I fitted a Dimplex Quantum heater!

lstar337

Casp55 wrote: »

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Thanks for your updated information. I sure it will be very useful to other users.

Casp55

lstar337 wrote: »

Thanks for your updated information. I sure it will be very useful to other users.

You are very welcome Istar337. I also hope the information that I post will help others who already have Quantum heaters or who are thinking of getting some.

Casp55

Ok. So let me give another update now that The Dimplex engineer has been.

The first heater and the one that I was having the overheating problem with appears to have been a software problem. The engineer said he had experienced overheating problems before on earlier models. Dimplex produced the Quantum in series A. B. C. and the latest version being D. Although I only purchased my heaters 6 months ago they are both series C. and the engineer said they could be at least 12-14 months old (old stock) So he has now updated it with the latest software series D. This has now taken the boost problem I was having away. On series C. and earlier the boost option was on the home screen and you could not select boost while the heater was in a heating cycle, so pretty much the boost option was useless unless you messed about with the main settings and turned the heating cycle off. The new software has moved the boost setting into the main menu and it now works fine. I cant comment if the software upgrade has resolved the overheating and fan problem, because I wont know that until it takes on a fresh charge tonight. The engineer said that in his experience the software upgrade will resolve the problem. I will have to wait and see.

What I will suggest to those thinking of buying the Quantum heater is make sure you get the latest series D. There is a small label on the top right hand side of the heater, just behind the main control panel that will say what series the heater is. If you already have Quantum heaters that are series A. B. and C. I would strongly recommend that you contact Dimplex and get the latest software upgrade.

With the second heater and the one that had the problem with retaining the settings in the event of a power cut. The engineer thought the problem was due to the memory battery that saves the settings had failed. He replaced the battery but the fault was still there. He then replaced the whole user control panel and that solved the problem. I asked him if the faulty control panel would cause the heater not to take on a charge at night, because when I first turned it on last Monday it would not heat up over night. He said that could cause the problem but as a precaution checked the heaters charging circuit and found it was still not working. He then had to replace the complete printed circuit board inside the heater, checked again and said it was now working. So basicly he had to replace the complete operating sections of the heater. He did say that he had never had to do that before. He then also upgraded the software in that heater. Once again I will not know if this heater will operate properly until it has taken on a charge tonight. I am keeping my fingers crossed

Please don’t let any of this information put you off buying the Quntum heater. It is a very good heater and much more efficient at retaining and delivering heat than the older type of storage heater. I just think that I must of got a couple of bad ones from an old batch. Hopefully the software upgrade has solved the problems. I will give it a few days and report back with further update.

Please click on the “Thanks” button if you find my posts helpful, so that I know the information I am providing is of some use.

Casp55

So here is an update from yesterday.
Both heaters now appear to be working fine. They both took on a charge last night and when I got up this morning both rooms were nice and warm as I would expect them to be. The next test will be to see if they manage to retain enough heat to keep the place warm until I go to bed around 11pm. I don't expect they will and I will give the reason why and this is the part that some of you may find interesting.

The Dimplex engineer told me that it will take about 3 days for the heaters to adjust themselves to your particular heating needs. They do this by rebooting themselves each night just after midnight and as they reboot the computer inside the heater takes on the previous days settings and then adjusts the next days charge accordingly. It can also monitor if it is a colder night than the previous one and take on extra charge to allow for the next days heating demand. Now that is what I call a "smart" heater. The good thing about all this is that you never have to touch the heater controls except if you just want to turn it up a degree if you feel a bit chilly. Even if you do that the computer knows what you have done and takes that into account when setting itself up for the next nights charge. Very clever. So you can now see why the software upgrade is at the heart of how the heater will perform. If you have the heater set at "out all day" then the computer will store enough energy to warm the place up in the morning and then store the remainder to keep you nice and warm during the evening when you get home. It can do this by using superior insulation, unlike conventional storage heaters that let out most of there heat during the day and leaving you cold in the evening. I have my heaters set at "home all day" so of course they will take on more charge at night to allow for this. But if you are out working I can now understand how they could save you a ton of money as the heaters will take on less charge. So pretty much it will only take on enough energy to provide each individual with there heating requirements.

Another great feature is the holiday setting. You can go into the menu and set the dates you will be away from home. The heater will then go into a low charge mode whilst you are away, only taking on just enough heat to keep the place warm to prevent pipes from freezing. Then the day before you return it will go back to normal operating conditions, taking on a full charge so the place is nice and warm when you get home.

I will post a further report in a few days, once the heaters have sorted themselves out.

