Looking to buy or get information on storage heaters in Canada. This Guide will help answer all of your questions in a few easy steps. There are a variety of different kinds of storage heaters to choose from.
Storage heaters in Canada are offered by a number of dealers across all provinces. Nova Scotia has the leading technology in storage heater development with their new Ecombi style ETS electric thermal storage smart heater.
Where Do I Buy Storage Heaters In Canada?
There are a number of dealers across Canada in which you can purchase thermal storage heaters from. Here is a link to help you out. Click Here
Be certain the your dealer is certified to install the heater and meet the local power company tariff requirements. We see many of these heaters posted on buy and sell sites at a discounted price. If you purchase one of these units you may have difficulty finding someone to install it for you.
If you are looking to heat cold spots in your home then Ecombi North America is the place to buy it. When you are looking to have an install done then we are more then willing to help you out within the province of Nova Scotia
Contact us today for your free assessment click here .
Do I Have to Buy The Storage Heaters Canada From A Dealer?
When purchasing a thermal storage heater it is always a good idea to buy from a dealer to make the process seamless. They can help with the size and lay out of the install and provide you helpful tips.
Having the right size system installed is the key to saving money on your power bill. If sized incorrectly the system will not run correctly and chances are costing you more money.
If you have already talked to a local installer and have the system sized up and you would like to purchase direct or find a dealer in your area then click here.
What Is Electric Storage Heating?
Electrical thermal storage heating or ETS is a smart electric stand alone heater. The heater, depending on the size has storage bricks inside. The bricks hold the heat once heated up.
They are heated up by electrical elements “sandwiched” inside the heater. The heater is controlled by a circuit board, several sensors and overloads.
The overloads are for protection in case something is blocking the heater from releasing heat. A digital thermostat controls the heat output and desired room temperature.
A build in timer onboard tells the heater when to take a charge from the off peak electricity tariff.
What Is Thermal Storage Heaters Canada?
There are many different types of storage heat. First lets’ understand what thermal storage is. Thermal storage is the process of thermally heated stored energy into a mass. This mass holds the heat for extended periods of time as it dissipates or cools down. The mass can be anything that absorbs the heat like rocks, brick cement etc.
In some cases it can even be stored into the ground. This method is called geo thermal. It extracts the heat from the ground or water source that has a constant temperature.
In a floor mass the heat is stored in the cement from means of electrical elements directly in the floor. The other common method used in a lot of homes today is water pipes embedded right in the concrete.
The concrete is then heated up by the water pipes by means of an electric boiler, oil boiler, geo thermal boiler etc.
Some power companies can be picky when it comes to approving the off peak tariff when it comes to oil fired boilers.
What Are The Benefits Of This Type Of Heat?
Some of the benefits of this heat are the reduced power rate from your utility. They offer almost half the price of the regular rate. Be careful though during the peak times because they will nail you with 1.5 time the regular rate.
The only thing you should be doing during these peak times is your cooking and entertainment. You should refrain from doing laundry or using other power consuming appliances.
Another benefit is reducing your carbon footprint. Since you are using the heaters at night or storing the heat in a floor at night. You are cutting back on the amount of production your local power company needs to supply during the day.
One less power generator means less fossil fuels burned to keep up with the demand.
Your will also find that storage heat is completely different than normal conventional heat. Since the heat source is long lasting it will make you warmer instead of shutting on of and on all of the time.
Gabarron Storage Heaters
Gabarron Storage Heaters also referred to as ecombi heat which is a product line made by Gabarron. These heaters originate in Europe and are assembled there.
After years of product testing they have been released to the north american market for sale. The storage heaters themselves are much smaller then the larger thermal storage heaters that you are used to seeing. They are much thinner only protruding from the wall about 7 inches.
They are designed to be space savers and for those cold spots in the home that your main heat source can’t reach. The heat source is also great because they can replace a regular electrical baseboard heater which means you do not have to run any wiring.
What Makes Ecombi So Different From The Rest?
The Great thing about Ecombi heaters and how they save space is that the bricks stack vertical. This allows for the low profile inside the heater hence less wall space protruding into you room.
