Economy 7, How to use?

mrsbutton

I'm wondering if anyone can help me?
I'm very confused on how to use this Economy 7 storage heaters and water. I have set my water to heat up at night but it doesnt stay very warm for long, the heating i just have on when ever it gets cold which is normally around 9pm but i have it on full and from reading up i'm ment to have it on some sort of timer and only have the heating on in the day on the lowest heating?

If there is anyone who has this and could maybe explain to me how to use and i would be very grateful. As everyone can understand i don't have the money to mess this up and make a bill

macman

Your immersion heater should keep the water hot for hours-have you got proper insulation on the tank? If not do that immediately-a jacket costs next to nothing. Have you got it set up to come on for a couple of hours in the early morning (in the last part of the E7 cycle, which is usually midnight to 7am-your supplier can confirm this)?
You are using your storage heaters in totally the wrong way, they should charge up overnight using cheap rate E7 electricity, and release the heat during the day. If they are being switched on during the day/evening then you are using peak rate power.

dunloadin

Your immersion heater should keep the water hot for hours-have you got proper insulation on the tank? No, it wont keep the water hot for hours if you use it and the tank tops up with cold, thats where the 'boost' facility comes in.

If not do that immediately-a jacket costs next to nothing. The only thing said that makes sense.

Have you got it set up to come on for a couple of hours in the early morning (in the last part of the E7 cycle, which is usually midnight to 7am-your supplier can confirm this)? I take it your on about setting up the immersion, which is wrong as your asking her to set the timer up for the boost...at a time when the other heater has been on to heat the tank overnight.

You are using your storage heaters in totally the wrong way, they should charge up overnight using cheap rate E7 electricity, and release the heat during the day. They do charge up through the night, she's asking how to get the best out of them.

If they are being switched on during the day/evening then you are using peak rate power. You cant switch storage heaters on during the day due to the way they are wired up....if you can theres a problem needing sorted PDQ.

3, 2, 1 and your back in the room.

mrsbutton, apologies for not expanding my post to let you know how to get the best out of what you have, time does not allow at the moment.

Beware of some advice you get, there are many posts on Eco7, if you have a search around you should find the info you need.

macman

Then how come the OP says she is 'switching it on around 9pm when it gets cold'? That would imply that she is not actually on an E7 tariff, if it's charging up outside of E7 hours.
More info is needed on the existing set up really.

mrsbutton

Right lots of info thank u for all your comments.

I have two timer boxes one for the water and one for the heater which is the one i'm having problems with. My water is set to coming on at 2.15am until 7am to heat the water but the heating i have no idea what i'm doing with it. I have no timer set on the heating and when they are not in use i turn the timer box off and turn the heaters off from the wall. My timer box for the heaters has 4 setting to set the timer but i don't know how to use them.

It's driving me mad as i have come from a house that had both gas and electric and i just use them how i please.

Again thank you for your help

minjara

Hey there, We are on Economy 7 as all our heaters are storage heaters and the water tank. We only have one timer which is the immersion. That is set to come on at 12am at night when our company shifts to off peak, and is on till 7am in the morning, but check with your individual company to check what the hours are. Once it has heated up the water, we find the tank thats there stays hot till about 12.30pm, anything after that and it starts to cool, if we need it at any other time there is a boost button on our timer which takes about 35 mins to heat the tank enough to get a bath.
Our storage heaters are all on there own switch at the wall so ours cannot be overriden to be on at any other time bar the hours of off peak. Ours when on give out heat up till about 8pm if they are on then start charging again at 12am till 7am.

I hope this helps at all.

Once we are back in work we are looking at a continental system which is apparently the cheapest way to heat the house, still storage heaters but even more efficient. It just means we don't have to dig the concrete floors up like we would have to for the GCH, lol.

Minjara

mrsbutton

Thanks for that hun its made it seem a lot more clear.

Just to conf, your heater switch on at the wall like mine do so when the timer is on to heat the water this heats the heaters as well?

minjara

Well that depends, ours is on its own independent circuit with no timer apart from an internal circuit timer. But yes in principal, whether its on its own timer, has two separate wall timers or an internal, they will, and should come on at the same time. Just make sure you check your bill. Scottish P were trying to fleece us, their system was charging us the units at peak time off peak and off peak ones at peak therefore charging us more, so make sure you keep an eye on things. By doing things like this your units should prob be higher at night. Both of us are at home all during the day usually and we are still using much more at night. Just on the off chance they were right we went round and calculated the kw usuage on everything!!!! lol the various storage heaters, tv, computers, server, hairdryer shower etc. and even with all of them they were charging too much. In 20 mins of being on the phone to them we saved £374.81!

If you need any more help at all let me know and I'll try my best.

Minjara

mrsbutton

Thanks for that hun i'm gonna have a good look at my heaters.

thats horrible i was wondering if anything would happen like that it seems like a good way of getting more money off customers anyway hope u have got it sorted now, £300 will go nicely lol

macman

mrsbutton wrote: »

Thanks for that hun its made it seem a lot more clear.

Just to conf, your heater switch on at the wall like mine do so when the timer is on to heat the water this heats the heaters as well?

But you said you had two different timer units, one for the hot water and one for the storage heaters?

mrsbutton

i do seem to have two yes and one of them seem to be for the heaters as its a creda which is what the heaters are.

When i switch it on it comes up with settings to set four different timers but i thought the unit i used to heat up the water heated up the heaters too?