All Electric Total Control Heating How Best to Use it

cutestkids

Hi

I really hope someone can help,
I am in a 3 bedroom house which is all electric we are on the Total control heating system which is run exclusivly by Scottsh Hydro Electric at the moment our electricity is working out at about £160 per month.

I just can't seem to get to grips with this heating at all and would like to lower the bills a bit.

The living areas are storage heating which is not too bad but I am not sure anoout the bedrooms they are satndard converctor panel heaters on the total control system is it better to have these on and set so come off and on if the room drops below the temperature you want or is it best to just put them on for a couple of hours a day when you want heat in the rooms.

Worries about the rooms getting damp but don't want to increase my bills even more.

Really sorry for the long post hope someone can help

HappyMJ

RE:Bedroom heaters.......Just use them when you need some heat. No point heating rooms when you are not in them. So when you wake up turn them on turning them off before you leave. When you go to bed give the room a blast and turn them off just before you jump into bed. The rooms won't get damp if you do that twice a day. If you have a fixed time you get up and go to bed you could try using a timer.

cutestkids

Hi
Thanks for your reply I have been doing that up till now, just seems really expensive when the house is all electric and not much I can do about it as the tarrif can only be run by Scottish Hydro due to the way the system is set up.:mad:

jalexa

cutestkids wrote: »

I am in a 3 bedroom house which is all electric we are on the Total control heating system which is run exclusivly by Scottsh Hydro Electric at the moment our electricity is working out at about £160 per month.

I just can't seem to get to grips with this heating at all and would like to lower the bills a bit.

OK, you are in "total control" if you want to be. Are you happy with the heat you are getting for £160/month? Do you want to pay less? (who doesn't). Do you want better "value"? Is the house occupied during the day?

Lets start with "damp". If you maintain a modicum of trickle ventilation, use the bathroom fan when bathing or showering and the kitchen fan when cooking, you will feel seriously cold before damp becomes a problem.

I'm assuming it's a correctly wired THTC installation in that the panel heaters are "hard-wired". They *should* be on a permanent cheap rate supply, but it's worth satisfying yourself that is the case. The fact that they are permanently wired presents an obvious problem, plug-in timers can't be used.

Are the panel heaters fitted with timers? It is pointlessly expensive heating an unoccupied room such as a bedroom during the day. An obvious saving perhaps. Either you need to employ manual control or hard wire a new panel heater with a built-in timer.

Regarding the storage heaters, it is best to keep the "output" control at minimum unless you need a boost of heat. It is harder to advise on the "input" control because Scottish Hydro Electric varies the hours with the weather but start at minimum and increase until the temperature (the next day) suits. Remember the living room focal point fire, if you have one and it is "hard-wired", is cheap rate all day, so the storage heater running out of heat is not so much a problem. If you have a storage heater in the hall, consider whether you really need to heat an unoccupied room.

Read your meters regularly. You need to keep a certain % of consumption on the storage heaters.

HTH

cutestkids

Hi

Thank you for your reply,

Yes the storage heaters are hardwired and were installed by Hydro Electrics contracters, the living room does not have a focal point fire just one large storage heater which is usually fine ecxept for the very coldest spells, I usually use a small halogen heater for a quick boost when it is really cold as I find about 10-15 mins is enough.

I do have a storage heater in the hall and do use it but have noticed this year that it is not working as it should, the bricks do not seem to be retaining heat as they should, the bottom half of the heater is never more than warm to touch and the heat seems to go very quickly.

One day I hope to get gas installed but don't a clue how much it will cost for a complete new installation.

jalexa

cutestkids wrote: »

Yes the storage heaters are hardwired and were installed by Hydro Electrics contracters

Yes, but are the panel heaters in the other rooms hard-wired?

cutestkids

Hi

Yes the panels heaters in the bedrooms are all hardwired, and do have a built in timer which you can either use or over-ride.
I am I correct in assuming that if I leave the output as low as possible on the storage heaters, just turning it up for a boost later in the day if needed and the input really depends on what the next day's forecast is so have it up high on input when the temperature is to go down and adjusting it daily.
The panels in the bedroom if I use the timers on them for an hour morning and evening i.e before getting up and before going to bed, there is really no need to have them on apart from this in the day time, is that correct.

The other thing I wondered is the hot water tank is currently on a timer with the signal being controlled by hydro electric as to when the water is heated, there is the option to boost for up to 2 hours at any time of the day, is this the cheapest way to heat water or would it be better to turn off the timer and just do it manually for say 2 hours a day.

Sorry for all the questions just trying to get the most out of the heating that we have without it costing an arm and a leg :rotfl:

dunloadin

Check the fusebox/consumer unit, there should be at least 3 seperate 'banks' of fuses/CB's.

The hot water that is timed to come on with the storage heaters should have a corresponding fuse/CB next to the storage heater fuses.

The hot water 'boost' should have a fuse/CB on the same bank as the panel heaters....if theres a 4th part then the hot water boost is on its own circuit controlled from the teleswitch/telemeter, and connected to give a boost either manually or at some point through the day. Either way it should be cheap rate.

Jalexa has given some good advice re the storage heaters.

cutestkids

Hi

Yes the hot water heater is wired as you suggest so I am assuming that everything is wired properly and that it is just a case of fine tuning the amount of heat that is needed.

Thanks to all for all the help given
Marie :wave:

dunloadin

Forgot to mention that you should avoid using plug-in heaters, as these will be charged at the normal (high) rate. You dont get a cheap rate on your domestic/general side.

Richie-from-the-Boro

- the quickie detail of your E10 system is here

"" You'll get between five and twelve hours a day from your storage heating. We find out the best times to put it on for you by regularly checking the weather forecast. This means that you'll have heat when you need it most, without having to worry.

If you want to ask your supplier a question / email / phone / snail mail, its on the RHS of this page

Like all E7 or E10 systems you need to use the storage of energy - both water and heat 60% + most and the non-storage bedroom panel heaters least 40% -

How best top answer your question depends on your lifestyle for example out most of the day and in after 6pm would make it easy to achieve a 60-40% split, however if your are retired or at home all of each day you would be lucky to achieve a 50-50% split.

The best way to use it is to turn the stat up on the storage heaters as others have said and keep the damper down [ the flap on the top that you open to boost your room temp ], that way you get

- the maximum cheap rate leccy stored in the heaters
- and loose least of the cheap leccy by not opening the damper
- so its input at max and the output at min
- it is the ' luxury ' end of electric heating at luxury pricing unfortunately