Quick question on storage heaters

tomhann187_2

Hi all

I know storage heaters have been discussed to death but I can't find the answer to a question that is probably very silly!

I'm about to move into a house that is on Economy 7 with electric storage heaters. I understand they heat at night and release that heat during the day but my question is whether they actually use electricity during the day when they're outputting heat?!

I just don't get how they actually 'release' the heat. Is it just a natural process of releasing it as they get warmer? If this is the case, then surely they are losing heat during the night as they warm up?

If anyone can enlighten me that would be fab

A._Badger

They store heat by warming dense bricks (that's why they are so heavy). It takes a night to heat them up and a day (or less - depends on how good yours are) to cool down again.

Some attempts have been made to make them more 'controllable' by fitting opening and closing flaps, booster fans and so on but the basic principle remains the same.

albyota

The heating element (same as the element in a cooker or a kettle) is positioned in the centre of 'bricks' at midnight or 1 am, your economy 7 electricity is switched on and the elements heat up (very hot) from the inside, at 7 or 8 am the power is switched off. the thickness and density of the bricks are such that it takes roughly between 6 and 14 hours for all that heat to leak out to the surrounding air (heat only moves to a colder area) so, around 8 - 10pm most of the heat has been emitted. restricting the output, lengthens the amount of hours of use. if the output is set high all the heat will be emitted too early. standard NSH's do not use any electric during the day, however there are dual electric type that has an electric convector in them as well, this would be used as a boost, but caution you would be using expensive day rate leccy.

tomhann187_2

Thanks for the replies. The heaters are quite modern (about 1995 I think) Dimplex and look quite good (as far as my visual assessment goes!). So as long as I don't boost and just let them leak the heat out (we have variable output) they do not use electricity whilst letting heat out? But if this is so then how can I get variable output?! Surely something is fuelling the output as I can set it to max (so surely something is driving the extra heat output I have requested through the max output option?)

I'm not sure I'm making entire sense here! I just want to make sure they do not use daytime electricity when expending their stored heat during the day. If they don't, could I in theory turn them off at the power switch at the wall (each has its own power switch) during the day and then switch them on at night to prevent paying for electricity whilst they are on standby waiting to be 'told' to heat up? I get the feeling I'm not understanding the concept!

albyota

The standard NSH's do not use any electricity at all for releasing the STORED heat......Think flask of hot soup......leave the lid on.... it stays warm for hours.....leave the lid off ....it cools very quickly.
If you have to ask what a flask is.......;)

tomhann187_2

Yay! Thanks albyota

That's exactly what I wanted to know and love the easy-to-understand flask analogy