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Storage Heaters and elec bills - help!
Hi everyone,
Looking for a bit of advice really...
We are renting a large 4 bedroom house with no other power than electricity. The heating is storage heaters (old looking ones!) and the water heating is a mystery - it is boiling hot all the time but seems to be supposed to only heat up during the E7 period. (Anyone who can explain what sort of heater it is likely to be, please do :-) )
I took readings on the 9th Nov. We have had 9 storage heaters on low every night during this time, plus water heating. We are a family of five with all the usual appliances etc, plus a water softener. I do not use a tumble dryer. We have a woodburner which we use as a back-up to heating in the evening if it is cold enough.
I took more readings today - we have used 1977 night units and 297 day units during this period of 23 days - 85 night units and 13 day units for each 24 hours.
This sounds excessive to me! Does it to anyone else? Or is it completely normal for storage heaters to use this much?
I would also like to know:
What sort of water heating we might have, ie is it likely to only run on E7 night rate?
What sort of energy monitor is recommended - one which is easy to use and easy to understand!
Also, the meter itself has two lights on it, one of which flashes, and another which seems to either be off or on solidly, any idea what this is? I have spent all morning googling this but not really finding any suitable answers.
Also, does anyone know what the cost implications are likely to be if all the heaters were on full instead of low? Is the only way to find out to take readings, turn them up, and take readings the next day, or is there a fairly simple mathematical way of estimating it?
Please help
Emma
Looking for a bit of advice really...
We are renting a large 4 bedroom house with no other power than electricity. The heating is storage heaters (old looking ones!) and the water heating is a mystery - it is boiling hot all the time but seems to be supposed to only heat up during the E7 period. (Anyone who can explain what sort of heater it is likely to be, please do :-) )
I took readings on the 9th Nov. We have had 9 storage heaters on low every night during this time, plus water heating. We are a family of five with all the usual appliances etc, plus a water softener. I do not use a tumble dryer. We have a woodburner which we use as a back-up to heating in the evening if it is cold enough.
I took more readings today - we have used 1977 night units and 297 day units during this period of 23 days - 85 night units and 13 day units for each 24 hours.
This sounds excessive to me! Does it to anyone else? Or is it completely normal for storage heaters to use this much?
I would also like to know:
What sort of water heating we might have, ie is it likely to only run on E7 night rate?
What sort of energy monitor is recommended - one which is easy to use and easy to understand!
Also, the meter itself has two lights on it, one of which flashes, and another which seems to either be off or on solidly, any idea what this is? I have spent all morning googling this but not really finding any suitable answers.
Also, does anyone know what the cost implications are likely to be if all the heaters were on full instead of low? Is the only way to find out to take readings, turn them up, and take readings the next day, or is there a fairly simple mathematical way of estimating it?
Please help

Emma
0
Comments
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Hi Emma,
I can't really answer most of your questions as I'm still trying to figure out my new all electric house (I'll be watching this thread for answers!).
One thing you mentioned is your heaters look old. I believe that the bricks inside (if yours have bricks) deteriorate over time so replacing these if they're old, helps the efficiency of your heaters.0 -
£100 of night storage for one month with nine heaters and four bedrooms is not that expensive. Do you need to heat all the bedrooms?0
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Gemstars, I might mention it to the landlord. Sounds sensible. Think the heaters have been here from when the house was built (20ish years ago probably).
Kim, yes we do, we have three kids. Unfortunately one room has a panel heater instead so needs to be heated separately anyway. There are some other heaters we have not switched on in other rooms. The house is fab so I am happy to pay if it is reasonable usage, just wanted to check what others think as it is new to me. I reckon the winter bills will be about £200 per month in total but clearly will be a lot less in the summer. Thankfully!0 -
Storage heaters in a large house are bad news - very very expensive to run. As you are renting, I seriously suggest you move. Storage heaters are cheap to install (probably why the LL put them in), but are very expensive to run in anything other than an ultra-insulated small flat.0
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it sounds like you have an immersion water heater that would explain why you always have hot water, we are a family of five in a three bed electric house and are spending around £100 a month in electric, when you think of it as £5 per person it seems a fair price0
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There should be 2 heating elements in your immersion heater. Top and bottom. Make sure that they are not both turned on. 1 should be for the economy 7 element and the other as a top up heater when needed. If its boiling all the time you might have the top up on as well.0
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Bristol_pilot - this is the landlord's family home to which he will return in five years so it wasn't a quick/cheap fix just for tenants. The property is a dream property for us otherwise which is why I am happy to pay if it is a reasonable cost.
Tori.k - this is a good way to look at it :-)
Jon2432 - I will check this in the morning. If this is the case and only the E7 one is switched on does it mean all our hot water is being heated overnight and not at all during the day? We use most of our hot water in the morning but even if I run a deep bath at 10pm it is still scorching!0 -
If the hot water is too hot, then turn down the thermostat, it's normally under the cover on the element housing at the top of the immersion heater tank. If the heater is on 24/7, turn it off at the switch when not wanted or get a timer installed.No free lunch, and no free laptop0
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Might be your thermostat on the immersion is broken, I had both mine replaced when I moved in and pretty sure one has gone again. Do you really need to heat all the bedrooms, do you all spend time (other than sleeping) in them? If not buy electric underblankets for older children and adults - pence to run. Also presumably you only have four storage heaters in bedrooms, so do you need all of the other five on? Many kitchens are fine as you produce heat cooking, and halls fine as you don't spend any time in them.Declutterbug-in-progress.⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️⭐️0
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Hi,
It sounds like your immersion heater is on all the time. It is worth checking this. Take a look at the hot water tank in the airing cupboard. As somebody else has mentioned, on newer systems, you will have 2 heaters. Check that the higher one is not on all the time.
If the system is older, there may only be one immersion heater. This should be connected to a time switch so it normally only comes on over night. Make sure that this switch is not set to constant or something equivalent. There should be some kind of boost function on this to allow you to do a boost heating of water during the day if you run out of hot water.
Now onto the storage heaters. If they are old, DO NOT open them. Some of the older storage heaters have asbestos in there insulation. This is not a problem if they are left undisturbed. However, if they are opened, this will be a problem. You can check out which ones have asbestos at this site http://www.aic.org.uk/Storageheaters.htm
There are now some slightly more energy efficient storage heaters on the market that can regulate the storage intake based on the external temperature of the room so if they are really old, it might be worth asking your landlord if he is willing to install new units.
In terms of the wood burner, I would make use of that some more. If you find a good supply of wood for it, this can be a cheap way of heating.0
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