Help! Don't know how to work my heating/boiler/hot water

stargirl04

Hi,

Sorry to be so dense, but I've just moved into my first home and haven't a clue how to work the heating/hot water economically.

My flat is electricity only, so I called my provider (British Gas, ironically) and they said the best they could do was send out a tradesman for £89 for the first half hour and God knows how much extra after that (I didn't dare ask!)

All they told me was that I was on a standard tariff, where the cheapest rate is between midnight and 8.30am and the expensive rate is 8.30am till midnight.

Anyway, I've taken pics of my heater and boiler etc and wonder if I can upload them here so folks in the know can explain it to me?

My heater is Dimplex (I think it's a storage heater) and my boiler is Telford Tempest (Stainless), which has two switches - one (unlabelled) for the boiler and one that says Hot Water.

The previous occupants said the switch for the boiler stayed on all the time, but that has changed now, and they haven't been able to explain to me in which way that's changed. They are busy, having just moved, like myself.

If I can't post pics here, is there anyone out there I could send the pics to, for an explanation of how this works?

Many thanks folks.

patricia..xx

First thing to do is google those makes. Nice people often have uploaded the manuals. It sounds like storage heaters, if I were you I would save the £89 and put it towards getting something else fitted instead, the general consensus is they are a nightmare

PasturesNew

If you live alone and if you have an electric shower then I'd not use the water heater. I'd use boiled kettles to do the washing up..... there's no point heating up a HUGE vat of water to wash up 1-2 bowl fulls/day.

Storage heating can be a problem as it heats up overnight (on the cheap rate) and you have to start that off the night before ... it then gives out heat throughout the next day (not much use if you're at work all day). And, if you thought it'd be warm tomorrow and didn't set it to heat up last night, then if it turns nippy you can't turn it on. I had storage heaters for two years and never turned them on once.....

Jabberwk

Agree with Patricia. Google the make and model with the words 'instruction manual'. I've done this several times when dealing with appliances in rented accommodation when instruction manuals haven't been provided.

paddyrg

Storage heaters are rubbish - I had them in a flat, they made the place stuffy in the early morning until you went to work, then keep the cat warm until you get home and freeze - jumping early into bed with an extra duvet until the cycle starts again

pinkteapot

The boiler isn't actually a boiler - it's a hot water tank.

You're on an economy 7 electricity tariff. You pay a different price per unit overnight and during the day. It's cheaper overnight (during the hours BG gave you) and more expensive during the day.

Water: When I had electric-only, my hot water had two switches. One was off-peak and one was on-peak. I could leave the off-peak switch on 24/7. It was connected such that it only worked during the cheaper overnight hours. So, every night my water heated from midnight to 7am (8.30am in your case). I could then flick the peak switch on and off to 'top up' during the day if necessary.

It sounds like you might have the same setup as the owners said one switch used to stay on all the time? Not sure why one says hot water and one doesn't though. As I said, the whole thing is only for hot water.

Storage heaters: normally these are on the overnight electricity circuit, so you can leave their power switch on 24/7 and they only work (use power) during your cheaper rate period. They should then have some dials or settings on them, where you actually set how how you want them to get?

Having said all that, you need to confirm that things are correctly wired to only operate off-peak. BG price is ridiculous. Ring round some local electricians and see if you can find one who'll come round for less money, look at the wiring and tell you how it's set up.

Annie1960

Have you bought this flat or are you renting?

If you are renting, you could ask the LA or LL for information about how to use the hot water.

System

PasturesNew wrote: »

If you live alone and if you have an electric shower then I'd not use the water heater. I'd use boiled kettles to do the washing up..... there's no point heating up a HUGE vat of water to wash up 1-2 bowl fulls/day.

Storage heating can be a problem as it heats up overnight (on the cheap rate) and you have to start that off the night before ... it then gives out heat throughout the next day (not much use if you're at work all day). And, if you thought it'd be warm tomorrow and didn't set it to heat up last night, then if it turns nippy you can't turn it on. I had storage heaters for two years and never turned them on once.....

Me and my ex had storage heaters and they were useless as churned out the heat when we at work and came back home to a freezing cold flat. Our winter quarter bill in 2003/04 was £454 - about £750 in todays prices and probably used £154 worth for cooking, lighting, water. Me and my ex had a bath every other day (no shower) as it took an age to fill and run water to be warm enough. The other £300 we never benefited from.

My ex used his annual bonus to pay for the bill. We went to the market and bought some thick jumpers and a couple of halogen heaters and our next bill was £176.

I would never live in a place with storage heaters again. I have told many people when looking for places to rent, if the place has central heating and only £25-50 pcm more than similar sized and location properties with storage heaters, go with the ch. As your leccy bills will be £400-600+ more a year with SH. Plus you can control the times you want to heat the place.

Edi81

I had storage heaters in my first flat and never again!

Warm in the morning then freezing cold at night!

Are you renting?

AdrianC

It sounds like a few people haven't bothered to figure out their storage heaters... Yes, if you leave the "output" setting to the same 24x7, then that will happen. Turn the output down when you're not there, turn it up when you are.

Pandilex

I wouldn't use the water heater either, I lived in a flat with storage heaters and no gas for 2 years and didn't use the boiler a single time! Kettle for washing up, electric shower every morning

Storage heaters have an input and output setting on them, input is how much power it uses to get hot, and output is how fast it lets the heat out.

If you work during the day, usually you want the output on the lowest setting and input on the highest, and if it's too hot you can adjust the input. For me this meant it was warm in the morning and then in the evening I could turn the output setting up a bit and get a bit of heat in the evening. Fortunately it's summer now though so you won't have to worry about storage heaters too much.

You often have to predict how hot it will be the next day though so you can set it up before you go to bed.