Storage heaters!

susieq10

Hi,

Can anyone tell me if storage heaters are supposed to use electricity during the day?

I thought that they only used electric at night to store the heat, on economy 7!

Thanks!

penrhyn

Storage heaters are designed to work on cheap rate electricity.
They are normally wired to a timer controlled circuit which will switch then on and off at the appropriate time. (between 2 and 8am). This is either done by a electromechanical timer or more usually a radio controlled tele switch, have a look in your meter cupboard.
There are variations of the cheap rate tariff, one of them provides a boost during the day.
Some storage heaters have fans which will use normal rate electricity.

susieq10

Thanks!

It's just that my meter was changed in March and since then I have noticed my bills increase.
My heaters are using electric all day and night. I have checked the heaters and all wiring...they are fine!
So, Im thinking that there is something wrong with the meter. I should be on economy 7, but obviously, Im not getting it.
I have been in touch with Npower, but have not heard back from them yet.
Do you think it might be the teleswitch thats faulty???

riad_2

I'm moving into an all electric flat which has a storage heater in the living room, and just standard electric wall-heaters in the bedrooms.

As I'm at work all day, I guess the storage heater is pretty much useless to me? (as i heard that they're not very good at storing heat much past the afternoon!)... hence would it be cheaper for me to replace the storage heater with a normal electric wall-heater (any suggestions??) and get the economy 7 meter changed to a normal single rate meter?

Will the existing supplier (Powergen) change the meter for free? If yes, will doing so lock me into a contract with them? Only bcos for single rate there's cheaper suppliers out there (BG Click 4) than the existing E7 supplier!

Any suggestions appreciated!

Terrylw1

Hi,

Yes, it could be a faulty timeswitch.

Do you have a private timeswitch as well? Some consumers have an additional private timeswitch to turn on the heating outside or off peak E7 hours which then turn back off prior to the E7 switch over.

You will have an argument on your hands here if it's a faulty timeswitch. Normally, a faulty timeswitch won't switch over the off peak so you get overcharged on day rate for night time appliances. This also stops your storage heating working as there is no switchover to off peak rate. However, you appear to have it stuck on night rate so your are physically using heating so they will expect you to pay. So, you may need to prove how much your heaters would use and ask them to bill those unit costs at off peak rate.

It could also be that the engineer didn't connect the meter correctly, but I've only seen that where the off peak was not connected.

Can you see if only one of the meter dials is moving? If you can advise which one, I can give you a better indication of what needs to be done.

susieq10

Terrylw1 wrote: »

Hi,

Yes, it could be a faulty timeswitch.

Do you have a private timeswitch as well? Not sure what a private timeswitch is ?? Some consumers have an additional private timeswitch to turn on the heating outside or off peak E7 hours which then turn back off prior to the E7 switch over. I've never seen or used one!!

You will have an argument on your hands here if it's a faulty timeswitch. Normally, a faulty timeswitch won't switch over the off peak so you get overcharged on day rate for night time appliances. This also stops your storage heating working as there is no switchover to off peak rate. However, you appear to have it stuck on night rate so your are physically using heating so they will expect you to pay. So, you may need to prove how much your heaters would use and ask them to bill those unit costs at off peak rate.

It could also be that the engineer didn't connect the meter correctly, but I've only seen that where the off peak was not connected.

Can you see if only one of the meter dials is moving? No dials. It's all digital. There is a small red light that flashes. And there are three rates instead of just the normal two. It comes up with 'rate 1, 4, and 8'. My old meter just said 'rate 1 and 2'!If you can advise which one, I can give you a better indication of what needs to be done.

The name of the meter is 'AMPY' single phase watt hour meter (solid state digital). When I work out how to post pics on here I will take pics of it so you can see it better!


Yesterday I fitted DP switches with neon lights to the appliance connection, to see for sure whether the heaters are using electric during the day...they are on 24/7. It's the same for my E7 immersion heater...that will work 24/7 if I was to leave it on!
Should I contact Npower again and tell them about the ?faulty teleswitch? It's been about a week now since I contacted them and I still haven't heard anything!

espresso

susieq10 wrote: »

Yesterday I fitted DP switches with neon lights to the appliance connection, to see for sure whether the heaters are using electric during the day...they are on 24/7. It's the same for my E7 immersion heater...that will work 24/7 if I was to leave it on!