I hope this information helps some of you. If so please click the "Thanks" button so that I know I am not wasting my time here. I type with one finger so these reports take me an age to do lol.

pd001

I have to say, this thread does make very interesting reading.
Thanks Casp55

Casp55

pd001 wrote: »

I have to say, this thread does make very interesting reading.
Thanks Casp55

You are most welcome pd001. I knew very little information about the running of these heaters myself until I spoke to the Dimplex engineer. The user manual does not explain how the computer side of the heater works. I am glad that you find the information useful.

Last night was the second charge cycle for both heaters and both appear to be working well, although on the first charge cycle from Friday night both heaters did struggle a little to keep the room temperature up until I went to bed at 11pm last night, but as I have said in my previous post it takes 3 charge cycles to get the computer side of things sorted. That said, even though the body of the heaters were cold by that time the heaters were still blowing reasonably hot air out of the bottom vent. By the same time my old XL storage heaters would of been stone cold.

One thing I did notice when I got up this morning was that both the neon lights on the Econamy7 wall switches were still glowing at about a third of there normal strength. These are new switches (20amp double poll) that I fitted so that I had a visual indication of when the heaters were charging. Anyway I turned both Econamy7 switches off for 30 seconds and then back on and the lights did not show any longer. Are there any electricians out there that can explain the reason for this?. The first heater was installed 5 weeks ago and this the first time this has happened. Very strange!

pd001

Casp55 wrote: »

You are most welcome pd001. I knew very little information about the running of these heaters myself until I spoke to the Dimplex engineer. The user manual does not explain how the computer side of the heater works. I am glad that you find the information useful.

Last night was the second charge cycle for both heaters and both appear to be working well, although on the first charge cycle from Friday night both heaters did struggle a little to keep the room temperature up until I went to bed at 11pm last night, but as I have said in my previous post it takes 3 charge cycles to get the computer side of things sorted. That said, even though the body of the heaters were cold by that time the heaters were still blowing reasonably hot air out of the bottom vent. By the same time my old XL storage heaters would of been stone cold.

One thing I did notice when I got up this morning was that both the neon lights on the Econamy7 wall switches were still glowing at about a third of there normal strength. These are new switches (20amp double poll) that I fitted so that I had a visual indication of when the heaters were charging. Anyway I turned both Econamy7 switches off for 30 seconds and then back on and the lights did not show any longer. Are there any electricians out there that can explain the reason for this?. The first heater was installed 5 weeks ago and this the first time this has happened. Very strange!

No worries, i like new tech and these new storage heaters really seem interesting.
However, it affordability would be an issue. They do appear to be very expensive indeed!
Too much for me in fact..I'm out

Casp55

pd001 wrote: »

No worries, i like new tech and these new storage heaters really seem interesting.
However, it affordability would be an issue. They do appear to be very expensive indeed!
Too much for me in fact..I'm out

I must agree on the price thing, but I honestly think that in this case you defiantly get what you pay for and the extra outlay at the beginning will be gained back with future use. It is all the high tech computer technology inside of the heaters that you are paying for. With the old type storage heaters that I had they would lose most there heat by 6pm. Then in the evening I had to have back-up heating that ran on peak electricity to keep me warm in the evening. If you are a working person then having standard storage heaters is a total waste money, because you are heating the place when you are not at home. I have found over the last couple of days that I no longer have to use any back up heating (I was using a 2kw oil filled radiator)

What I did forget to mention is that I also asked the Dimplex engineer why in the morning you could hear a "whooshing" noise as the air was being pushed out and by lunchtime it was silent. He told me this was another part of the heat retaining technology. When the heater core is at its hottest in the morning there is a computer controlled flap inside that operates to mix outside air with the hot air from the heater core so as not to just use up all the stored energy during the early part of the day. The "whooshing" noise is the air hitting this flap that makes the noise. By lunchtime the flap is fully open and only using heat from the heaters core, so you no longer hear the noise. Dont get me wrong, it is not a loud or annoying noise, just something I noticed.

Another thing regarding cost. I live in a small apartment that has no gas supply. So my my choices were to either have a gas supply fed in, find a suitable place for the boiler (I do not have much room) and then have to deal with all the ugly surface mounted pipe work. Or get a set of modern storage heaters. Another cost saving thing to think about in my case is the fact I am home all day, so if I had central heating installed the gas would not be as cheep as the Econamy7 electric I am using now. So for me it is a win win situation. Extra outlay at the start, but I think that I will quickly claw that back.

I am not sure what central heating would of cost me. I know a decent boiler is about £2000. So I should think that having a gas supply fed in along with all the heating components would of cost me around £3500. Then of course there is the annual charge for a boiler service. I think that is between £80-£100. You don't get that cost with these storage heaters.

