Electric heating system

macman

Automatic? Every modern convector has a thermostat on it.
All that does is determine the temp at which it stops drawing power and producing heat-it doesn't alter the kWh consumption or make the heater any more efficient.

lemon26

Hi macman, sorry if I've badly explained it. We don't have convectors in our storage heaters, they're plain run of the mill storage-only heaters.

To the best of my knowledge, automatic refers to the input charge control, with automatic ones regulating the input charge according to the ambient room temperature - most manufacturers make two versions of the same heater, manual and automatic (Dimplex XLN & XLSN, Elnur SHxxM & SHxxA).

Richie-from-the-Boro

Any dwelling built since the PartL regs came in will almost certainly be automatic as those same regs outlawed manual in new builds. If your heater doesn't hold heat inside for 14 hours, it is (1) very [pre 80's] old and manual (2) needs looking at and can be cheaply repaired (3) or in most cases you are not using it correctly, and (4) lastly, it's original install [U factors] quantified storage was wrong in the first place and is wrong now.

By "quantified storage was wrong in the first place and is wrong now" I mean that the recommended room temps, lets say in the 80's and 90's was 2°C less than they are now. Most builds now and then will have a spec of 'x' - if they can save money by incorrect sizing, ie, putting a 2.5 in instead of a 3.4 they will save £100 per unit install, believe me they did do that then and they will be doing just that these days. Most people can get an instant and permanent boost in performance by installing a reflect / deflection shelf and putting an insulating board / blanket behind their heater , I've done mine in 3 different houses, its cheap / effective / easy and oh so beneficial.

Most even the poorest of households have much much better insulating values now that we ever did, if you have the same windows doors and loft insulation you did 30 years ago, attend to that and save yourself a fortune. Many of the new snake~oil heating forms such as beamed warmth infrared are sold on the basis of comfort - although they deliberately confuse comfort with efficiency. Perceived comfort is something that has changed in these intervening years, we thought 18-19°C was positively Caribbean now we want 20-22°C as a standard minimum.

Generally automatic storage heaters are slightly more economical than older manual ones. This is merely because the householder does not have to remember to 'set' the charge appropriate to tomorrows weather, the heater does it for them, or does it really ? I've never known any householder who didn't need to experiment to find the right settings for any particular room with automatic as they do with manual. Nevertheless the idea of an automatic is a young thing out all day and in for only 4 hours in the evening might choose 19°C and open the dampers in the evening. An AP however would want 22°C and a full 14 hours charge. After the initial trial and error process with an automatic you decide the correct temperature for the input control and once set correctly it shouldn't need changing.

southerndave

If you want to go the fixer-upper route, we used this company for spares:

http://www.storageheater.co.uk/default.htm

I have no connection with them other than as a satisfied customer.

We stripped the old heaters down (careful they are heavy!), stacking the blocks on the floors in the order they came out. The electrics are very simple inside.

The shells where cleaned, prepped and painted with rad paint. On re-assembly, everything was hoovered and cleaned. The internal cabling was replaced. ON some the thremostat set-up on the top was replaced and on other only the dials were replaced where they were broken.

The thermostat was causing most of the problems with regards to low output as it was not allowing the heater to charge and discharge properly. Once this was set up, everything goes back together and another vacuum off before the covers are fitted. Wire or get it wired into a proper fused socket (we used the MK range with neon light so I know they are on or off). And that's about it!

Its worth trying a small one first and see what you think. If it doesn't go well, you've not really lost anything. If it goes okay, then you've saved a packet and learnt a new skill! If you do go new, then maybe worth breaking the old ones for bits?

jwdale80

I assume that the German ones you were looking at were the panel ones. I don't think you need to spend that much. Dimplex do good panel heaters, without some burdensome efficiency claim. What they do say about their panel heaters are that they reduce stratification of heat, therefore beamed heat may be more comfortable, and save 'slightly' due to heat not being lost to convection. Electric heating is 100%, but where that heat goes is what the issue is in terms of panels being more efficient. Does it go 'up' with convection, or straight at people, walls, flooring ect? I have two of them, and they are not hugley expensive to run. If you used them strategically and well timed to heat zones in your house, you could have a 'workable' heating bill, and benefit from not having large expenditure on CH, if that is what you desire. Otherwise gas is still cheaper.