Anyone used Rointe heaters?

penrhyn

Yup thats it. Dimplex or Creda.

Notcheapdownhere

Excellent.
Cheers buddy.

Richie-from-the-Boro

Notcheapdownhere wrote: »

Hey there,
Definite newbie here and I'm not a brain surgeon etc.
I've been following this thread all afternoon after researching rointe heaters that have been recommended.
This has all come from my Electricity bill.
I'm on a BDX tariff which seems pretty good as the times I have electricity are between 7pm and 11pm plus 4.30am to 2.30pm (need to confirm this).
I have 4 storage heaters on between these times and when I queried my high electricity bill, the electricity board said it was cause the heaters weren't set up properly or needed replacing because they weren't economic due to age.
After reading about a £10 heater heating the room the same as £1000 heater, how can they not be economic ?
If they do need replacing, any suggestions to what? (No gas, 3 bed semi)

Read this quick thread someone recently went through just your thought process, you can learn from reading her thread. Then come back and ask questions.

I'm assuming you are retired or home all day are you? and that you pay by monthly direct debit for your waster & space heating, you supply your provider with regular meter readings etc. The E10 tariff you call BDX is the luxury end of the E7 tariff - it has no competitors - because of this it is very expensive and un-switchable.

Notcheapdownhere

Few more details.
Moved into the house last year.
No gas central heating installed. Pensioners lived here before.
We thought we would see what the bills were for the first year before we decided what upgrades and changes to make. After looking at their previous bills we didn't think it would be a lot more.
We discussed what monthly payments to make with the electric company and decided on a set rate.
From July to October they owed us money.
We have one of those roof top pipe water heaters and an immersion heater for the water which I set up to around 60 degrees.
I'm out all day but my partner is home or about 6 days a week
I suppose I was very naive about bills as its our first house.
Just to confirm, are you saying BDX is expensive compared to e7 and e10?
I not going for rointe heaters that's for sure.
Thanks for your time.

Notcheapdownhere

Just dug out tariff.
Off peak is 10.33p per unit
And standard is 12.06p per unit.
2 of the storage heaters are big units that come about a foot of the wall.
Our bill was 2k for 6 months. Admittedly we have kids so a tumble dryer and washing machine are used plus electric shower (no bath) but I still think the bill was high.
We were told rointe heaters would cut that right down. Yeah right.

Richie-from-the-Boro

Notcheapdownhere wrote: »

Just dug out tariff.
Off peak is 10.33p per unit
And standard is 12.06p per unit.
2 of the storage heaters are big units that come about a foot of the wall.
Our bill was 2k for 6 months. Admittedly we have kids so a tumble dryer and washing machine are used plus electric shower (no bath) but I still think the bill was high.
We were told rointe heaters would cut that right down. Yeah right.

That's 3 times the national average, your water as well as space heating should be at cheap rate if you call 10.33p cheap - I call it nearly double E7 cheap rate. The current E7 SP area Code 13 is almost half your rate at 6.025p.

is BDX is expensive compared to e7 and e10?"""

BDX is E10, just another marketing name for E10 metering and tariffs and should supply all household electric consumption from the un-restricted E10 supply - lighting, power, cooking, hot water, tumbler drier, heating etc. This tariff is a lifestyle choice, it's entirely up to each household how they decide to live their lives.

I think you could certainly lose a high % of your annual costs by learning how to properly use what you've got and moderating your at home all day partner with the use of a panel heated office....or at least daytime closing tight of all dampers.

Changing old for new storage heaters would improve comfort levels and reduce the % of heat lost from the current storage radiators during the day when not needed, this would reduce costs. Before advice on that is given, we would need to know a whole lot more about insulation, glazing, cavity walls etc. Is your water heating on the cheap rate and is it insulated to PartL compliant ? Without wishing to be rude its entirely possible you don't even know the basics of using night store space & water heating, with most people that is most of their immediate cost savings potential.

Notcheapdownhere

Nope, your not being rude as your right, I don't know how to use basic storage heaters and water heating. But I've had a wake up call.

Paying for my ignorance now so I'm an example of what not to do.
I've had a good think and decided that the 2 main rooms (living and kitchen diner) need new storage heaters but I'm going to put them on a timer so only heat up overnight on the soon to be changed economy 10 setting and are off during the day.
The other rooms that aren't used as much I'm going to use oil heaters as its only really bed time these will be needed. I also don't think I need the storage heaters on twice in a day.
I'm also going to put the tumble dryer and washing machine through the e10 tariff as it turns out they are on the standard meter, I just need to check the immersion.
The house is pretty well insulated but doesn't have cavity. The biggest problem I can see as it has massive windows, the hall is basically one big window with a storage heater next to it. I'm thinking thick curtains is the only way to retain the heat there.
The windows themselves seem fine but the extension is from the 70s and single skimmed wall so replacing that is on the list of things to do.
Plus fitting a bath to make use of the solar water heating as due to the electric shower that heated water is being wasted.
Hope I'm heading somewhat in the right direction.
Ignorance is not bliss.

penrhyn

You storgage heaters cannot be run off a plug in timer. They should be wired on a separate circuit which is controlled by a radio teleswitch by your meter, or possibly a mechanical clock. When you change your tarrif to E7 the timings will be changed.

Richie-from-the-Boro

Notcheapdownhere wrote: »

Nope, your not being rude as your right, I don't know how to use basic storage heaters and water heating. But I've had a wake up call.~~~~ snip ~~~~

immersion

You don't have an immersion heater as such, an immersion heater is an old school under insulated water tank with 1 heating element usually in the bottom. With E10/E7 you should have a 60 minute boost element [core rate only] near to the top of the tank in addition to the bottom [cheap rate only] element. Given that you have solar water and a 10/24 supply of cheap rate leccy I'm confused as to why you would ever need to use the boost in 20 years let alone frequently. A proper PartL compliant hot water cylinder is super insulated with a 50mm blown jacket and very efficient at controlling loss of heat. If anyone reading this ever has a replacement cylinder installed for any reason, make sure you don't get 'stitched' with a Part L1B 35mm type replacement.

hall is basically one big window with a storage heater next to it

If by this you mean under the window or next to the window but on an outside wall, this is bad practice, any heating placed there will 'leech' away quickly - good for dickie birds, bad for the bill payer. It used to be old school recommended to put a heater under a window, clearly it will, even with double glazing such heat away from the convected heat. There are many ways to sort a window loss.

standard meter - other meter etc

I'm not clear on this it sounds like you are old-school wired too. The way it should work from a non tech householder point of view is a seamless supply of leccy that is either core [14 hours of expensive] or non-core [10 hours of cheap rate], determined by the supplier and totally out of your control. You should not need as 'penrhyn' said to be changing different appliances to different meters, put simply you have two sets of tails coming in to your board teleswitched to either core or non-core rate.

NOTE : If its coloured blue click and read it !

Notcheapdownhere

Yes, 2 meters.
A white digital one (I think). I'm guessing that's for standard.
And the old style spinning disc analogue which I'm guessing is the off peak.