Our central heating system plays an important role in our homes, and offices, keeping us worm and make life so much comfier, but what central heating systems are available and how do they work?
Different types of Heating Systems:
- Boilers. Including Combi Boilers.
- Heat Pumps.
- Underfloor heating
- Space Heaters.
- Electric storage Heaters.
- Wood-Burning and Pellet Stoves.
- Fireplaces.
– Standard or condensing boiler systems.
By far the most common heating system available, and the only one with running costs anywhere close to Intelliheat smart heating. Don’t be fooled by the efficiency figures quoted by the manufactures. These figures are based on factory test conditions where the boilers are operated at optimal condensing temperatures (i.e. the dew point of the fuel used) and are almost impossible to recreate in normal use.
Biggest problem is likely to be cost, as the price of the purchase and installation of a storage tank, a boiler and the renewal of pipework (the company sometimes refused to connect new pressurized boilers to old, existing previously gravity fed pipework, even if it past pressure testing), is likely to be prohibitive.
There is also a rapidly growing political movement to have this type of system banned due to its high pollutant environmental effect.
– Electric heaters/systems.
Oil heaters, fan heaters, panel heaters, etc.
This category covers the bulk of electric heaters. They are designed as a single site or add to the system. Hugely expensive to run, No saving graces.
– Storage heaters.
We constantly amazed that people still buy these things! Work by storing electricity at night (hence Economy 7 tariff) when the tariffs are lower then releasing it during the day at an allegedly lower cost. Economy 7 or 10 tariff is an arrangement with an energy supplier by which the electricity that a household uses at night is much cheaper than that used during the day, about half of the price. The hours of cheap electricity are normally from 12 midnight until 07.00 in winter, and from 01.00 to 08.00 in summer, although this can vary, Night storage heater controls can be very confusing and inefficient.
Ridiculously expensive for what you get, i.e. a box of bricks with an element, they only survive due to the lower overnight rate they attract, this, however, does not even come close to compensating for the huge inefficiency and inflexibility of these heaters. As nuclear and coal stations are wound down in the UK, this means the death of the Economy 7 tariff. This would mean storage heaters becoming much more expensive to run, and as such we no longer viable to install new storage heaters, since the enforcement of the new Ecodesign Lot 20 legislation.
– Adapted wet, storage, oil filled.
Adapted wet rads are simply standard wet system rads that are filled with an anti-corrosive fluid, an element and then sealed. Very few plus points. Storage rads work in a similar way to storage heaters but use a variety of injected materials rather than bricks. Highly inefficient, take forever to get going.
Oil filled rads have been around for a long time and have historically been used in single site installations, e.g. portacabins, caravans, etc. Since Intelliheat appeared 22 years ago with their patented thermodynamic fluid, some companies are now using different names for their oil, e.g. Fast heating thermodynamic fluid.
Other considerations
Electric central heating systems, other than the dreaded storage heaters, have the advantage of easy installation.
There are also some less obvious advantages to this. The radiator can be sited in the most suitable place for heat convection, rather than the most suitable place for the pipework. The radiator can easily be re-sited if required. During redecoration, the radiator can be easily removed to allow access to wall for painting, etc.
Summary
In real terms, the traditional central heating market has changed very little over the last fifty years. The industry seems to have shunned the huge technological advances made in other fields.
Intelli Heat however, has embraced these advances, spending years researching and developing products which now stand head and shoulders above anything else available in the market. Intelli Heat has the highest compliance ratings of any system and is beautifully designed to deliver aesthetics, comfort, and efficiency.
They are the only systems with NF Performance (category A++) efficiency rating in UK.
Video How do Intelli Heat electric radiators work?
Fully “LOT 20” Eco-design Complying with a 41% Energy Efficiency score rating.
They have more energy saving features than any other product on the market.
Intelli Heat Free heating control App offers a very unique evolved electric heating programming, heating zoning and energy monitoring system.
INTELLI HEAT Electric Central heating provides many options, with choices of design, colour, style, shape, and some amazing features to include or rule out. If you’re not sure which size heater you need, our technical team can help you with your new heating system. Below on the Electric Radiators support page you will discover a list of our radiators energy saving key features:
