Not using economy 7, should i switch

continualdiamond

Im new to this site and already have a q.

So i live in a grade 2 listed cottage and am renting. I have 3 storage heaters, 2 in lounge, 1 in kitchen. 2 in lounge seem pathetic, 1 is under a window and seems a waste of time at night as its lovely in the morning but doesnt seem useful when i get home.

The lounge is always freezing, i have a lovely electric fireplace which is great to keep the place warm, but ive heard they use a lot of electricity. So am i better just using the electric fireplace and not the storage heaters at all so therefore changing my tariff to not have economy 7?

As right now the storage heater that is under a window is behind me and my hands got cold the finger tips went bright red so ive had to put on a tiny fan heater.

Cardew

The tariff for E7 varies a lot depending on the utility company and the area of the country you live in.

The 'break even' point for using E7(ie the percentage of your total electricity you use at night during E7 timings) varies between 0% and 40%.

As a general rule if you have storage heaters you should always be on E7. Don't forget your immersion heater and any other electrical device used during E7 hours is also at cheap rates.

Heating by electric using daytime rates is just about the the most expensive form of heating possible.

continualdiamond

Thanks for the advice. Concerning storage heaters do you leave the power on all the time?

Sounds like a stupid q, but each storage heater has a on switch next to it. I always just turn this on when i go to bed at like 10pm and turn it off at 7am. But i have read info that economy 7 should automatically kick in and turn on the storage heaters so maybe i am doing myself no favours by actually turning the on switch off.

Any tips??

Bri_2205

The storage heaters should automatically turn on during the cheap rate.

The reason they may not be storing the heat effectively (you say they are hot in the morning & cold in the evening), may be due to how you are using them.

The storage heaters I have used have all had 2 dials, one for input & 1 for 'boost'. If yours are the same, I would advise that before you go to bed in the winter, turn the boost dial all the way down & the input fairly high up. This will ensure that the thermal bricks in the heater do not give out all their heat during the night.

In the evening, there should still be some heat left in the heater & if required, open the boost a little to let some more out.