Economy 7 Storage Heating - How does it work?

melpin

Hi
1st post! Eek! Here goes...
We have storage heaters in our flat and only eletricity. When we switched the heaters on though as it's getting a bit cold now, they come straight on & are giving off heat.
We're not sure but we were under the impression they are supposed to come on and store heat at night under the lower rate and then release heat during the day.
I've been trying to read up on this & found myself getting more confused by circuits and whatnot. Can you please help me to get this set up properly with some advice?
I think I mainly need to know whether the storage heaters need to be connected to a special circuit and what makes them come on during the cheaper periods? How do they know to charge during these times?
A little confused. Please help :undecided
Mel

molerat

Are you sure they are storage heaters and not panel heaters. Storage heaters would not give off heat straight away as they take quite a while to build up enough heat to start giving it out.

If they are storage heaters they should be connected to a separate circuit, often a separate fuse box, which along with the immersion heater is switched by either a big dialed timeswitch or a more simple switch within a modern electronic meter.

penrhyn

Do your heaters look like this ?



If so then they are storage heaters, and should be on a separate circuit. The exception is a duoheat which is a combined night storage radiator with a second circuit for instant heat. These will have dual mains wiring.
I suspect as the previous poster that you have panel heaters, expensive to run using day rate electricity. Time for that extra jumper and a slanket!

melpin

Hiya
The one in the front room looks like that. The bedroom one is little but it's a Dimplex and I googled it & it comes up as a storage heater. They have been moved from their original positions though and therefore their original sockets. Does this mean that we have inadvertantly moved them off this circuit? Would this explain it? Excuse my lack of electrical know how. Mel

penrhyn

Its possible, they should be wired to a separate circuit that is controlled by a radio teleswitch or similar.

Richie-from-the-Boro

melpin wrote: »

Hiya
The one in the front room looks like that. The bedroom one is little but it's a Dimplex and I googled it & it comes up as a storage heater. They have been moved from their original positions though and therefore their original sockets. Does this mean that we have inadvertently moved them off this circuit? Would this explain it? Excuse my lack of electrical know how. Mel

- anything is possible
- they should be on a 20a ring
- even a half brain shouldn't put them on a 13a ring
- if they were on a 13a ring the 'fused spur' would be brown and burnt

Logically moving a heater is no different to moving a table lamp. You move the 'fused spur' and put on a longer bit~o~wire. There's far too much mystique about these things they're not much different to a toaster / kettle / table lamp other than the ring they're on.

macman

Who moved them? Where did he tie his horse up?

melpin

macman wrote: »

Who moved them? Where did he tie his horse up?

Yeah we moved them ourselves

melpin

Richie-from-the-Boro wrote: »

- anything is possible
- they should be on a 20a ring
- even a half brain shouldn't put them on a 13a ring
- if they were on a 13a ring the 'fused spur' would be brown and burnt

Logically moving a heater is no different to moving a table lamp. You move the 'fused spur' and put on a longer bit~o~wire. There's far too much mystique about these things they're not much different to a toaster / kettle / table lamp other than the ring they're on.

Is there a way I check this? Will it just say on the spur?

penrhyn

melpin wrote: »

Yeah we moved them ourselves

So what have you reconnected them to?
Why are you fiddling with things that you don't understand?
I'd suggest getting an electrician in.

macman

melpin wrote: »

Yeah we moved them ourselves

Then you need to get a qualified sparky in PDQ in to rewire them properly to an E7 circuit. Apart from the extra cost, you've presumably wired them to a standard ring main, which is incorrect and potentially dangerous, as the circuit is not designed for that load.
Do not attempt to correct this yourself, as you clearly don't know what you are doing.