Can you put a plug on a storage heater and plug it in?

The legislation that covers what can have a plug and what needs to be hardwired is BS 7671.

Basically anything that can draw more the 3Kw needs to be hardwired on it's own dedicated circuit.

That's generally talked about online with regard to appliances like ovens and cooktops, electric showers, and immersion or instant water heaters.

With your storage heaters you would need to get an electrician to assess the existing circuits that you intend to plug the heaters into.
The plug circuit will not have been intended to carry the loads needed for the heaters and the wiring may not be of a sufficient gauge to carry that load.
The Circuit Breakers (and other protection devices) may also not be rated sufficently for the load.

In other words there is a good reason for them currently being hardwired like they are.

PS. Don't rely on AI, they can be handy for a quick overview of what is there online - However we all know that there is a lot of incorrect and outdated info online.
If an AI finds mostly the junk then it will very confidently tell you that the junk information is correct.

I was looking at hardwiring in a new cooker a year or two ago, (before AI invaded browsers), and it's amazing how much incorrect advice about when it's needed and just who can do it that there is online. Most of it well meaning but still incorrect.

The basic part of the question about any appliance connecting via a plug and socket is around the length of time the appliance will be drawing power. 
Of course a kettle and portable electric heater can easily draw 2 or 3kW or so but the point is that they are only generally drawing max power for a relatively short duration (a few minutes). 
The appliance will usually detail how it should be connected in the installation instructions

Beware of rating numbers for storage heaters. There are often two kW figures quoted; one for the power needed to charge the heater core, the other for the delivered power. The 2000W you quote could be either. If it’s the charging rating, then you should be able to run it on an ordinary circuit, so long as the total load on the circuit remains within normal bounds. If it’s the delivered power, then no, because the required charging power will be much more than an ordinary circuit can support. 

The storage heater in question is rated at 1,600w and when running, does not draw more than 1,600w at any time.

The downstairs house circuit is rated at some 7,000w, if just one 1,600w storage heater is plugged into that along with a few other things, and doesn’t exceed that max rating by a fair bit, then no real risk ?

I can plug in a portable 2kw and run that for hours, so why not a storage heater instread if I have one to hand ?

 

Technically, I think you can plug anything into a ring final circuit that doesn't overload it. 2kW through a three pin plug is fine. 3kW is a bit iffy because the live pin gets very hot. The resistance of a 13A fuse makes it get quite hot (even though its running at 12A) which then tends to oxidise the contact mating area quicker than it would do, eventually leading to a high resistance and a thermal runaway scenario with a burnt out socket and possibly a fire. I believe 13A plugs are only rated for 10A continuous current. You might have noticed that can't buy 3kW heaters any more.

The difficulty arises when you have a fire and the fire brigade say that a storage radiator was plugged into a ring final (because they are looking for the ignition source) instead of being wired into its own circuit and then your insurance company may have grounds to disallow your claim whether or not it was the cause of the fire. Basically, insurance companies look at any way they can get out if a claim if that is possible. It would be up to you to have to prove it wasn't the source of the fire which may be impossible.

This is why I want to be sure there will be no issues with insurance companies/etc.

Yes I’d heard the 10A continous thing mentioned before a few times.

So if I have 2kw bar electric fire with a plug on it, which in my mind is more hazardious than a 1,600w storage heater both plugged in, and the house burns down, the insurance company will point to the storage heater as a get out cause, and not the 2kw bar electric fire !

But only if you aren’t allowed to put a plug on it, which so far, only AI has said you can’t do due to regulations, but no human has yet quoted any specific regulations/etc. that says you can’t.

Since AI’s can be unreliable, I want to be really sure, before I spend thousands trying to solve a problem that might not need solving !

Thousands I might not have, which means I’d be stuck with that 2kw electric fire sitting on the floor waiting for someone to stand too near, or triip over and burn the house down. :-)

Whilst the storage heater sits in the garage being unused.

I’m sure I could pay a few hundred to an electrican to come out and tell me the answer, hopefully not like doctors where each one comes out with a different answer !

They might also be prone to the kind of thing you see with garages, find lots of expensive things that don’t really need to be done to your car, but they say do !
 

Long story short… You’ll be better off hardwiring. You can take that from me as I do have fire service experience.

Yes! You have to understand that insurance companies are looking for a reason not to pay out. Not the reason why the fire started.

Example. If you are burgled and the loss adjuster turns up the first thing they will do is look at the door locks and if they do not meet the specification laid out in the policy then they will disallow the claim because you didn't do what was specified you would do in the policy. You didn't do your part in minimising the risk to the insurer.

In your case if you can get a qualified electrician to wire a storage heater to a plug and get a certificate to that effect that it met the current wiring regs at the time then you are covered.  You can put a plug on a 2kW heater that was meant to have a plug on it and it would be fine even if it did cause a fire because the policy allows for the risk of you puting a plug on an item that can have a plug attached by a non qualified person.

I hope that's clearer.

Peter

Would an electrican for a fee, issue such a certificate to put a plug on a storage heater ?

Without requiring an upgrade of the consumer unit to meet current code ?

As my understand is, no electrican work can be done on a property that has a below standard consumer it, it must be upgraded.

So the AI was right then !

Which is a shame, since storage heaters are wonderfully cheap, or even free second hand, whilst other electric heating devices are not so cheap to buy, and don’t store their heat for hours, making them less suitable for using off peak electricity rates, unless you pay a small fortune to have an electrican come and wire up a special circuit for them.

For those interested, or concerned, I’m currently in the progress of fitting several heated towel rails, that came with fitted plugs, so I can sure there will be no issues, other than making sure their combined use doesn’t overload any specific circuit when in use.

Meanwhile I shall stare at the 7 non-working storage heaters here and hope I will have enough heating capacity come next winter if need be via the electric towel ralis.

If the wiring instalation does not meet current legislation then such a certifiacte could not be legally issued..

PS. There are going to be a lot of storage heaters going for scrap prices following the RTS switch off and subsequent tariff changes.