£80 pcm electricity bill for one?!!!

Cardew

espresso wrote: »

Do you have an unvented mains pressure water heater like this one here? According to the published figures, the standing heat loss is only 1.91kWh/24 hours for a 210 litre system.

That is interesting espresso and much lower than the figures I have seen bandied about. Especially as it is for water at 65C with ambient temperature at 20C.

I suspect that in practice, give that all the water will only be at 65C for a short time, (as water is used) losses will be considerably lower.

Magenta

espresso wrote: »

Which BG tariff are you on?

Hi espresso, I am on the Essentials Tariff!!!

espresso

Magenta wrote: »

Hi espresso, I am on the Essentials Tariff!!!

Well I do not have access to the essentials tariff details, how much to you pay per kWh?

spanner200

espresso wrote: »

Do you have an unvented mains pressure water heater like this one here? According to the published figures, the standing heat loss is only 1.91kWh/24 hours for a 210 litre system.

I have no idea, I've tried googling the make but can't find anything. I'll try take a picture and post it later today.

I've been monitoring my consumtion everyday over tha last 3 days, yesterday I used 18 units during the night, but this morning I found this has shot up to 26 overnight! I haven't changed any of the input settings on the storage heaters (they are dimplex) although i appreciate it is ALOT colder this morning.

According to the instructions the heaters also have automatic operation:

"The damper may be pre-set to open automatically each day if required...A high setting on the output control knob causes the damper to open early afternoon/early evening, conversely a lower setting causes it to open later"

I was working on the assumption that as it is cold when you get home from worlk, and it has been on minimum all day then its ok to wack up the output to maximum as you have already paid for it to be heated up overnight, however presumably as the heat would have escaped, by the time the following evening comes round, the core temperature is alot lower therefore requiring more electricity to heat it back up. Am I right in thinking this?

I guess the bit that I am a bit confused on is:

"Because automatic openeing of the damper is primarily dependent on core temperature then the setting of the INPUT control has a bearing on the time at which the damper opens. For a given setting of the OUTPUT control, the higher the setting of the INPUT control, the later the damper will open. Lower settings on the INPUT control will mean an earlier damper opening"



??

Does that mean that although I was trying to conserve electricity by reducing the amount at which the heaters charge overnight (by reducing the INPUT) they will effectively come on automatically DURING THE DAY (EXPENSIVE!!) to maintain core temperature.


As I am new to this storage heating malarky, I am just trying to understand the most economical way to run them (short of turning them off and freezing to death!)

many thanks!

espresso

spanner200 wrote: »

As I am new to this storage heating malarky, I am just trying to understand the most economical way to run them (short of turning them off and freezing to death!)

I have never used storage heating, so I am not the person to ask, however the operating instructions for your XLn type of heater is available here.

spanner200

Hi,

I have read the instructions, but it doesn't realy give you any advice on the most economical way to run it. Checked electricity reading today, overnight low units went up to 28 and day units 7! Don't understand why my night units are creeping up, as I haven't changed any of the INPUT dials on the heaters. Nothing is on at night, though admittedly the immersion is being heated up, but that has been the case over the last four days- so should a relative constant.

Anyone have any thoughts???

espresso

No electric heating is economical to run! Basically storage heaters are a waste of space. They may be the cheapest form of electric heating but at best they do not work very well and only provide background heat. They are only charged for 7 out of the 24 hour day, so there are still 17 hours when heat is normally required and they always run out of heat. Trial and error is the only way but you will never be satisfied with either their effectiveness or running cost.

PopIsDead_UK

Whilst you say storage heaters are a waste of money/space, some people have no choice but to use them.

I'm moving into a rented property in the next week or two that has only storage heaters (no gas). Not looking forward to getting my first bill!

37" LCD TV, Xbox 360, PS3, laptop, PC... Yikes.

Magentasue

PopIsDead_UK wrote: »

Whilst you say storage heaters are a waste of money/space, some people have no choice but to use them.

I'm moving into a rented property in the next week or two that has only storage heaters (no gas). Not looking forward to getting my first bill!

37" LCD TV, Xbox 360, PS3, laptop, PC... Yikes.

True, but it would be sensible to rent somewhere with gas heating if possible, unless you can afford high bills or don't stay home much.

PopIsDead_UK

Again, most flats don't have gas piped in so it's impossible to get anything other than electrical heating.

All new builds tend to stick with electric only.