Running Cost of Süka Heaters
Running cost of any heating system depends a lot on several factors. The Energy Saving Trust recommends that one should be looking more at life time cost than just what it costs to heat a given space per time. Whiles the lifetime cost of our heaters considering a 15 year guarantee and the fact that the heaters require no maintenance at all is extremely attractive and even lower than a gas boiler central heating system, many an enquirer have often asked us to give a snapshot of what it costs to run our systems compared to Economy 7 Night Storage Heaters. Here is an example of our calculation:
Example below:
Sueka radiator (Using 24 hour Standard Rate from EDF = 10.160p/kWh)
**Running cost = kWh used x rate x quarter of an hour x 60%
Thus for a typical living room of 22m² (approx 12 ft x 18 ft) with ceiling height 2.40m (8ft) and a reasonable insulation and double glazed windows, we'll recommend a Suka 2.0 kW heater of 158.1cm (L) x 61cm (H) x 7.4 cm (D).
Calculation
2kW x 24 hrs x £0.1016/kWh x 0.25 x 60% = £0.73 per day
** 1. Our heater uses 15 minutes of electricity to provide one hour of heat required.
2. At full capacity, Suka heaters churn out 32º C of heat. But a normal healthy romm temperature should be an average 20º C at +/-5ºC outside in Winter. Sueka radiators therefore need work only on average at 60% capacity to maintain that warmth.
Now, consider a night storage heater below even at Economy 7 so-called cheap tariff:
Economy 7 Night Storage Heater
At the end of a storage period the maximum heat output of a standard 3.4kW storage heater for our sample room would be about 1.33kW. To maintain the heat at 1.33kW/h output in a room that should be 20ºC warm, the storage heater needs topping up with an additional booster heater during the day using the day electricity tariff. The total top up required during the day can be up to 4.1 units of electricity or more which equates to about 2 hours of power consumption. This gives a total consumption of electricity by the storage heater as follows:
Storage heater: 3.4kWh for 7 hours at 4.29p per kWh = £1.02 + Direct heater: 4.1kWh at 11.42p per kWh = 0.46p.
Total running cost = £1.04 + 0.42p = £1.48 per day
Cost difference between Suka and a Night Storage Heater
£1.48 per day - £0.73 per day = £0.75 per day! A huge saving especially if you consider that some winter seasons can run up to 220 days
Economy 7 for Sueka Heaters
During the 7 hours of cheap tariff at night, the above Sueka heater would require only a quarter of an hour electricity to provide an hour’s heat.
Thus, 2kW x 7 hrs x 4.29p per kWh x 0.25 x 60% = £0.09
Add the usage during the day for the rest of the 17 hours as follows:
Another huge saving especially if you consider that some winter seasons can run up to 220 days.
And you can still use the lovely washing machine and tumble dryer at cheap tariff in the night.
...Now, you're getting really warm!
