Storage heater replacement

Choochi0

Hello All,
I hope I'm in the right place.

Our 3.4 kW storage heater is broken. It was on the lowest setting to warm through the house and when we got up in the morning it was roasting hot - I could smell burning. It had heated to the maximum using 38 units of leccy (almost as much as we use in 2 weeks!).
The heater is a Dimplex XT24 series D and is very old.

A friend who is an electrician said there was little chance of repair and quoted the following from his company:

Replace the unit with the current Dimplex equivalent at £578.93

Replace it with a CXLS model - this would need peak supply connection and our fuseboard would need changing.
£969.38

Replace with a quantum range which has all the bells and whistles and will need a new fuseboard too.
£1063.62

I called another electrician to compare and he c to have a look, tried to source the thermostat that is faulty. He wasn't able and suggested the following:

Replacement with the heatstore dual sensor storage heater - price including his visit.
£500
All prices are before VAT.

My questions are is heatstore equivalent to Dimplex? The leccy said they are made in the same factory.
Won't the dual sensor need to be fitted to the day time supply?

Sorry again if this is in the wrong place?

Thanks for any help.

imho

Not much help but there are storage heaters for sale on ebay.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_trksid=p3984.m570.l1311.R1.TR2.TRC0.A0.Xdimplex+storage+heater&_nkw=dimplex+storage+heater&_sacat=0&_from=R40
If i had storage heaters and one broke i would think of getting gas central heating or a wood burner instead as thats a lot of cash for a storage heating and with the price of electric they are not cheap to run

lstar337

Just replace the thermostat. It's an easy fix as these are really, really, simple machines.

Switch it off and let it cool for a few days. Open it up and take a look at the thermostat type (this will be near the charge control/input knob). Select the correct type from this site:http://www.storageheater.co.uk/dimpex/xl-xt/xt24.html or another if you find something cheaper.

Then just take out the old part and put in the new one.

I did this on one of our storage heaters, it was easy as pie.

Much cheaper than replacing the whole unit.

lstar337

imho wrote: »

If i had storage heaters and one broke i would think of getting gas central heating or a wood burner instead as thats a lot of cash for a storage heating and with the price of electric they are not cheap to run

GSH has a massive up front cost.

Storage heating is almost as cheap as gas when operated correctly with an E7 tariff.

Choochi0

Thanks istar337.
I looked on that site and I am tempted to just swap over the thermostat - especially with Christmas on the way, but I also wonder if it will be better to invest in a new one as it is the main heater we use and it is very old. We may stay here for another few years and the new one will be more efficient than the old.

Ben84

Choochi0 wrote: »

Thanks istar337.
I looked on that site and I am tempted to just swap over the thermostat - especially with Christmas on the way, but I also wonder if it will be better to invest in a new one as it is the main heater we use and it is very old. We may stay here for another few years and the new one will be more efficient than the old.

A newer storage heater is likely to have better insulation. Does this actually matter to you however? Unless you're reaching the end of the day with no heat left regularly and adjusting the controls didn't help, I wouldn't expect a new heater to make much difference. Meanwhile, for the same money as a new heater you could buy a lot of insulation for the house, which I would expect to make a good sized difference.

macman

Choochi0 wrote: »

Thanks istar337.
I looked on that site and I am tempted to just swap over the thermostat - especially with Christmas on the way, but I also wonder if it will be better to invest in a new one as it is the main heater we use and it is very old. We may stay here for another few years and the new one will be more efficient than the old.

Other than the elements and the 'stat. there's little to go wrong in an NSH, old or not. It's basically a heap of bricks in a tin box and wired to the power supply. Replace the faulty 'stat and it should last you for years to come.
A new one may be more controllable, but it will not be more efficient. All electric heaters, old or new, have the same efficiency: 100%. And even if it was, you'd need a lot of 'efficiency' savings to recover the extra £500+ that the cheapest 'new' option will cost you.

DevCoder

Just be wary that old storage heaters contained asbestos.

Check your model number below before opening it up etc

http://www.aic.org.uk/Storageheaters.htm

Choochi0

It's in the asbestos free column thankfully.
We have cavity wall and loft insulation so we save a lot on heating there.
I think I used the wrong word with efficient. I meant to say that the dual sensor one is designed to only charge enough to maintain the ambient temperature.

I also think aesthetics are pushing me towards a new one as when we decorate our living room the new one would look much better. Oh dear I'm so shallow!

[Deleted User]

Hi,

it sounds as if the cutout has stuck in the closed position, thus causing the overheating,

If you switch the heater off and allow it to cool you might find that it resets itself, and will work normally again.

lstar337

Choochi0 wrote: »

It's in the asbestos free column thankfully.
We have cavity wall and loft insulation so we save a lot on heating there.
I think I used the wrong word with efficient. I meant to say that the dual sensor one is designed to only charge enough to maintain the ambient temperature.

I also think aesthetics are pushing me towards a new one as when we decorate our living room the new one would look much better. Oh dear I'm so shallow!

On some units you can get a kit to retrofit a dual stat for better charge control.

I did this on one of my units.