Help! Night storage heater issue and damp! Renting....

ruggedtoast

I would get a couple of oil filled radiators for the heat.

Important: You must report the mold and condensation problem in writing to the landlord or you can find yourself being charged for cumulative damage when you check out. They can paint with an anti mold paint which mostly got rid of the problem in a very condensationy cold flat I lived in once.

Mowie

Keep your output vents closed when storing heat throughout the night, open slightly in the evening when it gets cold again, remembering to close them when you go to bed. It's surprising the difference it will make. Keeps doors closed where you can to keep heat in rooms.

Road_Hog

Close your curtains as soon as the Sun goes down. Make sure they're closed tightly and leave no gaps if possible.

Don't open them first thing in the morning, but to use a little electricity on lighting than to open the curtains and let the heat dissipate out the windows.

Also, if you have kitchen blinds, the same goes, as for the curtains.

hazyjo

I'm living with them at the mo at my bf's flat.

Mowie's advice is absolutely spot on, as was Torry Q's.

Keep doors closed (that's a really important one!)

Do not let the heat out during the night. You should store at the hottest setting (if that cold), and not touch that dial again unless you find it's too warm and you need to store at a lower temperature. Open the output setting later into the evening, or as and when you need it. It should not be on the highest setting from early in the morning, you'll run out of heat by the end of the day. Try to keep it low and turn up full late in the evening if necessary.

Jx

Madmel

Good advice above. Hazyjo is spot on, but to make it completely clear, turn the boost [output] as low as possible when you go to bed. Try not to use it until as late in the day as possible, then by all means turn it up but remember that once you use up the heat, there won't be any more left until the next day. When you go to bed, turn the boost back down again, otherwise all the heat will leak back out overnight.

Check with your electricity supplier when your cheap rate is, if indeed you are on an economy 7 tariff and ask the landlord to make sure you are taking advantage of all 7 hours' charging. Ours here in the SW changes the time arbitrarily so you need to watch it carefully.

We have some 80s storage heaters in the cottage next door where my elderly dad has been since Saturday. There are 2 in the open plan living/dining/kitchen, both at the far end from the kitchen and he has one on low in his bedroom, but comes from the generation who grew up without central heating:eek:. It is -3 outside this morning and around 21 degrees inside. He has secondary glazed some windows and others have older style sealed units but they are far from modern. The walls are stone and cob so can't be insulated, but we still manage to keep him fairly comfortable.

dodger1

Set the output higher, that's what releases the heat. The input is for storing the heat. The normal setting is 4 for the input and then adjust the output as necessary, also many storage heaters have a booster that you can use to heat the room quickly.

Torry_Quine

dodger1 wrote: »

Set the output higher, that's what releases the heat. The input is for storing the heat. The normal setting is 4 for the input and then adjust the output as necessary, also many storage heaters have a booster that you can use to heat the room quickly.

The output is the boost and shouldn't be used regularly as it will use up the heat very quickly.

dodger1

Torry_Quine wrote: »

The output is the boost and shouldn't be used regularly as it will use up the heat very quickly.

I think we are talking about different boosts. On the top of a storage heater there are normally two dials, one is the input and one the output. On the side of many storage heaters there is also a boost switch or convector switch which is completely different to the output dial and uses a fan to heat a room quickly if necessary which obviously will use more electricity than the normal output but is very effective for heating the room quickly when very cold.