Please Help: Electric/Immersion Advice rq

INAMESS

Hi i am considering moving into a 1 bed ground floor flat, it is all electric, there are storage heaters for heating (without a timer i believe) and there is a large water tank with 2 elements, both of which have a lead coming out to 2 switches on the wall, there isnt a timer for the water either, my question is whats the best way to get my hot water and heating without it being expensive? Does anyone else have a set up like this? I work usual hours 8 till 5.30 so ideally mon to fri i would want hot water once im home from work for a bath and to wash pots etc, i guess cos there is no timer for the heaters i just switch them on when needed? Any advice would be helpful as in my previous flat it was a combi boiler with central heating etc, thanks

tim9966

The cheapest option would be the heat it up early in the morning whilst it's still cheap rate electric if you have E7. I turn mine on manually about 6.30am and off at 7.30am when I leave for work. (My cheap rate electric ends at 8am, but not everywhere uses the same times) The water is still warm in the evening.

The storage heater is hopefully wired up so that it will only draw power during the night time hours, so doesn't need it's own timer.

Owain_Moneysaver

The storage heaters and the bottom water heater should be controlled by a timer or teleswicth on the off-peak consumer unit, so they only work at off-peak times.

The top water heater you switch on to boost the hot water if you run out, at expensive peak-rate electricity.

Please check however that they are storage heaters not panel heaters, and that you have an economy 7 meter/teleswitch and are on an economy 7 tariff.

chris1973

there are storage heaters for heating (without a timer i believe)

Sounds to me like you have an E7 set up which has an additional output from the Electricity Meter to feed the storage heater spurs during the E7 period. This means that the storage heaters will only work during the E7 period, as they are switched automatically by the meter during the 7 hour period which is programmed into it by the Electricity Supplier. This way when it gets colder you can leave on the heaters if you wish and they will automatically come on during the E7 period and go off when it switches back to the 'peak' period

The immersion heater sounds like its being fed by a dual supply. One switch and element will be activated like the storage heaters - during the E7 period, and the other will be connected to a constant supply to allow it to be switched on at anytime.

You need to find out which switch does what. If the switches have a little light on them, then switch each on in turn during the day. If all goes to plan one switch will light, and the other one will appear 'dead'. From that you can assume that the one that lights in the day is the constantly fed circuit and the other 'dead' one will be the Element which is operated only during the off peak E7 period - to take advantage of the cheaper electricity.

Ideally you need to be using the Element which is energised only during the E7 period. Using the other 'day' element should only be used as a last resort as it will cost around 3 - 4 times more per hour to run than it would during the night (depending on your tariff).

I would seriously consider getting the spur (switch) which controls the E7 element changed to one with a digital timer built into it, this way you can set it to come on at say 5AM - 7AM automatically, and you wont have to worry about remembering to switch it on / off manually. You may even find that running it from 6 - 7 is enough, depending on how well insulated your hot water cylinder is, and how hot you want the water to still be in the evenings.

Failing that, if you dont want to fit a timer, and you dont want to be getting up early to manually switch it on at 6 or 7AM, then just leave the E7 energised spur on all of the time and it will operate automatically during the night.

As a rough idea, electricity consumed during the E7 period will cost around 5p - 6.5 pence per unit compared to anything between 14p and 22p during the peak period, so as you can see, significant savings can be made by running appliances during the E7 time - especially your hot water.

If your storage heaters have dual controls marked with 'input' and 'output' you need to make sure that the 'output' control is set to minimum when you go to bed, and then open it to the desired setting when you come in from work. This allows the heater to 'charge' with the minimum of heat loss during the night, and then retain as much heat as possible when you are out during the day, ready for when you open the damper (output) control when you return home from work and need the heat!. Yes, its a pain remembering to do this, especially with multiple heaters, but you'll soon get into the routine.

,