storage heater/economy 7 queries

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  • My parents have them and they work great. They also have a boost of 2 hours at cheap rates during the afternoon. There house is really warm all the time.

    To me, using gas to electrically pump water around the house seems a bit silly, but that's what I have in my home.

    :)

    GG
    There are 10 types of people in this world. Those who understand binary and those that don't.
  • dandare
    dandare Posts: 311 Forumite
    just spoke to sp and they say that control rate, which i have on my bill along with night/day, is for the usage of the heaters, whether you use them am/pm, as i dont have any timer on the heater circuit it is done manually at each heater, it will draw lecy but be charged at the control tariff, a little less than night rates. does that sound correct?
  • space_rider
    space_rider Posts: 1,741 Forumite
    tr3mor wrote:
    Are storage heaters thermostatic?

    If I use the highest setting will it just charge up at that setting all night? Or will it think "That's hot enough now"?

    I'm trying to work out the best way of using them in our flat!


    I`ve had storage heaters before and I was very happy with them.

    They will have an input and an output. The higher the input the more heat is being stored and the higher your bills. Start off at the lowest setting and if the room is cold the next day then increase it. I used to always check the weather forcast for the next day and set my heaters accordingly. I very rarely used to have it at the highest setting, generally it would be at the middle setting.

    The output switch..You should always have it at the lowest setting when it starts heating up, ie between 12-8am. If you have the output button on any higher than the lowest setting you are releasing the heat at the same time as storing the heat which will cost you much more money. I used to leave mine at 1 then when I came home I would turn it up by half, then later on in the evening if it felt cool in the room I would set it to the maximum output. But I would not forget to turn it back to 1 before I went to bed.

    If you have very old storage heaters, ie the ones that look really bulky it will cost you much more to heat. You can replace them at a cost of about £140 per heater which will pay for itself.

    Any other questions just shout out.
  • space_rider
    space_rider Posts: 1,741 Forumite
    JML45 wrote:
    I have an interesting dilemma. I just turned on our kitchen storage heater a few days ago at about 8pm and it started heating up straight away. I kept an eye on it and it appears it's running all the time. Yesterday I went out to the meter, which is a digital type with different rates for the day and night-time tariffs, and after checking it over a period of hours - including after midnight - found that the "low rate" i.e. the economy 7 meter is running all the time (the figures have changed) and not the "normal" day time meter during the day (the figures are staying the same).
    I guess this means that for as long as this has been going on we've been getting ALL our electricity at the economy 7 rate, which is good as we've got five kids and our rented house is extremely badly insulated.

    Do I tell the supplier? Yes, of course I do - in a bit!;)

    Just be careful. The supplier has the right to estimate what they think you should have used at the normal rate. If they do that then you will have a big bill to pay. It should be picked up when they read the meter, but if it`s not read for years then you may come unstuck unless you think you`ll be moving house in the next 6 months. If that is the case then I would keep quiet. If you have a long tenancy I would be tempted to ring and tell them that you have just discovered it. Some suppliers will just fix the meter and not adjust your bill.
  • The Economy-7 set-up in my house, here in N.Ireland, seems slightly more complicated than others in this thread. I have two electric meters, and a 'radio teleswitch'.

    The first meter is for the normal house electrics, has 'low' and 'normal' readings, and is switched by a transmitted signal through the night for a 7 hour economy cycle.

    The second meter is for water and room heaters, and this feeds the radio teleswitch which switches on the water and storage heaters seperately. Iirc, the heaters get switched on and off through the night to a total time of 7 hours, whereas the water gets 4 hours through the night and 1 hour boost in the afternoon.

    As said before, the storage heater input regulates the amount of heat stored during the nightly 'charge', although the output 'boost' control on my heaters controlled the release of more heat (via a temperature controlled flap) if required in the evening when the storage temperature was dropping a bit. Basically, changing to a convection type of heat as the radiated heat was dropping, so this could be left in a mid position through the night as the heat build up would close the flap automatically.

