Electric Storage Heaters

thriftykitty

Hi, I have been reading up about my storage heaters but am still confused and worried I'm using day rate electric! I will try and post a photo of my particular heater later.


The input and output dials both have 3 settings - input being sun, rain and snow symbols and the output relating to all day heat, afternoon boost and evening boost, presuming that controls the release for different times of the day.


For the past week or so I have had the input on rain and the output on low until I come home when I turn it up to full. Am I supposed to turn the input down to zero when I get up in the morning or should it know to stop charging?


My issue is, the heaters only ever feel warm or actually heat the room in the evening if the input has been left at "rain" during the day. If I turn the input to zero before I leave in the morning there is little or no heat when I get in from work. I'm worried they are only charging during the day (and therefore costing me!).


I'm only wary because my hot water timer is set to come on between 6am and 10am (long after ECON7 is over) and was told by my landlord they have never had any complaints about it before! Nothing was explained to be when I moved in and can't seem to get much info out of them generally. (I've had to "fix" the time on the hot water timer so it comes on between 2am and 6am instead).


With come confusion as to which rate is which on my meter it's difficult to figure out what is coming on when, too. It's all a bit of a shambles really! :mad:


I'm basically after a guide as to how you should use them and what should be happening (i.e. warm in the morning after an overnight charge?) Should you leave the input at the setting you want for charging at all times and then adjusting output whenever?


I would be hugely grateful for any help at all!


Thanks

lstar337

thriftykitty wrote: »

For the past week or so I have had the input on rain and the output on low until I come home when I turn it up to full.

You shouldn't need to turn the output damper up to high when you get home. It is only meant to be used as a boost in the evening if you get cold. If you are running out of heat, you need to turn up the input.

Think of the heater like a box. At night the box is filled with heat which is controlled by the input knob. The knob tells the box how much heat it can keep inside. Lets say Sun = 1/3, Rain = 2/3, & Snow = The whole box. The heat in the box will slowly leak out during the day and heat your room. The output knob controls a damper which is basically a flap over a hole in the box. If you open the flap the heat will pour out quickly into the room, but it will also empty the box faster. If you empty out all the heat, there is no more until the next day.

Importantly, the damper (output) must be closed overnight while the box is filling up with heat.

thriftykitty wrote: »

Am I supposed to turn the input down to zero when I get up in the morning or should it know to stop charging?

The input does not need to be shut off in the morning. Your meter will turn the heater on and off during the night. Set the input and leave it until the end of the heating season, unless you need to add more or less heat due to changing weather conditions.

thriftykitty wrote: »

My issue is, the heaters only ever feel warm or actually heat the room in the evening if the input has been left at "rain" during the day. If I turn the input to zero before I leave in the morning there is little or no heat when I get in from work. I'm worried they are only charging during the day (and therefore costing me!).

You could have a time clock which is out by hours or more, the important thing is that you are on E7 and that the heaters are on the night register.

thriftykitty wrote: »

I'm only wary because my hot water timer is set to come on between 6am and 10am (long after ECON7 is over) and was told by my landlord they have never had any complaints about it before! Nothing was explained to be when I moved in and can't seem to get much info out of them generally. (I've had to "fix" the time on the hot water timer so it comes on between 2am and 6am instead).

The hot water shouldn't need it's own timer, but if it does it needs to be in the E7 period.

thriftykitty wrote: »

With come confusion as to which rate is which on my meter it's difficult to figure out what is coming on when, too. It's all a bit of a shambles really! :mad:

Do you have a digital or analogue meter? Can you see a time clock for it?

thriftykitty

Thanks, I understand how the heater works, I'm just not sure whether it's working correctly. From what you say I think it probably is and only feels warm when I get home because the output is set to low and therefore the heat has been trapped in there (as much as it can be) all day and that's heating up the casing.


My hot water tank control is the same as the one Richie-from-the-Boro posted earlier. The calipers for it are set between 6am and 10am. I didn't want to change them myself (even though it sounds relatively easy from the manual) due to it being a rented flat so just set the clock 4 hours ahead and that seems to be working.


It's a digital meter with a R1 reading and an R2 reading. R2 is a lot lower than R1 (i.e 8000 vs 23000). The clock on it is half an hour fast but it did go back an hour when the clocks changed.


When I moved in and phoned nP*wer I gave them these meter readings and must have been under the impression that the night was R2 and the day is R1 but looking on the meter readings section of my online account, the nP*wer reading says it's the other way around - R1 is night at 23000 and R2 is day at 8000. According to that I've been reading it the wrong way around but wouldn't have done that unless the original person on the phone hadn't given me that impression. So all in all quite confused about it now.


I'm only worried because I have been submitting meter readings every month to them to try and get an accurate bill but if I've been giving them the wrong way wrong I'll be getting charged extortionate amounts for my night electric!


