Electric boiler costing a fortune - advice needed

tsw004

Hi There

I've recently moved into a new studio flat. It has been completely refurbished and has been fitted with an electric boiler and central heating system.

The electricity is supplied by EDF on a key meter.

The first problem is that I can't find a thermostat anywhere in the flat. There seems to be no way of controlling the central heating temperature or hot water temperature. There’s no roomstat and no controls on the boiler. Is this normal with electric boilers?

The second problem is that it's costing me a fortune. I did a test today with the heating on and I was using approximately 80p of electricity per hour! The flat has 3 rooms, studio room with two medium size radiators, kitchen with one small radiator and a bathroom with heated towel rail. That seems VERY expensive to me even factoring in recent price rises. Other than turning the heating off is there any way I could reduce this?

I’ve looked into switching electricity suppliers/tariff but the difference in price seems to be quite minimal and in any case the EDF standard tariff seems to be one of the cheapest. Although I’m more than happy to be proved wrong on this point.

I really haven't got a clue when it comes to central heating. It looks as though the central heating system includes a storage tank - see pictures below. Does that look like a storage tank? If so should I be using Economy 7? I've no idea what economy 7 is but someone at work mentioned it when I told them about the storage tank and the astronomical cost of the electric boiler..

Any advice would be appreciated.

Premier_2

Let me see if I can help explain how it works and perhaps save you a few pennies too!

The long tall white Aztec thing on the wall is the electronic boiler that heats the water to the radiators. On and off times can be set using the Drayton timer.

There should be a room thermostat somewhere in the property to allow you to set the temperature else there's no way to control it (and it'll probably get very hot!)

The big white drum on the floor is the hot water tank that is used to store the hot water that is delivered to the taps.

It should be possible when the Aztec boiler is on, to also heat the water in the hot water tank, but I can't see the 3 way diverter valve in your set up that would allow that. Perhaps it's there somewhere, perhaps something else they've forgotten to do?

Not to worry, you also have 2 immersion heaters fitted which currently are both turned on it seams. They are the grey capped bulges on the side of the tank, one near the bottom and one about half way up.
Assuming the Aztec doesn't allow you to heat the water you only actually need one of the immersion heaters on.
The lower one will heat the whole tank (which you'll need for a decent bath) whilst the upper one will only heat the water above it (great for reducing your electricity consumption, but will only give you enough for washing up, etc)

Economy 7 is a system which allows you to have significantly cheaper electricity for 7 hours usually between midnight & 7am (times may vary) but you'll pay about 10% more for each unit you use during the day. You'll need a dual rate electricity meter for this.

I'm not sure if it would benefit you. You'll need the Aztec to work probably outside this time so will be paying 10% more. You could heat up the hot water tank using the lower immersion heater during the off peak period, but it's not a big tank and you may still find it necessary to heat up during the day too.

A better solution would be to have timers on those immersion heaters - the top one will probably heat the top half in 30 minutes and will remain hot for many hours (if you don't use the hot water). The bottom one will heat up the tank in about an hour. If you could set these to only come on at the required times before you usually need the hot water, you'd save a fortune.
The trouble is you'd really need an electrician to fit timers if you don't know what your doing, and you'd need the LL's approval too really.

The best you can do with what you've got is to only heat the water as you need it. The top heater only for about 20-30mins to do washing up, the lower one an hour before to heat the whole tank for a hot bath.

Don't worry about the red & white football sized tanks - they are just expansion tanks.

tsw004

Thanks Premier, that's really helpful.

Having had gas combi boilers at all my previous flats I had assumed that the boiler just heated the water as needed like a combi boiler. I had no idea the tank stored hot water for washing up and baths etc.

Presume this is on all the time. Seems like an awful waste of electricity. As you say I could turn the immersions off but then I'd have to plan when I'm going to do washing up and have baths etc. I've turned the top immersion off for the time being and see how it goes.

The electricity really starts to get eaten when I turn the central heating on. Presume the hot water for the central heating comes direct from the boiler hence the increased electricity usage when it's turned on? I don't think there's much I can do about this other than try to find a cheaper supplier and/or tariff?

Damn I wished they'd installed a gas combi boiler. This thing is going to cost me a fortune. I've used over £5 in the last 24hrs alone and I've only had the heating on for about 4 hours! I dread to think what it would cost to heat a family home with one of these things. I might just get an electric oil filled radiator for my studio room and only use the central heating for an hour or so in the morning else it's just going to be stupidly expensive.

Still haven't found a roomstat and I've looked everywhere. I'll give the landlords a call on Monday and get the lowdown on that. Wouldn't surprise me if they forgot to install one.

wizzywig27

Sorry to hijack this thread mate, I was hoping Premier would be able to tell me about mine, like he did yours

Premier, could you tell me what mine is all about please, it seems that I am having the same problems as tsw004










Thanks

brysiewysie

Thanks to both the OP (I'd never seen an electric boiler setup before so the pictures are good) and even though I don't think I'll need to know the detail Premiers answer looks a cracking reply. Certainly worthy of the 'thanks' button on the bottom right of the post in my view tsw004 (of Premiers posts).

Cardew

Premier's technical explanation is great.

On "The second problem is that it's costing me a fortune." it is a fact that non storage electrical heating is still by a long way the most expensive form of heating.

As indicated it is possible that a change to Economy 7 might have some marginal savings - mainly Hot Water heating. However there is no way to check this before you change(even if you get an expensive monitoring meter) as your consumption will change throughout the year.

So monitoring your consumption in the seven E7 hours in early Oct will not apply to, say, January or July.

The good thing about Electric CH is there are no boiler servicing costs as with gas/oil. Builders/Developers put them in because they are cheap to install and the occupant picks up the tab.

Cardew

wizzywig27 wrote: »

Sorry to hijack this thread mate, I was hoping Premier would be able to tell me about mine, like he did yours

Premier, could you tell me what mine is all about please, it seems that I am having the same problems as tsw004]

I am no expert on CH installations but it appears to me that your system is completely different to the OP.

The Pulsacoil is a Thermal Store(the huge tank) i.e. 'Wet storage heating'

This is a store of Hot Water for the radiators(not to be confused with HW for taps) This is heated overnight by Economy 7(possibly Economy 10) and pumped around the radiators.

This store of 'radiator' hot water also is used to heat the tap hot water via a heat exchanger. obviously when you are using Central heating. Otherwise there is a separate immersion heater.

If you Google Gledhill you should find plenty of instructions for the Pulsacoil 111.

Essentially you need to use E7 or E10 as much as possible(including other appliances) and only use the boost outside these times when absolutely necessary.

Like all forms of storage heating, it is a question of trial and error to get the optimum.

Cardew

Premier,
I bow to your knowledge, but can the Pulsacoil also not be heated by electric?

I assumed that Wizzywig had no gas!

Edit - Premier's post on gas(posted 1 minute after mine) to heat the Pulsacoil has gone!!!!!

1carminestocky

Absolute brilliant info you've provided in this thread, Premier!

wizzywig27

you are indeed correct, I am an all eclectric flat :-(

Premier_2

Cardew wrote: »

Premier,
I bow to your knowledge, but can the Pulsacoil also not be heated by electric?

I assumed that Wizzywig had no gas!

Edit - Premier's post on gas(posted 1 minute after mine) to heat the Pulsacoil has gone!!!!!

You're right - this is a unit heated by electricity. I posted the wrong info earlier for wizzywig27.
(You spotted it quick - it was only there a few seonds)