Electricity consumption

wobbler75

Hi all.

Sorry, it's another one of these...:o

I'm with eon, 2 bed flat on E7, with 3 storage heaters in the property.

I live alone, the flat is empty at least 5 days a week during the day whilst I am at work, I use the washine machine during the cheap rate a couple of times a week, and 1 hr hot water a day, also on the cheap rate...fridge/freezer, router on 24/7 - other than that, a few meals, cups of tea, shower daily, internet etc - but nothing excessive. No energy saving bulbs but most of the lights are off, most of the time anyway - I have a couple of lamps which are turned on every evening, but thats about it.

According to them, my annual consumption is about 11,500kWh, of which 2,500 are daytime units, 9,000 night time units. I was told that between Dec - Apr this year, my night usage was about 5000kWh.

They say that my summer night time usage is 3 units (which I assume to be a kWh...?) and in winter its 31kWh.

Does that sound excessive/unrealistic, or about right?

It obvious that the consumption is down to the storage heaters, as I'm usually asleep during the cheap time and just about everything is off - but do they cost THAT much to run? There are only 3 heaters in the property.

As far as the heaters go...I set the 'INPUT' to maximum, to draw in as much heat as poss, and the 'OUTPUT' to 5 (out of 7) and the flat IS kept toasty warm in winter, they kick out plenty of heat - but if I turned the 'INPUT' down, presumably that would reduce my consumption? and it would be a case of experimenting until I find an input/output combination that keeps the flat warm enough without using loads of leccy.

irnbru_2

wobbler75 wrote: »

if I turned the 'INPUT' down, presumably that would reduce my consumption?

Yes.

If you can stand the cold, set the OUTPUT to zero when charging.

wobbler75

SO you'd set 'output' to zero at midnight and then turn it on again at 7am?


Hmmm....but that would mean waking up to a cold flat, wouldn't it? And then going out to work whilst my empty flat is kept warm?

I'm not liking that plan tbh

HappyMJ

wobbler75 wrote: »

SO you'd set 'output' to zero at midnight and then turn it on again at 7am?


Hmmm....but that would mean waking up to a cold flat, wouldn't it? And then going out to work whilst my empty flat is kept warm?

I'm not liking that plan tbh

It depends on your aims. You did say to "reduce my consumption?."

You need to put the output on as low as possible at night and when you are out and put it up when needed. The flat won't be cold it just won't be as warm as you have been used to and your bills will be much lower.

macman

Problem is that NSH don't really suit your work/lifestyle-they'll just be cooling down when you come in from work in the evening. You need to reduce the output so that more heat is left until the evening. I'd try reducing the output by 1 notch at a time and see if that gives you a better balance.
Since 79% of your usage is on cheap rate, you're still getting good value out of being on E7.

wobbler75

When my flat was last decorated (before my time) someone has helpfully painted over the control dials, making them difficult to read and even harder to move. I'll have to get that sorted if I'm to regularly change the settings. Last year I just put them both on max and then forgot about it - hence last years consumption. It's helpful to know that if I reduce the input it should bring the consumption down considerably.

With regard to the output control: If I understand it correctly, storage heaters ONLY use leccy during the cheap rate, when they are charging - so outside of these times, the setting on the output dial will not affect my consumption at all, but will affect how quickly it will release the heat accumulated whilst charging - have I got that right? and presumably, once that heat is used up then there will be no further heat coming from the heater until they have charged again?

Thinking about it...maybe the way to go would be to have the ouptut set overnight somewhere that means the flat is nice and warm when I get up, and then I turn it right down low whilst I am out. Theretically, when I get home the flat will still be warm ish from the mornings heating, plus it'll have had a little heat throughout the day on minimum setting, and I'll have some heat to release in the evening.

macman

Yes, the output just controls the speed of release of the stored heat that you've already paid for on cheap rate. It basically controls a damper which reduces the release rate.

irnbru_2

wobbler75 wrote: »

And then going out to work whilst my empty flat is kept warm?

No your OUTPUT should be zero when you're not there. Your empty flat, unless it's extremely well insulated, is going to leak heat.

rogerblack

Other minor things.
You could get a freezer thermometer, and investigate how fast your freezer temperature rises.
It may, for example be reasonable to fit a timeswitch on the freezer that will shut it off from midday to midnight.

Working to find a couple of nice energy saving bulbs will also reduce the wattage in the evenings a bit.

Ensure that the hot water heater is on E7 most of the time, and the boost switch is off.

wobbler75

irnbru wrote: »

No your OUTPUT should be zero when you're not there. Your empty flat, unless it's extremely well insulated, is going to leak heat.

So you're suggesting setting the OUTPUT to zero whilst charging overnight, and leaving it on zero until I get home from work - so I only turn up the output of an evening once I get home?

Rar, that's gonna be a pretty cold flat for most of the time! lol

I don't mind using some leccy to heat it, I'm just looking for the most practical way of doing that. I most certainly do NOT want to get up in a freezing cold flat in the middle of winter and still be freezing when I get home...

macman

Then you need to reduce the output step by step as suggested. If it's at zero when you get up, you'll have no morning heating at all.