They also have an intelligent thermostat built in to help them work with the off peak time period. Ecombi is also elevated off the floor allowing air flow under the heater to help the convection process and release the stored heat.
The heaters work on natural convection, so they are completely silence. To some customers this it very important. Since they have no moving parts they are also very low maintenance.
What Is Ecombi And How Does It Work?
Are There Any Rebates?
Well you are in luck. Very recently Efficiency Nova Scotia has started backing the heaters. They are now offering up to 45 percent of the sales price directly back to the customer.
Yeah that’s right you heard correctly . They are partnered with Nova Scotia Power on the power generations side of things to help reduce their load.
We are not sure on how long this will last as the programs change year to year. If you live in Nova Scotia and are interested in having Ecombi installed in your home then Contact us Here.
Do The Heaters Come With Warranty?
All of the heaters come with a 5 year parts and labor warranty straight from the supplier in Nova Scotia. If you have and issue with once of the heaters then just give us a call and we will pop right out to fix the problem.
The manufacturer as well as Nova Scotia Power stands behind their products. In fact the had 2 years of pilot testing before they even released the product to the general public.
What Are The Common Issues With Ecombi?
We often get service calls with customers stating the heater is not working. The first thing we ask is what do you have the room temperature set for? There answer will be 20 degrees. Then we will say Ok, what is the room temperate saying on the display board on the heater? They will say 22 degrees.
So then the heater is not calling for any heat because it is satisfied. The common issue is that people thing that the heaters are suppose to be hot all of the time. This is not the case, sometimes they just get warm.
The heater only takes the charge that is required to reach the room temperature you have it set for.
What Other Kinds Of Storage Heaters Are There ?
Other common brand name storage heaters that you will hear about are Dimplex and Steffes.
Dimplex unfortunately has been discontinued on the market and you can no longer get parts to repair them.
Steffes is still a popular brand. They deal with the larger storage units which are great for the main heating ares of your home. Being a larger unit give it the ability to hold the heat for days.
They also have a built in fan to force the heat around the room. We have installed Ecombi to complement Steffes on some installs. It works quite well together.
What Kind Of Power Requirements Do It Need To Run Them?
A typical residential storage heater install requires a minimum of a 200 amp service entrance. You can check this by looking at your main shut off or breaker size. It should say 200 amp on it.
There are a number of technical factors that go into the sizing of the electrical service, however the most common it 200 amp.
Another great point to make is if you already have regular baseboard electrical heat. Many of our heaters can be installed without changing any existing wiring in the home.
What Other Appliances Qualify for The Off Peak Rate?
We get that question a lot and the answer is the whole house and everything in it. If you want to get fancy with saving money we can install timers on many appliances.
An example of this would be your domestic hot water tank. We can install a timer to move the power draw load to the night time. If you happen to consume too my hot water on any certain day there is a simple override button to give you hot water during regular times.
Other loads that we can move to the night time are dishwashers, swimming pools, hot tubs, laundry or pretty much anything you can think of.
You can also purchase a number of digital timers to control lighting, outlets computers or chargers. The more power load you can shift to the nighttime hours or off peak the more money you can save. To see some of the products we recommend that you can purchase click here. Specifically the plug in timers that you can set up yourself.
Can I Finance The Heaters?
Yes you can. There are several programs that we can fit you under to finance the install of the heaters. In fact in most cases the savings on the power bill are enough to cover the finance payment.
We offer flexible terms with great payback options. To find out more about our financing options click here.
I Purchased My Storage Heaters In Canada And My Power Bill Went Up
In rare cases we have clients that after we install storage heat their power bill goes up. Even with the off peak rate is you are adding electrical draw to the electrical service and using more kwh you bill is naturally going to increase.
We see this in instances where the the heating source has changed. A good example would be oil heat. if you switch from oil heat to electricity usage with storage heaters then yes your bill will go up.
What you have to keep in mind is that you are not burning oil anymore. So you have to subtract you oil bill off of you electric bill. All you did was transfer from one heating source to another.
At the end of the day you will find savings using storage heat. This also applies to wood heat and propane etc.
Looking for a smaller heater we recommend these…..