You are in control of your appliances not the supply companies timeswitch. The timeswitch simply decides what rate you are charged for your particular tariff e.g. E7, E10 etc. Some users may need the heating/immersion on during the day.

susieq10

espresso wrote: »

You are in control of your appliances not the supply companies timeswitch. The timeswitch simply decides what rate you are charged for your particular tariff e.g. E7, E10 etc. Some users may need the heating/immersion on during the day.

The storage heaters are NOT supposed to be using electric during the day, (They didn't used to untill my meter was changed!),but having neon DP switches fitted shows me that they are!!!!
The storage heaters and immersion heater are connected to there own consumer unit, which in turn is connected to the main meter. The teleswitch tells the meter when to change over to the cheap rate electric. This then powers up the heaters to store heat over night, then cuts off the power to them in the morning. (At this point the lights on the switches should go off!). It then reverts back to standard rate electricity.
I understand about the timeswitch etc, except Im not getting any electric on E7 at all, just normal standard rate, 24/7! My contract with Npower is to receive E7, overnight for my storage heaters and immersion heater. So Im paying full whack for my electric regardless of the time of day or night!!:mad:

My friend has neon switches on their heaters and they go on or off with the change in rates!

ChumpusRex

It depends. Some storage heaters do.

There are 3 types of storage heater, with different control systems.

There's the 'old-fashioned' manual control type. These only get power at night, and that power is used to heat the storage bricks to the temperature set on the dial (input). Another dial (output or boost) controls how quickly the heat leaks out from the bricks into the room. As they get no power during the day, they can't use any power.

There are more modern types, with electronic controls. These need power during the day, so that the controller can work. If additional heat is needed, then during the day, the controller can switch on a fan to leach heat out of the bricks. The controller, and fan, will neeed a little electricity during the day.

Finally, you have the fully automatic heater. This is an electronically controlled storage heater (like above) with an added fan heater. If the bricks cool off during the day, but the room is cold, the electronics will turn on the fan heater (which will run on day-time electricity).

Many modern apartments come with the combination storage/fan heater type. These are nice to use (correct temperatures all day, and a different temperature for each room). However, they do make liberal use of daytime electricity. The amount they use depends on the weather, and the design of the controller - some controllers are biased so that they don't waste energy, this means they go easy on storage and have to make up with lots of full-price heat during the day.

susieq10

ChumpusRex wrote: »

It depends. Some storage heaters do.

There are 3 types of storage heater, with different control systems.

There's the 'old-fashioned' manual control type. These only get power at night, and that power is used to heat the storage bricks to the temperature set on the dial (input). Another dial (output or boost) controls how quickly the heat leaks out from the bricks into the room. As they get no power during the day, they can't use any power.

There are more modern types, with electronic controls. These need power during the day, so that the controller can work. If additional heat is needed, then during the day, the controller can switch on a fan to leach heat out of the bricks. The controller, and fan, will neeed a little electricity during the day.

Finally, you have the fully automatic heater. This is an electronically controlled storage heater (like above) with an added fan heater. If the bricks cool off during the day, but the room is cold, the electronics will turn on the fan heater (which will run on day-time electricity).

Many modern apartments come with the combination storage/fan heater type. These are nice to use (correct temperatures all day, and a different temperature for each room). However, they do make liberal use of daytime electricity. The amount they use depends on the weather, and the design of the controller - some controllers are biased so that they don't waste energy, this means they go easy on storage and have to make up with lots of full-price heat during the day.

My storage heaters are the old type with 'input' and 'output' controls. They do not have a fan or any other extras!

LadFromWales85

My meter has a mechanical timeswitch which cuts off the supply to the consumer box with the storage heaters on. I've not used them yet though, not cold enough! My immersion is on the normal consumer unit, and has its own timer.
Seeing as though your heaters are behaving differently since the meter was changed, then its clear the engineer must have wired it up incorrectly. Was the timeswitch also changed?

I know you have standard storage heaters, but I do wonder how the fancy ones with fan heaters work. Do they receive two feeds of electricity, or do they rely on their own timers for storage?