Storage Heaters and elec bills - help!

emmylou69

Macman/Ignite - I have just had a look at the tank. There are two leads, one top, one bottom, both going into wall switches. The top one is switched off and the bottom one is switched on. I have taken the covers off the thermostats - the bottom one is pointing at 60, but the top one is pointing at 170 (where the max is 180). Should I reduce this? This thermostat feel very hot to the touch but the lower one did not. There is no boost switch that I can see. Any advice?
Firefox - yes we do need all the heaters on that we do have on, IYSWIM. I found that if the ones in the hall were off, it got so cold that it immediately sucked all the heat out of the other rooms. The kids play and do homework in their rooms so need heat, and the kitchen is where we eat breakfast too and was bitterly cold without heat! I don't mind paying for it as long as it is costing what it should, and no more.
Ignite - wood is no problem - the house comes with 2.5 acres of garden and a fully stocked wood shed so we are ok there :-)

macman

The top lead is probably the boost/top up, wired to your normal supply. The lower (main) one is wired to the E7 circuit. You should reduce the thermostat to a temp you are comfortable with, 170F is 76C! Far too hot. Try 140F to start with, that's 60C.
You then need to fit a timer to the main immersion heater circuit so that it is only only on during the relevant E7 hours, rather than all the time (for example switch on for 2 hours early morning, then off).
At the moment you're just throwing money away running it too hot and too long.