We would rob Peter to pay Paul making one good one out of a few broken ones but never bought spares.

As to cooking yes mount them upside down and they would heat the sausage roles a treat. Although not sure about safety aspect of doing that?

There are some liquid based storage heating systems that will allow off peak electric use. The the old brick type are useless. More heat is waisted with them heating when not required than the saving through cheap electric.

You'll never know what's inside it until you open it up. Some elements are very good quality, others are absolute rubbish. If it's ten years old it may be at the end of its design life. However I've repaired heaters which are fifty years old and still performing satisfactorily.


Look good -- but check the all-in price delivered to your address. Delivery charges of this sort are currently under investigation by the CAB and are not stated clearly.

Underfloor heating is supremely comfortable and there's no draughts with it.

There's more than one type of underfloor heating -- some very slow to respond, others very quick.

Thanks lads

That's a very wide sweeping statement Eric, one which I disagree with.

I had two types, carbon film at 130 and the tiled was 150 watts per square meter (if I remember rightly) and both outperformed the storage radiatiors they replaced without breaking a sweat.

I guess like anything, if the system you have/have used doesn't work well - it might not be suitible for the space it's heating!

BG