On Wed, 13 Jan 2021 06:01:52 -0000, Funny Lingus wrote:

... now there is a plan to replace all the storage heaters with a hot
water system. This seems to be initiated by a government directive to
make home heating more efficient by using a heat pipe.

What do you mean by "heat pipe"? Do you mean some form of heat pump
or a massive central communal boiler feeding hot water to individual
properties?

Any efficiency gain would obviously be lost by transmitting heat using
water, rather than direct electricity.

Old, and at 17 years, yours are "old", storeage heaters aren't
particulary good, they leak to much heat during the day and can't
cope with a sudden cold snap.

A wet system heated by electricity as a replacement does seem a bit
cock eyed. Though remember any "lost" heat from the pipework/boiler
is still within the property.

The upstairs landing will be housing the electric boiler and would
facililitate short runs of pipework to the bedrooms, making a cleaner,
more compact job.

Is that a boiler just for domestic hatowater or a heating boiler?
Space heating requires a lot of power, you have storeage heaters
already so your (E7?) supply should be up to it. But you'll need a
preety large tank of water to store enough heat to heat the place
sensibly through the day. Unless the system forces you to use
electricity through the day for space heating. That is likely to be
expensive(*).

I'd have thought that just replacing the old storeage heaters with
modern "high heat rention" ones would be a far better option. They
aren't cheap though, I suspect the proposed wet system would be
cheaper...

(*) Depending on your E7 tarrif. Just switched our E7 to one that
charges the same per unit day or night. The bill will go up but only
inline with normal increases. The night unit price has gone up and
the day unit down. I'm paying less per unit on the E7 supply than I
am for the ordinary supply. 10.566 p/unit v 14.024 p/unit (+ 5% VAT).

--
Cheers
Dave.