    Although I have to say that I now have only one storage heater left installed as a back-up, should my oil-fired heating play up. I use the econ7 for tumble drying and summer water heating.
  • Hi, hope someone can help me. I'm sorry if this is a really stupid question, but how do you know if your heaters are storage heaters or just normal heaters?
    Cake & pastry making extraordinare happily engaged to Gas Man in London :j

    Trying to learn the ways of a money saving expert...
  • Mikeyorks
    Mikeyorks Posts: 10,369
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Forumite
    .... but how do you know if your heaters are storage heaters or just normal heaters?

    Without taking them apart ... it's not actually an easy question to answer.

    Storage heaters will (should) always be wired directly into the wall socket. They should never be connected via a 13amp plug. And ...

    They will have fairly basic controls. Normally just an 'input' and an 'output' - and which are usually operated by a coin / screwdriver into a slot in the control. And ..

    Storage heaters are bulky and heavy .. as they use heat absorbent material (normally metallic bricks) to store heat overnight and then dissipate it during the day.

    If your heaters correspond to all 3 of the above (wired direct / basic controls / bulky) .. odds on they are 'storage'.
    If you want to test the depth of the water .........don't use both feet !
  • Mikeyorks wrote:
    Without taking them apart ... it's not actually an easy question to answer.

    Storage heaters will (should) always be wired directly into the wall socket. They should never be connected via a 13amp plug. And ...

    They will have fairly basic controls. Normally just an 'input' and an 'output' - and which are usually operated by a coin / screwdriver into a slot in the control. And ..

    Storage heaters are bulky and heavy .. as they use heat absorbent material (normally metallic bricks) to store heat overnight and then dissipate it during the day.

    If your heaters correspond to all 3 of the above (wired direct / basic controls / bulky) .. odds on they are 'storage'.

    Thanks for your reply Mikeyorks

    Hmm...

    They are wired directly into a wall socket.

    The controls on them look a bit complicated though - there's a bit which you can turn to change the temperature and a button with a moon on, and another button with a sun on it. On the side, there is a on/off switch.

    They're not big and bulky... they look really small and quite thin. They look tiny for the size of the rooms, and look like they wouldn't be able to produce enough heat to heat the rooms.

    So I guess they're not storage heaters then? I've just bought a new flat, but haven't yet moved in so I'm unsure.
    Cake & pastry making extraordinare happily engaged to Gas Man in London :j

    Trying to learn the ways of a money saving expert...
  • Mikeyorks
    Mikeyorks Posts: 10,369
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Forumite

    1) On the side, there is a on/off switch.

    2)They're not big and bulky... they look really small and quite thin.

    Would tend to suggest - despite they're wired directly - they're not storage heaters. If you can find a make / model - the manufacturer's Website would be helpful?

    Also check whether there's an Economy 7 meter in the flat - fairly unusual if there's no heating that uses it. As just 'normal' use of electricity rarely warrants the premium that's normally charged on 'Day' units of electricity. The benefit normally arises from a high percentage of use of the overnight cheaper units - which storage heaters would use.
    If you want to test the depth of the water .........don't use both feet !
  • paul_h
    paul_h Posts: 1,072
    Combo Breaker First Post First Anniversary
    Forumite
    tr3mor wrote:
    Are storage heaters thermostatic?

    If I use the highest setting will it just charge up at that setting all night? Or will it think "That's hot enough now"?

    I'm trying to work out the best way of using them in our flat!

    Not sure if this has been answered, but...

    Yes, storage heaters ae thermostatic, both input and output.

    On very basic (or old) manual ones which have both input and output controls, the input control sets a thermostat governing the maximum core temperature reached during the overnight charge - once it reaches the temperature set, it will maintain this until the economy7 supply switches off. The output control adjusts a thermostat measuring the ambient temperature, this controls the mechanical output damper - allowing more or less heat out as required.

    Newer automatic storage heaters 'predict' the input control needs automatically, by charging the heater according to the ambient temperature overnight.

    The latest systems are linked to a central control unit, which can control the output of individual heaters to provide different room temperatures during the day - for example, turning bedroom heaters down during the day, and back up during the evening. The very latest development in the US is a system which connects to the internet and uses forward weather data to control the overnight input to storage heaters...

    Hope this helps! :)
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