storage heaters/electric central heating or gas?

DrowningNotWaving

Thank you, Cardew, for your advice. I will do as you suggest and further my search. I think, perhaps, I have not been phrasing my searches correctly which may explain my lack of success. I will keep my aging boiler and sleeping bag, and be thankful for the working timer.

You are right, 14C is not at all warm but all I could afford on last years tarrifs, I am filled with dread, as are many, at what this winter my bring. On the upside, as a family we are seldom ill, probably because any bacteria are frightened off by our indoor conditions.

Thanks again.

ianking

Cardew wrote: »

Ian,
Excellent post on the merits/demerits of storage heating.

I think the major point to come across is that you need to 'work at' using storage heaters efficiently; we are all seduced by the availability of 'instant' CH.

What do you do at this time of the year? e.g. We have been out all day and the house just needed a little warming up(well for my wife and daughter anyway).

If you hadn't anticipated needing storage heating today, do you have other electric heaters as a back up?

The only other electric heaters we have is the very rarely used infra-red heater in the bathroom and somewhere in a cupboard a fan heater that hasn't been used for years.

The temperatures in the house are fine. No heating is on. I don't expect to put any heaters on until probably the middle of October. It's currently 22:07 & the sitting room temperature is 21C (I'm in shirt-sleeves). On the north side of the house the bathroom temperature is 16C.

I'm not a hardy soul either... I hate being cold!

Best Regards...
Ian

ianking

amtrakuk wrote: »

Very true.

Alot of people who have/use storage heaters don't actually know how to use them. From what I've learnt over the last week most people expect storage heaters to be a set and forget system. They don't realise they close the heateres at the end of the night, open the slightly during the day and open them up according to how much heat they require when at home.

It is a good idea to do as you suggest but I don't actually do that. I usually just leave them set as they are. Our storage heaters all have "room temperature" (i.e.output) and "Auto-set" (i.e.input) controls and are thermostatically controlled. I have no direct control over the flap. The controls *are* altered during the season "change-over" periods (mainly the "auto-set") but once we get into winter, they are left alone as I know what the settings should be for each heater. It's no different from having thermostatically controlled valves on a wet radiator system.

Best Regards...
Ian

ianking

paceinternet wrote: »

ianking, how many hours do you think your heaters will discharge enough heat to keep the areas at room (20 ish degC) for?
What make and model are they?
And finally, can you stop them from discharging heat during a period where maybe no one is in? Looking at some literature, it seems they are not really insulated so that they have to radiate some of their heat continuously whether during the E7 charge period or thereafter.
Thanks

1. I'm not sure what you mean. They are currently on an E7 tariff. That means they are charged up overnight from 0030-0730 GMT, then the circuit goes dead. First thing in the morning, the heaters are physically hot but automatically closed up so not much heat is being discharged. The temperature in the sitting room (i.e.lounge) could be 21C I suppose. Other rooms will be around 15-20C out of choice. By evening the sitting room should be down to 18-19C but it is usually 20C ish. The other rooms will be down a few degrees but not below 15C (that's the entrance hall)!

2. They are Creda storage heaters. They are all at least 15 years old, were not cheap but then not the most expensive. They were the best for the job. You can't buy them now but I expect there is a modern equivalent.

3. A storage heater comprises of two or more electric elements which heat up special firebricks. These are made of a material which absorbs the heat and emits it gradually. All of this is encased in fibreglass insulation. The heat is then dissipated by radiation (i.e. the heat from the heater itself being warm and by convection through the flap on the top of the heater. The amount of charge and the amount of convected heat is usually thermostatically controlled these days. Also the heater is attached to the wall & it will heat that up as well. The wall then becomes a "radiator" as well.
So, no you can't stop them discharging heat if you are out during the day. It's continuous heating. However you can *reduce* the amount of convected heat by turning the "room temperature" (i.e.output) control to a minimum before you go out & then turn it back up when you get home. However I don't bother (see one of my other replies). I leave each heater set to the settings I have determined by experience! If we were to go on holiday in winter then we'd turn them right down but you'd do that with gas central heating as well.

But you must remember that our house is quite well insulated (& no it's not an eco-house... it's a bog standard estate house) and most of the main living areas are on the south facing the sun.

I do not like being cold but we do not run a "hot-house" and we are happy with a temperature range of 15-21C.

Best Regards...
Ian

amtrakuk

DrowningNotWaving wrote: »

Thank you, everyone, for the time and trouble you all take with questions and answers.

