Storage Heaters to use or not to use??

luvchocolate

I live alone and don't like heat in the bedroom, If I am having a friend to stay will pop the one on in spare room but its not needed its warm enough really. pull cord heater in bathroom and kitchen never used either in 4 years, no complaints:j

[Deleted User]

My flat was built in the 70s so isnt insulated on the north facing wall. Yes the bedroom does get cold and i do use an electric blanket to warm the bed up and the storage heater in very cold weather. I have to use the bathroom heater as my flat does get cold. I have large windows in the bedroom and lounge. I could use the convector heater but i also have an electric fire in my lounge (a modern one with a built in mantlepiece) and in very cold weather ive had this on as well as the storage heater. I also find with the electric fire even just having the false logs glowing with the lights on makes the room feel warmer. I would prefer gas central heating as i do find the storage heaters only heat to a certain temperature and when theres snow and ice outside it can get a bit chilly in the evenings and there not controllable. Mine seem to kick out the same amount of heat whether there on number 1 or number 5. Its very dependant on your flat, mines not a very warm one unfortunately and also suffers from condensation if im not careful, but thats another story. But as for the bills i dont find them expensive to run.

Wickedkitten

grahamc2003 wrote: »

That's hardly a like-for-like comparison is it.

Presumably, your storage heaters heated 4 rooms for £4.76 and your halogen heater heats one room for £1.92.

Either stick to heating one room (£1.20 with SH, £1.92 with halogen) or 4 rooms (4.76 with SH, presumably £7.70 with halogen).

Well it certainly isn’t four times as much either way.

Sezzagirl

No scientific evidence to add but we have recently had new storage heaters fitted in the 1970's sheltered housing flats I manage and the residents have found them to keep the flats warmer

OP, You could put the storage heaters on and, as they cool down over the course of the day, put the oil-filled radiators on in the evening if it becomes too chilly for your little one

Then, you get the majority of your heating on the cheap rate and just a top up when you need it

Kernel_Sanders

Richie-from-the-Boro wrote: »

36.8 ppd service charge...... Additionally are you taking advantage of the 365 days of a full tank of piping hot cheap water a year

Of course, Richie is talking relatively here. We all know gas is no longer cheap, and even E7 electricity is dearer.
I'd just like to say that I'm glad I'm not privileged enough to be paying £134.32 in annual standing charges, which is actually more than my electric bills for a whole year!

rogerblack wrote: »

A well insulated flat with other heated flats on 4 sides,

I was trying to visualize this windowless abode before I realized you were referring to the flats below and above

bella2012 wrote: »

peak 7.30 - 11.30

You would appear to be on Economy 8 then E7 usually runs from 00.30-07.30 GMT (01.30-08.30BST)

Richie-from-the-Boro

bella2012 - #01 - maternity leave : Anyone including people working from home or pensioners for example will have generally a 50/50 or less split twixt off peak / cheap & on peak / expensive electricity. Everyone who uses a predictive stored system such as E7 will always need an additional form of supplementary heating. A duo heater is simply a 20a storage heater with an additional 13a panel heater built on the front. This takes up no more room but will give instant controllable on tap programmable extra heat at any time.

grahamc2003 - #15 - 18" thick : I've never seen an 18" thick domestic storage heater in my long life, has anyone else reading this seen one ? Your """self evident""" argument is not proof, simply I assume an avoidance technique for not answering my question, a bit like your #05 statement on '5pm efficiency' grahamc2003, if you have no evidence that's fine, neither do I we both can't find any evidence but 'self evident' is not evidence of an improved insulating material. If a commercial company had invented a product that was 2.5 times better than the previous one they would be shouting it from the rooftops. In this case the claim remains marketing hype has no substance whatsoever, until I see some evidence.

ImDoingItForMe - #20 - Bedrooms : a smallest storage heater may be required in a bedroom if it is for example 'stately home' sized and some distance from other heated corridors etc, because bedrooms are
occupied primarily at night, direct acting heating is more appropriate, such as a panel heater. A bedroom even in the bleakest winter should have a recommended 18C- at the most.

ImDoingItForMe - #26 - Standing Charge : Scandal isn't it ?, but yes that's the sneaky day rate Scottish Power have for those on the 'fresh start' social tariff for the DWP certified 'fuel poor'. On the one hand its a good price / guaranteed / semi-permanent tariff that is 'rolling' with no need to apply each year. On the other hand its an unmitigated 'claw back' of £116.80.

NOTE: Look its a competitive world run by extremely able bean counters, generally apart from the UBER low tariff no company really has a 'daily standing charge' ~v~ 'no daily standing charge' at all for average users, they just have a unit end nett nett price.

If the unit cost is '£x' without a daily standing charge, and you choose from the menu of options to have a standing charge because the unit price looks cheaper, then your (1) unit cost is '£x minus £116:80' but the total unit price you pay is exactly the same. Example :

- 10,000 units with no standing charge is £1100:00pa
- 10.000 units = £983:20 + standing charge of £116:80 = £1100:00pa

Richie-from-the-Boro

grahamc2003 wrote: »

You don't have to be open minded at all to accept that a modern 5inch thicl slimline storage heater which retains the heat much better than an 18inch thick old style storage heater employs better insulation materials with higher insulation properties - it is simply self-evident that that is the case.

But since to don't agree, perhaps you could explain your theory on how better heat retention from much thinner materials comes about.

Have you and I got our usually working well wires crossed M8 ? The heavier higher density bricks capacity to absorb more heat generated from converted electricity I [on the Carlsberg priciple] accept.

My question was how does this new claimed [alchemy] insulation stop heat leaking into the room from the enclosure when the heater is not [damper closed etc] in use, preserving more heat to be released only when needed ? It as a product that is never mentioned, no papers, no claims, no trumpet encore, just a suspect silence, no proof !

Naf

On the subject of cost: our new 3 bedroom house, with draughty front & back doors, single glazing throughout and storage heaters is only costing a little more in bills than our last place did: partially double glazed 2 bedroom maisonette with a proper central heating system.
Storage heaters are a perfectly acceptable alternative, once you learn to use them properly, and change your habits for various other things too: do laundry, tumble-drying, dish washing etc. overnight, use the night rate to heat a tank of water etc.

Be_Happy

Kernel Sanders

Before you confuse bella2012, she may well get 8 hours of off peak. I don't know if the English regions vary, but in Scotland our off peak used to be called 'white meter' and we still get 8 1/2 hours off peak - 11pm to 7.30 am winter and midnight to 8.30 am summer.

It's called E7 now simply to standardise the name. I'm not sure if this has changed for people who have a radio controlled time switch, but those of us with the time clocks linked to the meter still use the old system. We 'pay' for it by having a more expensive tariff in our region.

john1

Richie-from-the-Boro


grahamc2003 - #15 - 18" thick : I've never seen an 18" thick domestic storage heater in my long life, has anyone else reading this seen one ?



For information although I cannot be sure as storage heaters being 18" thick ,but some of the early ones came very close.


I recall extremely deep and wide storage heaters in our village school hall the mid 1970's.

My recollection was that when students arrived in the morning the hall was warm but by early evening the heat output was exhausted. For evening meetings we relied on infra-red suspended ceiling heaters to supplement the heaters (as well as body heat :rotfl: )

Apparently in the US they call them Electric Thermal Storage heaters (ETS) see http://www.steffes.com/off-peak-heating/room-unit-clearances.html and you will get an idea what the old style UK heaters looked like