Advice needed re E7 and portable heaters

mollygrub

Hello all, I wonder if I can please ask for advice regarding my heating arrangements? I have looked at tonnes of posts on here and I will outline my thoughts.... then I would be very grateful for the more knowledgable and savvy amongst you to advise me please?

I presently have 2 storage heaters which are very old - probably about 20 plus years but are still in working order.... they are not too bad and luckily I can close my lounge off so it remains quite cosy. I cannot have gas as I live in the sticks. The one storage heater is in the lounge and the other in the hallway. Upstairs I don't use anything really but have an oil filled radiator if I get too chilly and leave all the upstairs doors open to take the chill off and this seems to work very well.

I have to manually put the immersion heater on to get hot water as the timer is broken on the heater but I am quite frugal and only put it on for a bath (I live alone) at night and only wash up once a day.

I am on E7 at the moment with NPower and my bill is currently at 85/month but obviously I don't know how that will impact on this years bill as it has been really chilly here.

I am considering changing from E7 to a normal day meter and just having one oil filled rad and using that when i need it in the lounge as it is only me and I can make it cosy and then leave the one on the landing to heat upstairs. The kitchen has a plinth blower for my feet to keep toasty when I am in there for the few minutes if it is cold. I am wondering if I should just go for another oil filled rad with fins or a slimline oil filled radiator that I can have wall mounted?

I am a bit nervous about changing to a daytime rate as it seems a little final and unsure if there is much difference between the flat oil filled radiators as opposed to the chunky fin type ones that I have upstairs that is brilliant .. it is 2kw.

Help and advice much appreciated please....

ra200

If you change to a normal meter the cost is the same 24hr a day but on E7 it might be cheap on the night rate but the day time cost is higher you can use oil filed rads or convector heaters just use ones with thermostats in argos you can get their own branded convectors which are made by dimplex for argos they also come with wall brackets and removable feet so they look tidy wall mounted http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/4152033/c_1/1%7Ccategory_root%7CHome+and+furniture%7C14417894/c_2/2%7C14417894%7CHeaters+and+radiators%7C14417957/c_3/3%7Ccat_14417957%7CConvector+heaters%7C14417964.htm

macman

You need to be using a certain proportion of your electricity on E7 cheap rate to make it worthwhile, probably not less than 33%. Go back over your bills and calculate what proportion of your annual kWh consumption is on each rate.
You really want to avoid mixing cheap and peak rate electric heating, as you are paying a higher rate for all your peak rate consumption than you would be on a non-E7 tariff.
All electric heaters of the same rating produce the same amount of heat, and cost exactly the same to run.

mollygrub

Thank you so much for your replies... and taking the time to read my question.... I wondered.. my lounge storage heater is really really old and has scorch marks on it so I am a bit wary of using it... if I was to purchase an oil filled electric radiator and have it wired into the same socket that the storage heater is presently wired into would it then only come on at the E7 time? Sorry if this is a really ignorant question but I have no idea how this works... not sure if it is poss to have any other form of electric heater wired into the E7 socket which I am aware is on a diff circuit?

Vibrant

I have almost the same heating as you, except I'm in a bungalow. I to have been considering swapping to ordinary rate electric. This year I have been experimenting with not using the storage heaters, but found the bedroom end of the house got a bit damp after a while, during the very cold period, so turned them back on.
They have been off for the last couple of weeks, since it has been warmer.

I have an oil filled radiator, which is very good, with a nice stable heat output. I also have a wall mounted convector, with timer and thermostat, which a friend donated. Which I have been impressed by, it warms the room quickly and keeps the heat level pretty steady. I have been trying it in the bedroom, where I only need it warm when I wake up.

It is hard to know what to do, as storage heaters are only really needed when it is very cold and damp, the rest of the time ordinary heaters do a better job, but aren't on the best tariff.

I have also been trying a portable gas heater, which heats the living room brilliantly (or whole house if you leave the door open). But there are a few drawbacks, you need some ventilation to avoid dying!!! It is quite big, there is no thermostat and it's not particulary cheap to run (I get my refills cheap, dont ask which is why I'm trying it), a cylinder lasts about a month at £30 approx a pop.

Regarding the scorch marks on your storage heater, are they on the front? If so, it probably means the insulation panel has broken in that spot, not good, but not really dangerous either.

You can wire an ordinary heater into an economy 7 point, but it will only work during the E7 hours, as there is a clock, or radio switch in the meter cupboard that switches it on and off.

mollygrub

Hi there, that is really interesting and I think I have convinced myself that I am going to go for a new storage heater in the lounge and leave it on E7 as it has been fine ... i am now looking on ebay but not the best time to be buying heaters so may wait until after the cold spell.....

Or... I may go for an oil filled radiator wired in to the E7 socket so it just works over the off peak hours... oh, it is so confusing and I am so bad at making decisions...but have to do something about the storage heater in the lounge.... i guess that the problem with the oil filled rad in the lounge and only heating up overnight will mean that the lounge will not be particularly hot as it will not retain the heat and spew it out through the daytime .... as I am writing this I think I am answering myself!!!

penrhyn

Suggest you look at Dimplex or Creda for storage heaters.
The new ones are much slimmer than they used to be.

Swipe

My parents have Credas and they can't fault them

penrhyn

I used to have a Creda TSR model, worked very well.

mollygrub

Penrhyn and Swipe.. thank you so much, I agree Creda are very good - the only thing I now need to do is work out how to pay for them!!!! Small point... thank you so much for taking time to reply to my thread...

macman

If you are buying an oil filled rad, it makes more sense to plug it into a normal 13A socket and run it (even on peak rate) during the hours you want the heat. Running it overnight will be pointless, as most of that heat will have escaped by the time you want it (presumably when you get up).