Having spent three hours reading this very useful thread I feel somewhat more informed than before. Based on the information herein I'll be buying a cheap plug-in radiator to supplement my gas central heating, though I guess I'll still be working at my computer in a sleeping bag during the day as I can't quite justify heating the whole house till the kids come home. It's quite good fun with the three small dogs in there too, and quite interesting when there is a knock at the door .

I have a couple of daft questions (apologies if this should be posted elsewhere, do let me know and I'll re-post)):

1. I've just had my 20 year-old gas boiler serviced and was told it wasn't very efficient, I nearly fell over myself in shock when given a quote for replacement. Are the new boilers really so much more efficient as to warrant a replacement when this one works well enough? And is a Combi type better than this version which heats up a tank of water? I don't think I'll change to storage heaters given the info so far.

2. Up till now I have been using one of those beautiful flame effect gas fires to bring the heating up to about 18C in the living room of an evening but think this must be frightfully expensive, a bit like heating the kitchen using the gas hob, hence the purchasing of a radiator. Am I right in thinking this is the best thing to do as I don't need to heat the whole house more (the kids do their homework sat in bed with jumpers)? Should I also block up the chimney as it seems to suck out any heat if the fire's not on?

3. Which would be most economical, given my 4 bed EOT house with secondary glazing: leaving the heating on low eg 14C all the time (lots of very big jumpers), or higher eg 18C mornings and evenings (sleeping bag when it's off). I have found a lot of conflicting advice regarding this and have become confused.

Again, apologies if this should be posted elsewhere.
And thanks in advance to all you incredibly helpful people.

Yes my quote for replacing my combi was well above £2k hence why it wasn't an option for me.

When my boiler first went U/S I relied on my flame effect fire which was useless at heating. I think it raised the temp by 1 degree in an hour :mad:

I dont know how many plug in radiators/heaters you are thinking of buying but if it is more than one quick tip, make sure you don't overload the ring main. A heater rated at 3kw = 12 amps. A typical ring main per floor is 25 amps

amtrakuk

ianking wrote: »

1. I'm not sure what you mean. They are currently on an E7 tariff. That means they are charged up overnight from 0030-0730 GMT, then the circuit goes dead. First thing in the morning, the heaters are physically hot but automatically closed up so not much heat is being discharged. The temperature in the sitting room (i.e.lounge) could be 21C I suppose. Other rooms will be around 15-20C out of choice. By evening the sitting room should be down to 18-19C but it is usually 20C ish. The other rooms will be down a few degrees but not below 15C (that's the entrance hall)!

2. They are Creda storage heaters. They are all at least 15 years old, were not cheap but then not the most expensive. They were the best for the job. You can't buy them now but I expect there is a modern equivalent.

3. A storage heater comprises of two or more electric elements which heat up special firebricks. These are made of a material which absorbs the heat and emits it gradually. All of this is encased in fibreglass insulation. The heat is then dissipated by radiation (i.e. the heat from the heater itself being warm and by convection through the flap on the top of the heater. The amount of charge and the amount of convected heat is usually thermostatically controlled these days. Also the heater is attached to the wall & it will heat that up as well. The wall then becomes a "radiator" as well.
So, no you can't stop them discharging heat if you are out during the day. It's continuous heating. However you can *reduce* the amount of convected heat by turning the "room temperature" (i.e.output) control to a minimum before you go out & then turn it back up when you get home. However I don't bother (see one of my other replies). I leave each heater set to the settings I have determined by experience! If we were to go on holiday in winter then we'd turn them right down but you'd do that with gas central heating as well.

But you must remember that our house is quite well insulated (& no it's not an eco-house... it's a bog standard estate house) and most of the main living areas are on the south facing the sun.

I do not like being cold but we do not run a "hot-house" and we are happy with a temperature range of 15-21C.

