Storage Heaters - Help!!

Dinosnore

We moved into a new flat in the summer which has storage heaters, we hadn't needed to use them until this cold snap at the moment.

We were not given any instructions by the agent and I've never used them so wanted to get some advice to avoid massive bills.

Firstly we are on an economy 7 tariff and looking at our meter there seems to be a radio switch, do I assume that changes to low from midnight to 7am?

The storage heaters we have seem very old. Looking online it always mentions an input and output control. The ones we have seem to have two controls, one just has 3 settings (0,1,2) and the other a gradual dial with - at one end and + at the other.

Each one has a on/off switch at the wall (that I haven't dared turn on yet!).

I know the basic principle of storage heaters, heat up over night when cheap and release during the day/evening. What I don't understand is how do I ensure that the heater is charging when it is cheap? Do I only turn it on when we go to bed and off when we get up?

Looking forward to receiving some advice.

Cheers

Chilly Dino

Owain_Moneysaver

You leave the heaters switched on at the wall all the time. They receive electricity only during the cheap rate, controlled by the radio teleswitch (if the heater swiches have neons you can check this)

The 1-2-3 dial is probably the INPUT control. Set this to how much heat you want stored, ie how cold you think it will be the next day.

The -+ dial is probably the OUTPUT control. This controls a flap inside the heater which determines how quickly the heat leaks out of the heater into the room. You may hear it 'clunking' as you turn it.

Always turn the OUTPUT to - (minimum) before going to bed. This means the heater can store its heat overnight. It should be fairly warm until about midday the next day. Then turn the OUTPUT dial up a bit to let more heat out at intervals during the afternoon/evening. Once all the heat's leaked out, you don't have any more until the heater 'charges up' again the next night.

By late evening you might not have enough heat left, it's normal to have an electric fire in the lounge to warm the room during the evening.

Dinosnore

Thanks Owain, really appreciate the response.

Hopefully we'll get some warmth in the flat now!

Thanks again

theboss4

Hi
I too am after some help with storage heaters. Below are photos showing the main heater in the lounge. I understand they come on at night but im unsure how I can check or set this? What do you mean by neons? I had 1 of them on last night and it came on at 10pm. Is that right? I was told when I moved in that it was economy 10. What does that actually mean? There are also 2 switches on the wall but what does each 1 do? The other heaters in the bedrooms are smaller and only have 1 switch. That is the difference?

Also, the lounge heater has started to make a buzzing noise when it came on at 10pm tonight so i turned it off as i was worried it might catch fire or something.

Hope someone can help.

Owain_Moneysaver

theboss4 wrote: »

Hi
I too am after some help with storage heaters. Below are photos showing the main heater in the lounge. I understand they come on at night but im unsure how I can check or set this? What do you mean by neons? I had 1 of them on last night and it came on at 10pm. Is that right? I was told when I moved in that it was economy 10. What does that actually mean? There are also 2 switches on the wall but what does each 1 do? The other heaters in the bedrooms are smaller and only have 1 switch. That is the difference?

Also, the lounge heater has started to make a buzzing noise when it came on at 10pm tonight so i turned it off as i was worried it might catch fire or something.

I'm not entirely sure but I think you have a Unidare WMF fan assisted storage heater.

The left wall switch with the neon (little red light) should be the off-peak storage supply. The right wall switch with the fuse should be the fan and boost supply.

Boost off/on - I think this tops up the stored heat at a point during the day - this would agree with the Economy 10 tariff, which is Economy 7 overnight cheap rate with an additional 3 hours additional cheap rate during the day / early evening. If you use it at the wrong time it might use peak-rate leccy.

Input max/min - set to min if it's not very cold tomorrow, max if it's cold tomorrow, controls the amount of heat stored in the heater overnight

Room Temp high/low - I think this corresponds to the Output of a simple storage heater

Fan on/off - if you want to run the fan. I think will draw stored heat more quickly, so you might need to use it in conjunction with Boost.

I say think because you haven't given a model number but if you google unidare <model number> instructions you might get the operating instructions.

Owain_Moneysaver

To add - the bedroom heaters will probably be ordinary panel heaters. Switch then on when you want heat. Switch off when you don't.

The buzzing noise from the lounge heater might be the fan working, or it might be a loose connection (which would need prompt attention)