Economy 7 again....

Laure_2

Hello there.

Sorry if this has already been posted somewhere. I can find lots of posts about economy 7 but not answering this specifically...

Today I am having storage heaters put in. The electrician is going to install a new fuse box so that they are on a separate night circuit.

We also have a cylinder to heat out hot water. this has got two heating element with two separate inputs which are on timers.

So far we have not been on a economy sever meter so I just want to check I have this right....

I have been told that to take advantage of the economy 7 tariff the hot water cylinder needs to be wired to the off-peak fuse board (where the heaters will be wired)? Is this correct? I assumed that because it has timers that if I set them up to come on at night only we would automatically make use of the cheaper electricity.

This bring me to ask something else: does this also mean that any appliances which we would like to use of the off peak energy (washing machine etc..) would have to be wired in onto that same circuit.
I assumed that all of the house's electricity would be cheap at night but maybe that is not the case....

any advise welcome.

Thanks

jolou

Have you read my post here http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1184559.
It sounds like what you are talking about. I am trying to find out if it is possible to have everything put onto the economy 7 circuit.

Laure_2

Thanks Jolou,

It does look like we are asking the same thing. Have you managed to find out the answer to your questions yet?
I was originally told that it very much depends on the type of meter which is installed.
As mine is yet to be installed I would apprciate if anyone knows so that I get it right....

Thanks

Rikki

I have economy 7 but don't have storage heaters. I use timers to take advantage of the cheap night time electricity.

Premier_2

If you have the immersion heater connected to the off peak supply only, you won't be able to heat water during the day.

Better to have the immersion heater on a time switch that takes advantage of the low rate period, but which you can then over-ride if you need more hot water during the day.

All electricity used during the low rate period will be priced at the low rate. The only advantages of having appliances on a specific low rate circuit is that (a) you don't need a separate timer for them and (b) you are guaranteed to only use then during the off rate period. A separate timer may not be adjusted to suit the actual period you are obtaining low rate electricity, but a low rate circuit will automatically switch on when the low rate is active (whatever time that happens to actually be).

Laure_2

Premier wrote: »

If you have the immersion heater connected to the off peak supply only, you won't be able to heat water during the day.

Better to have the immersion heater on a time switch that takes advantage of the low rate period, but which you can then over-ride if you need more hot water during the day.

All electricity used during the low rate period will be priced at the low rate. The only advantages of having appliances on a specific low rate circuit is that (a) you don't need a separate timer for them and (b) you are guaranteed to only use then during the off rate period. A separate timer may not be adjusted to suit the actual period you are obtaining low rate electricity, but a low rate circuit will automatically switch on when the low rate is active (whatever time that happens to actually be).

Thanks Premier. that's great news and it is reasuring.
we have two heating elements on the boiler so would youi say it would make sense to have one connected to the off-peak circuit and one to the normal circuit (which we would only switch on when necessary). or shall I leave it as it is as both elements are on a timer already?

Ada3050

You should connect the lower heating element to the economy 7 circuit and the other one to the day time circuit, then you can boost the top half of water in the day time.