Best Regards...
Ian

A very interesting and informative entry. Thanks

tashmatthews

Hi

I too have just moved into a 3 bedroomed semi detached property with night storage heaters

I have absolutely no idea how these work, I have just been told that I have 2 tariffs a night and a day

This being 14.75p for service charge which i believe is standard please correct me if this is incorrect

Then my day rate is 13.85p

My night rate is 6.10p

The times that these run are from 11.30pm to 6.30am

What I want to know is how can you do washing and tumble drying during these hours

Is it better for me to come off of E7 rates and go on standard electric rates

And the heaters that I have are Dimplex CXL I apologise if these are not the model numbers but this is all that I can find on them

I have 2 controls

a boost and an Input

Boost is 1=no boost
2=late boost
3=early boost

Input
2-4 Mild
4-8 Cold
8-9 very cold

Can someone please please help me

I am struggling to bath my children as it is as there is never enough hot water, there are 6 of us living here and the water lasts one bath and half a one at that, I am at my wits end I have only been here 2 weeks and it is a nightmare, there is never enough hot water to wash the dishes let alone the 4 children having a bath, I have a disabled daughter who needs to be bathed twice daily if not more and this doesn't happen because there isn't enough water, I just feel like crying

Please can someone help me


Thanks

Ada3050

Not sure on your hot water system but see replies in red with regards your heaters

tashmatthews wrote: »

Hi

I too have just moved into a 3 bedroomed semi detached property with night storage heaters

I have absolutely no idea how these work, I have just been told that I have 2 tariffs a night and a day

This being 14.75p for service charge which i believe is standard please correct me if this is incorrect

Then my day rate is 13.85p

My night rate is 6.10p

The times that these run are from 11.30pm to 6.30am

What I want to know is how can you do washing and tumble drying during these hours
Yes Just run the machines as normal between 11.30 and 6.30

Is it better for me to come off of E7 rates and go on standard electric rates
No, it will cost you more to charge the heaters up at night

And the heaters that I have are Dimplex CXL I apologise if these are not the model numbers but this is all that I can find on them

I have 2 controls

a boost and an Input

Boost is 1=no boost Turn to this setting before you go to bed
2=late boost
in the evening turn this up to 9 to release the stored heat, remember to close it down before you go to bed
3=early boost use this for more heat in the afternoons

Input
Use this to increase the stored heat, ie if its is cold use 8-9, in milder weather use 4-8
2-4 Mild
4-8 Cold
8-9 very cold

Can someone please please help me

I am struggling to bath my children as it is as there is never enough hot water, there are 6 of us living here and the water lasts one bath and half a one at that, I am at my wits end I have only been here 2 weeks and it is a nightmare, there is never enough hot water to wash the dishes let alone the 4 children having a bath, I have a disabled daughter who needs to be bathed twice daily if not more and this doesn't happen because there isn't enough water, I just feel like crying

Please can someone help me


Thanks

Cardew

tashmatthews wrote: »

Hi

I too have just moved into a 3 bedroomed semi detached property with night storage heaters

I have absolutely no idea how these work, I have just been told that I have 2 tariffs a night and a day

This being 14.75p for service charge which i believe is standard please correct me if this is incorrect

Then my day rate is 13.85p

My night rate is 6.10p

The times that these run are from 11.30pm to 6.30am

What I want to know is how can you do washing and tumble drying during these hours

Is it better for me to come off of E7 rates and go on standard electric rates


I am struggling to bath my children as it is as there is never enough hot water, there are 6 of us living here and the water lasts one bath and half a one at that, I am at my wits end I have only been here 2 weeks and it is a nightmare, there is never enough hot water to wash the dishes let alone the 4 children having a bath, I have a disabled daughter who needs to be bathed twice daily if not more and this doesn't happen because there isn't enough water, I just feel like crying

Please can someone help me


Thanks

Heater controls explained in the post above.

You will NOT be better off coming off E7 rates.

Firstly 6.10p for night rate seems very high. Rates vary around the country(you don't say where you are) but I am sure you can do better.

You won't get more than one and a half baths out of most full tanks. The tank heats up overnight on cheap rate electricity.

However there should be a facility by the tank to be able to switch the immersion heater on during the day and heat up more water at daytime rates.

tashamatthews

Cardew wrote: »

Heater controls explained in the post above.

You will NOT be better off coming off E7 rates.

Firstly 6.10p for night rate seems very high. Rates vary around the country(you don't say where you are) but I am sure you can do better.

You won't get more than one and a half baths out of most full tanks. The tank heats up overnight on cheap rate electricity.

However there should be a facility by the tank to be able to switch the immersion heater on during the day and heat up more water at daytime rates.

HI

Thanks for your replys, I am in the Southwest and am with Southern Electric that is the rate that they have given me for the evening

I do have a swtich for the imersion heater have found this out as my partner has lef tit on for 2 weeks since we moved in and we have a bill of £81 for 2 weeks as this is the day rate, so not good, very last option

Who has a better rate than 6.10p any help greatly appreciated