Storage heating when away

cherryblossomzel

Do storage heaters have thermostats (or something like it)? i.e. when you set the input to whatever level you choose, do they heat up until the get to a certain temperature (and therefore will take longer to heat from cold), or do they simply heat up for a certain length of time?

I'm trying to figure out if, by turning it off if I go away for a few days, it would then simply cost significantly more the first night I turn it back on again, and therefore be a false economy.

I have a Dimplex CXL heater.

AndyPK

Yes they have thermostats in them and that is what the input knob is.

The problem if you turn them off, is that you have to wait a day to get the house warm again.

So if your only going away for a couple of days turn the input knob down for a compromise between economy and not coming home to a freezing house

I guess it also depends on what time your coming home. i.e if your coming home late at night, you won't be too bothered about the living room heat, but you do what the one near the bedroom hot.

If you have lots of heaters you could turn some of them off completely.

Robwiz

No thermostat as such (other than stopping the heater melting itself!) you control how much heat you store (input) and the rate you release it (output). I think the input control regulates how much current goes to the heater element whilst the power is on.

Generally there's no point heating unoccupied rooms at any time. The heat lost from your home is governed by the temperature difference between inside and outside, so the lower that is the less heat you lose. In other words, most of the heat you would put in whilst you're away would escape through the floor, walls and ceiling anyway. It would take less heat to warm the place back up again on your return.

cherryblossomzel

AndyPK wrote: »

I guess it also depends on what time your coming home. i.e if your coming home late at night, you won't be too bothered about the living room heat, but you do what the one near the bedroom hot.

I'll be coming home late enough to probably just go straight to bed. So I'm not fussed about the time taken to warm up again, just wondering if the elctricity use is more (at a given input setting) if the ambient temperature in the room is colder.

Edit: actually just found the manual online. It looks like this model does not store heat depending on the room temp, but it will use less electricity if there is still some "left over" from the previous night's storing, but use more electricity if there's none left over from last night, if that makes sense.

I'm going away for two nights. Since it looks like it'll be very cold this weekend, I'll probably leave it on, albeit lower than otherwise.