That's probably a bit off topic from storage heaters but thank you again for explaining that clearly!

lstar337

thriftykitty wrote: »

It's a digital meter with a R1 reading and an R2 reading. R2 is a lot lower than R1 (i.e 8000 vs 23000). The clock on it is half an hour fast but it did go back an hour when the clocks changed.


When I moved in and phoned nP*wer I gave them these meter readings and must have been under the impression that the night was R2 and the day is R1 but looking on the meter readings section of my online account, the nP*wer reading says it's the other way around - R1 is night at 23000 and R2 is day at 8000. According to that I've been reading it the wrong way around but wouldn't have done that unless the original person on the phone hadn't given me that impression. So all in all quite confused about it now.


I'm only worried because I have been submitting meter readings every month to them to try and get an accurate bill but if I've been giving them the wrong way wrong I'll be getting charged extortionate amounts for my night electric!


That's probably a bit off topic from storage heaters but thank you again for explaining that clearly!

Look at your meter now, the rate number should be flashing on the right hand side. This is the day rate because it is currently day time. During E7 the rate number will change.

If you have muddled your day and night you can tell nPower and they should be able to re-calculate all your bills up to now and send you a new bill.

Usually, the high number (23000 in your case) is the night rate.

thriftykitty

Great, thanks very much.


Been trying to figure out how to check it but will do that as soon as I get home from work!

thriftykitty

I know this has strayed slightly from storage heaters but it still affects them so I'll continue.


Checked my meter at 6.15pm last night when I got in R1 was flashing, indicating this is the day rate at 23000 something. That means R2 is the night rate at 8000 something. Does this mean nPower have got my readings wrong? Has this ever happened to anyone else?


I'll be keeping a close eye on it next week to try and figure out what appliances are using which rate. My parents have a smart meter thing you can plug in to see how much electric you're using so might grab that this weekend.


I'm also still not convinced my storage heaters are charging during the night. I had them charging on Wed night and switched the input down to 1 when I left yesterday morning (they should have had charge in them by then to release last night). There was no heat coming out of them AT ALL last night so I was sat on my sofa in my dressing gown and two blankets over me and still shivering (windows are draughty in my flat so makes it feel even colder)!


Any ideas anyone? All input appreciated (if you'll pardon the pun)!

lstar337

thriftykitty wrote: »

Checked my meter at 6.15pm last night when I got in R1 was flashing, indicating this is the day rate at 23000 something. That means R2 is the night rate at 8000 something.

It's not usual for the night to be lower than the day unless the heating is virtually never used.

thriftykitty wrote: »

I'll be keeping a close eye on it next week to try and figure out what appliances are using which rate.

When your NSH are charging the little red light will be blinking like the clappers and the units will be clocking up fairly quick. If you worried about them charging on the day rate, turn up the input during the day and watch your meter. If it starts flashing like the clappers then your heaters are probably wired into the wrong register.

While I think of it, how are your heaters wired in? Do they have a single cable going in to a fixed spur? Sometimes they are bodged into a 13A socket with a crude timer.

thriftykitty

[/QUOTE] While I think of it, how are your heaters wired in? Do they have a single cable going in to a fixed spur? Sometimes they are bodged into a 13A socket with a crude timer.[/QUOTE]



I won't be able to check whether they charge up on day rate until next weekend now but could keep everything switched off one day next week with only the heaters on and see it the number has jumped up.


The heaters are Dimplex ones (can't remember which model) and are wired straight into a little panel on the wall, presume that's a fixed spur. According to the letting agent an electrician came and checked everything before I moved in, presume he just checked the safety of the wiring not what was actually wired to where!


Want to double check those readings from nPower but they are doing site maintenance at the mo! :mad: Might try and call them at lunch and try to clear this up a bit.

lstar337

thriftykitty wrote: »

The heaters are Dimplex ones (can't remember which model) and are wired straight into a little panel on the wall, presume that's a fixed spur.

Do they look like any of these: http://www.dimplex.co.uk/products/domestic_heating/installed_heating/storage_heaters/index.htm

thriftykitty wrote: »

According to the letting agent an electrician came and checked everything before I moved in, presume he just checked the safety of the wiring not what was actually wired to where!

Yeah that'll be a safety check. You could always get an electrician of your own to give it a quick look over. It shouldn't take very long to confirm or deny your suspicions.

thriftykitty

Yes, they are from the XL/XLS range I think but older version. I have looked up the manual before but forgot to check last night and get the exact model.


Might end up doing that - need to get this rate issue sorted with the meter first I think. Want to make sure everything is running right before it gets really cold and then I get landed with a huge bill.


Npower log in page still not working - anyone know how long this "scheduled maintenance" will go on for today?