Storage heaters and Economy 7 - Is it worth the switch

amtrakuk

There are a few questions I'm hoping E7 users can answer.

My situation, I work a home based 9-5 job and my other half works nights os sleeping most the day. At the moment I am using Dimplex wall mounted oil filled radiators with timers, kitchen and front room coming on from 7-9am and coming on from 4-10pm. the radiators in the bedroom and bathroom comes on from 7-9am then 3-11pm so the bedroom is heated for the o/h. The hot water comes on at 7-9am and again from 4-9pm. Typically I'm using 50 units a day in winter and about 15 units a day in summer.

I believe there is a general rule of thumb about 40% usage for heating? - hopefully someone can explain more.

I understand the principle of estimating how much heat that wll be required for the next day (setting the input) and keeping the output to minimum to keep as much stored heat in the heater for when its required.

I understand even with the output to the minimal setting the heaters will release a certain amount of heat into the room during the day. Is this just designed to keep the chill off or a comfort heat level?

One defiantly for SH users please. I am sceptical about the bad press SH get running out of heat by 8-9pm. Is this down to incorrect heater sizing?

amtrakuk

Is it best practice to get the biggest heater for the rooms you want warmest or the longest duration of heat or would this be counter productive?

vivatifosi

Can I please add another variable to your question? We have recently replaced our storage heaters. We've lived here for seven years (3 bedroom house on E10 rather than E7). We've just replaced our 20 year old storage heaters with the newer, thermostatically controlled ones. Our neighbours did the same last year.

It's too early to find out the impact on bills, but already we find the temperatures much more stable and consistent. Please note these are storage heaters, not the other storage heater replacements. We have bought the Creda TSR automatic ones. As I say, we're E10, but it may be worth asking E7 people how they find them.

I understand from speaking to Creda that the old heaters are being phased out and that new standards have been brought in for thermostatically controlled heaters.

amtrakuk

I did wonder about E10 but I cant see any options on price comparison sites for E10 they only seemed to offer E7 options. How does this workout?

E10 would be a better option as I understand you get a "Boost" for 3 hours during the day. As the main reasion why so far I have gone for non SH Electric radiators running off standard rate is the storage capacity - I normally go to bed at about 11pm and get up at 8 am and don't want to use auxiliary heating to keep the house warm in the evenings.

Temperature wise I don't want the house super hot me and the O/H are happy for the house to be about 18 degrees.

As a test I did have the oil filled radiators on 24/7 running on their thermostats keeping the house at about 18 degrees and ended up burning 70 units a day mainly at night - BIG NO NO

macman

Very few suppliers support E10 metering, and therefore you will find your supplier and tariff options very limited should you opt for this. If you don't need the afternoon boost then E7 is very much more flexible, as all suppliers offer E7 tariffs.

vivatifosi

As macman says, there isn't much of a choice of E10 suppliers. I have it because it was already here and works for us. My point was more that I find the new storage heaters much better than the old ones. Some of the storage heaters have a convector or fan back up. They are more expensive, but could be worthwhile for a little bit if you find you need it. We had these on our old heaters as well as new and found that we used them occasionally, particularly on very cold days (not that we had any last winter, but the year before when it was -15 out, we did).