At the moment I have 2 Quantum100 storage heaters. I plan to get one more to complete the installation. I can fit them myself (it is easy) So the total cost will be £1800. A big saving already over having central heating installed. Then on top of that you will be using cheaper energy and as I have already said, No £100 a year boiler maintenance charge. I will leave you to do the final maths

I hope that this information has been of some help. I have to go and walk the dog now. She has started to give me funny looks.

Maikeru

Does anyone know how well the heat from Quantum storage heaters 'drifts' into other rooms on the same floor?

Dimplex themselves advise against using them in bedrooms due to the heat given out when charging (which can overheat you while sleeping); instead they say you can have a Quantum storage heater in the hallway and keep the bedroom doors open. Panel heaters can take care of any top-up needed in the bedrooms (apparently the newest one is called the Q-Rad; VERY pricey but seems to have a number of advanced features).

A Dimplex designer said the Quantum storage heaters are designed to allow a '50% drift' but not sure what that means exactly.

He also said that you sometimes need to set them at a higher temperature than you actually want (e.g. 23 degrees if you want 21)? He explained why but couldn't quite catch what the reason was.....

Thanks for posting all this info btw, it's hard to find any independent advice on these as hardly anyone seems to have them yet.

Casp55

Maikeru wrote: »

Does anyone know how well the heat from Quantum storage heaters 'drifts' into other rooms on the same floor?

Dimplex themselves advise against using them in bedrooms due to the heat given out when charging (which can overheat you while sleeping); instead they say you can have a Quantum storage heater in the hallway and keep the bedroom doors open. Panel heaters can take care of any top-up needed in the bedrooms (apparently the newest one is called the Q-Rad; VERY pricey but seems to have a number of advanced features).

A Dimplex designer said the Quantum storage heaters are designed to allow a '50% drift' but not sure what that means exactly.

He also said that you sometimes need to set them at a higher temperature than you actually want (e.g. 23 degrees if you want 21)? He explained why but couldn't quite catch what the reason was.....

Thanks for posting all this info btw, it's hard to find any independent advice on these as hardly anyone seems to have them yet.

Hi Maikeru.

From my experience over the past seven weeks I can certainly help answer your question.

I live in a small apartment with all rooms on one level. Stairs up to a landing and my kitchen and lounge lead off that. The first heater that I installed at the beginning of December was on the landing and I did find by leaving the lounge and kitchen doors open some of the heat did pass into both areas, although the temperature in these other two areas was not as great as the landing of course. If I closed both the kitchen and lounge doors you could certainly notice the difference. When I went to bed I left the kitchen and lounge doors open and in the morning the heater had managed to take the chill off both rooms.

The second heater was only fitted just over a week ago and that was in the lounge. My lounge is oblong with a door at one end that leads to the entrance landing and kitchen, at the other end of the lounge there is a door that leads to a small lobby to access the bedroom and bathroom. I still have an old Dimplex XL storage heater in this lobby and it is total rubbish. Since fitting the second heater I now only close the lobby door. All other doors are left open all day and the two heaters keep the place nice and warm until I go to bed. Even the small kitchen that has no heating whatsoever is kept at a comfortable temperature by these two heaters. So yes, some of the heat will transfer to an adjoining room, but don't expect the second room to be as warm as the one with the heater.

I intend to get a third heater shortly to replace the old XL heater that is in the lobby that leads to the bathroom and bedroom. The heater will be placed on a wall facing both bedroom and bathroom doors and from experience by leaving both doors open it will certainly keep those two rooms warm as well as the lobby itself is only about 6ft x 3ft. Currently I have no heater in the bathroom and a wall mounted convector heater in the bedroom that I don't use. Personally I don't like my bedroom to be that warm so would never consider fitting one of these heaters in the bedroom, but then my bedroom is fairly small. If you had a large bedroom then I can so no reason why one of the smallest Quantum heaters would not work. I got up this morning at 3.15am and placed my hand on both heaters and both were still cold (they start there charge cycle at 12.30am) but when I got up at 6.30am both heaters were at full temperature, so I am not sure what time that happens. Also don't forget you can go into the heater settings and program the heater to take on an extra charge at night. The time can be selected between 1-4 hours, although in the past three days (and it has been very cold) I have not found the need for this.

I agree with what the Dimplex guy told you. I found that having the heaters set at 21 was not keeping the place warm enough. I now have them both set at 23 and they are doing the job perfectly.

Since the Dimplex engineer came and done the software upgrade these two heaters have performed brilliantly, and if they continue that way I would not hesitate to recommend them to others. Yes, I know they are expensive, but I think you will soon recover that extra cost because of how efficiently these heaters operate.

I hope that this information is of some help to you.