Switching from storage heaters with economy 10 to panel heaters

Old_No.7

We replaced our storage heaters: having lived with storage heaters before, I hate the things with a passion, and they were all failing one by one. We kept the immersion heater for water, which was already on a timer (that should definitely save you money, if you don't have a timer yet), and the electrician calculated it for us, and advised us to stay on the Economy7 tariff. This was all done in January, so can't compare it for a full year yet, but just in terms of enjoying the flat, it's all been so much better, that I would definitely recommend it. Our usage has definitely come down compared to the last quarters, but heat was being topped up by all sorts of electrical heaters, so not surprising really. I don't know if I can mention the brand here? We had Rointe radiators installed and they look really cool (I think so anyway).

littlebigp

Thanks everyone, I really appreciate all your help.

Jalexa & dunloadin - I've only lived here for a year so inherited the tariff with the flat, it's economy 7 with heatwise which I thought was the same as economy 10. As I understand it the heaters get a boost of charge in the day - 3 hours in the afternoon and 2 hours in the evening as well as 5 hours overnight, so I didn't want to swap tariffs as I thought it would keep the storage heaters warmer for longer.

I thought i would need more wiring if i wanted storage heaters in the bedrooms and the costs put me off but another electrician came round today and thinks the wiring might be there and the sockets just need swapping over so I'm going to wait and see what his quote is.

I'm pretty indecisive so might just keep a diary of how comfortable the temperature is in the flat through the winter to try and work out what would be best and delay the decision for another year!

jalexa

littlebigp wrote: »

I've only lived here for a year so inherited the tariff with the flat, it's economy 7 with heatwise which I thought was the same as economy 10.

I would suggest you need to get a handle on the benefits and costs of Heatwise. It's a proprietory Eon tariff and not readily switchable.

Maybe it has some "value" (at a cost) but I don't agree that varying the hours the storage heaters charge is the benefit. Modern storage heaters are designed to charge up during the night and not during the day. Specifically in a working modern storage heater the output is "dampered" during charging, so not particulary effective heat when charging.

Perhaps my reluctance to see benefits in Heatwise is because I don't really understand it. Not many do.


Later edit:
There are quite a few Google links to forum posts about Heatwise. Just as well as there appears to be precious little on the Eon website. There seems to be a "consensus" of sorts that "Heatwise" is a "comfort" tariff. That is code for "hang the cost, you wanted to be warmer". You need to dig out the unit prices and ask yourself why do you want to pay more for heating your storage heaters (non-optimally) with "E7 + Heatwise" than you would with E7 only?

If you can't answer that question you should dump Heatwise and concentrate on making the most of storage and water heating on E7. You will probably need your electrician's help on that.

MrsBartolozzi

dunloadin wrote: »

MrsBartolozzi wrote: »

True....but panel heaters will be wired in on the general load side, so they will be on the higher rate, unless you only want them to come on in the middle of the night that is!

Also to have THTC a minimum of 60% of the heating load HAS to be storage heaters.

As I said I had no idea about Heatwise my comment was all about THTC. The panel heaters/bathroom fan heater in my house are wired in, and cheap rate, not higher rate. In fact I know this must be the case as we only use 1-2 (on ave) extra units of standard elec a day in the winter than the summer and the panel heaters in the bedrooms are used most evenings and most of the day by the kids (when on hols) in the winter time.

dunloadin

Modifying your heating without having the correct metering system often results in an expensive mistake come bill time, I've seen a few whilst doing the rounds.

MrsBartolozzi, all I was doing was pointing out that the OP may not have Eco10.....which they have confirmed that they dont have, as has been pointed out by others Eco10 is not for storage heating.

True Eco10 is designed to be used for wet central heating sytems with electric boilers, if you have 'Eco10' with storage heaters it tends to be a protected or 'comfort' tariff; they vary depending on the region and company that fit them and they all have their pros and cons regards setup, timings and if you get cheap rate peiods on non-heating circuits.

I know THTC very well, having worked on the system for 5 years plus, and there is no way that you will be able to keep the THTC meter(s) if you decide to change the storage heaters to panel/convector as you need minimum 60% of the heating load to be storage. Panel heaters in a THTC system can be put on 24/7 at cheap rate, but are only in the rooms you seldom use through the day (bathrooms and bedrooms), all the higher load heaters will be storage. The down side of THTC is that you dont get cheap rate on anything you use on the domestic side, so no point in sticking the dish washer etc on late at night, or using plug in heaters.