New flat - New to storage heaters - Are they broken or am I doing it wrong?

AP12

Hi,

I'm not sure if i'm meant to post this here or elsewhere but when i did a search on storage heaters most old posts came up here.

Here is my problem, I am just moving into a new flat, the official move date was the 1st Nov but LL gave us the keys early and said we can start moving things or even move in ourselves before then if we wanted.

Last night we were there late after a day of cleaning/unpacking etc and decided to stay. The flat has storage heaters, one in living room, one in hall and one in main bedroom. When we discussed these with landlord he told us he only ever used the hall one when he lived there and that kept the whole flat warm, showed us the controls and left us to it.

We only figured out last night after the caretaker gave us the meter reading to switch over the electric that it must be on some kind of economy 7 system as there is a low and a normal reading (we hadn't connected the dots re the storage heaters). We switched on both the hall one and the one in main bedroom as that was the only 'cold' room. The light on the switch (the wires are fused into walls) didn't come on for either but we figured they would at whatever time the E7 kicked in. Woke at 6.30am, the hall one the light had come on indicating it was working but the heater itself is freezing cold to touch, the light switched off at 8am. The bedroom one the light didn't come on at all and that is also freezing to touch. Both we set to maximum input which I think is 6? and output of 3. We have no idea what kind of settings we need to use so don't know if we did wrong and the LL can't help much as he last lived there 6 years ago and can't remember how they work really and it seems the previous tenant never reported any problems or said if she actually used them, what's worrying us is they could have broken a while ago plus she may not have used them at all during the summer - LL said that she only told him when she moved out that the cooker had been broken for 6 months and she hadn't been bothered to report it (luckily a brand new kitchen fitted in the 2 weeks between her and us). So how do we find out if they are broken or if it is just us using them wrong?

Bongedone

You should set the output to zero to get them charged 1st. An output set to 3 will just waste any chance of storing heat.

Do you have both sockets turned on as they will require the on-peak electricity to control the circuitry?

The bedroom normally have and on-peak panel heater not storage heater as the room would get unbearable when your trying to sleep.

Does the boost button work?

Here is a guide: http://www.changeworks.org.uk/uploads/wat/Storage_Heaters.pdf

mlz1413

Its sounds to me like you did the right thing by turning on and leaving on so the economy 7 heats them overnight. They do need to be left switched on all the time to work properly though, so don't be tempted to turn on and off when your in / out.

There isn't that much to go wrong with the heaters, they are essentially blocks that are heated once (during cheap rate electric) and then release the heat slowly, which can be regulated by the flaps. So either it does heat or it doesn't.

I would say turn all 3 on and put the input to max and the output of min and leave them for 24 hrs, if you don't have any heat after that it is the Landlords problem.

AP12

Thank you for your reply. That makes sense re putting the output to zero. I do hope that is why they feel cold! I have a bit more faith in the hall one working as that one at least shows power going to it as the light switched on overnight but the bedroom one did not. I think if we can at least get the hall working that would be something as the flat has been vacant for 2 weeks with no heat at all and only gets a chill around 8pm and only then in the bedroom really, seems the other flats etc must insulate a bit! The fuse box has things like off peak hall, off peak water, water boost, off peak living room etc written on the switches which i'm assuming refers to the seperate heaters etc. There doesn't seem to be any buttons or any indication that the storage heaters can be powered at all during the daytime and as i said they are fused directly into the wall with no plugs. I'm a bit unsure really as to the process when renting of having things like this checked. My sisters partner is an electrician would it hurt for him to do an 'at a glance' type check if he thinks they work or not?

mlz1413

If you have a friend who can check them definately let them, but don't repair them without the LL permission the heaters are after all their property.

The LL is responsible for the cost of repairs so you need to ask them to repair anything that is not working, as if you do it yourself it will be your cost.

Good pratice would be to call LL and report problem then email them to backup your call. i.e. thank you for talking to me today about the storage heaters just to confirm that I will be at the flat to meet you on XXX day at XX time to discuss the heating furhter.

Foggster

I find that when we turn ours on for the first time in the autumn they need a good 48 hours to start storing the heat. We set ours on 3 Input 3 Output and keep all of them on throughout the winter. I dont know how big your place is but with our 3 bedroomed house we were recommended one in each room and 2 in the hallway (L shaped quite large). I know from past experience of renting that some LLs skimp on the heater size and numbers which makes keeping the house warm very expensive.

Pink.

Hi AP12,

As your thread has now dropped down the Old Style board I've moved it to the heating board board to see if you can get some more advice.

Pink

gas4you

Check the E7 consumer unit (fuse board) to see if the mcb's are set to on for the other two heaters that are not working.

Swipe

Are any of them even slightly warm to the touch? If not, it could be that the fuse has blow where the cable goes into the wall socket or a fuse has gone. If replacing the fuses on the wall box with identical 13 amp fuses doesn't work then contact your LL and ask him to arrange for an electrician to visit. Also check what the previous post mentioned