Night storage heater....

sarah_elton

Flat I just bought has good old electric night storage heaters (on an economy 7 tariff).

Had these at the old place with no probs, but the one in my bedroom has just stopped working. All I did was turn the temp down and it packed up.

Changed the fuse, the socket and wiring that's accessible with a screwdriver all looks alright. Still not working again.

Anyone got any experiences fixing or replacing these? I'm thinking an electrician will charge the earth (no pun intended)....

I have a couple of standalone convector heaters being delivered at the weekend because (1) the spare room has no heating at all, and (2) my lounge is chilly on cold evenings - the night storage can only be on 00:00-07:00, so it's toasty first thing then cools off till the evening.

Is it likely one of these will be enough to heat my room in the absence of the main heater? More to the point, what's it likely to do for my electricity bill?

GreenNotM

My Unidare storage heaters have a fused link (may be the wrong term ) that melt ever few years. Are you able to unscrew the top of the unit and look ( all turned off etc ) -A Fused link looks like an inch long piece of 5 mm solder - if yours has melted it will probably be in silver balls/blobs - replacing is easy if you have got to them. Unidare were in Northen Ireland somewhere - i have just removed the F-links now :eek: So don't have to phone, send a cheque etc for them. Was totally unable to find them available in London. Some places even said replace the heaters as they are unrepairable ..

Did you check the consumer Unit ( fuse box)?

I am surprised that you lose heat by the evening - have you turned the outlet control down so that it is closed during the day completely ? Just open the vents when you want the heat in case they are stuck. Whats is the insulation and draft proofing like at your new flat ? If you are out all day and don't have double glazing - keep the curtains drawn to stop the cold air coming into the room, even if you do keep them closed :money:

With Economy 7 You are paying more for your daytime units then a normal user :eek: , You get cheap units for 7 hour a day so look at doing your washing, phone charging etc during these hours via timer switches.

Instead of getting the convector heaters look at getting new storage heaters for the whole flat or that room - they are getting more efficient all the time - not sure if there are grants available but mind came with the fitting charge included .. good old LEB ... :T

When I ordered mine - I took into account the space of the whole flat not just the actual size the rooms the heaters were in - so I addded the hall and kitchen space to the living room heaters capacity.

GreenNotM

sarah_elton wrote:

(2) my lounge is chilly on cold evenings - the night storage can only be on 00:00-07:00, so it's toasty first thing then cools off till the evening.

FYI Your heaters are storing heat from 00:00-07:00 ( London it is 00:30-07:30 GMT ) They should then store the heat until the vents are open to let the heat out. If the vents are opened first thing in the morning then yes the heater will have given all its heat out. But if the vents are closed then the heat will be retained until it is needed and you open the vents. The heater should give off enough heat to maintain a background warmth without the vents being open.

Sorry had to add this as it is not simply a case of the stoarge heaters being turn on and off ... just trying to help save your electricity bill :money: and control waste etc :A

sarah_elton

Cheers for the tips guys.

Mine don't seem to have any way of controlling when the vents are open. The only controls are for the level of heat - no way of closing them. Maybe they're just naff ones....

Roman_Camel

sarah_elton wrote:

Cheers for the tips guys.

Mine don't seem to have any way of controlling when the vents are open. The only controls are for the level of heat - no way of closing them. Maybe they're just naff ones....

On a slightly different note,but staying with the Night Storage Heater theme,it has been suggested to me by an Electrician that a 3.5kw (the max) NS Heater would be a viable way of heating my conservatory.Unfortunately I have looked at various ways of heating it (3.60mtrs X 3.10mtrs) and as my Central Heating system will not send enough heat through a radiator to heat it I am now looking at getting an Economy 7 meter and then installing this NS Heater,which incidentally will have/include a convector so I can adjust the influx of temperature at any given time.

Does anyone have any views/ideas on this? I have no idea how much this type would even cost so if anyone knows of any sites where I can price one up I would be grateful.


Ps I would have had underfloor heating but now it would involve ripping up a a ceramic tiled floor etc etc.

karam_2

hi,

I have a problem with my Alto night storage heater as it is not storing any heat during the off peak hours and is cold in the morning and i have to switch on the electric heating direct to warm the house which is quite expensive.

i have just come back from my holiday after 15 days and before that it was running absolutely fine. Coud anyone help as to what is the problem? I have already tried to make adjustments with the input and output controls but they dont seem to work either.

Lemon_Tree

i'm the same as you, i have no way of closing the vents, mine has a temp dial and a boost dial which i keep really low but in my bedroom all the heater does it keep the room above freezing, it's so useless i've got an old filled radiator on a timer so it's not freezing when i go to bed. Wish i could get the storage heaters to work though, i pay enough for my leccy.