Coming off E7 hot water tank doesn’t work

Dainty_Blue

My rented flat has economy 7 storage heaters and hot water tank. As it looks like I am staying here for the next 2 or 3 months at least, I was planning for the cold weather and heating requirements. There are only 2 storage heaters in the hall and lounge and they are pretty useless. Warm when I'm out at work and cold in the evenings. All other rooms have electric wall heaters with thermostats. I want to be able to control the heat with timers like proper central heating. So my plan was to come off economy 7 and use new electric heaters with timers, and not the storage heaters.
Yesterday I called my energy company and they switched me over, but this morning there was no hot water and the tank was not working at 6.50am. I could only get it to work after the E7 times as a boost.
When I phoned the energy company to switch back to E7 the guy said that it shouldn't have an effect on the hot water tank. But it obviously did. Does anyone know if it that's right? The tank is on a timer set from 12am to 7am and I hadn't touched it. Was planning to reduce the on time though as its probably too much.

Owain_Moneysaver

Depends on the type of meter you have and how your flat is wired (and what controls the immersion heater(s)) and what your electricity supplier did when they 'switched you over'.

It sounds like you have a smart meter or they couldn't switch your E7 off remotely, and bottom/top immersion heaters. Your E7 switched output should have been set to 24 hour, and the two registers added together in billing to produce a single tariff.

If you have a non-smart meter, tariff timeswitch or teleswitch, you may need an electrician to change your wiring so that all circuits (including the bottom immersion heater) are on 24-hours.

Dainty_Blue

Energy supplier were just going to use the total figure of the day and night. Don't think its a smart meter. Its just a box in the hall.

Owain_Moneysaver

Well, they must have done something to turn off your E7 supply.

Unless one of your circuit breakers has tripped and it's a complete coincidence.

macman

The immersion is a dual element one. It's wired to the meter as the main element on night rate (which heats the while tank) and the boost element on day rate (which heats the top part only). You no longer have power to the night rate circuit.
BTW, by switching to single rate heating, you have probably doubled your heating and hot water costs compared to E7. Did you try adjusting the NSH output down so that the heat is released more slowly and lasts into the evening?

Dainty_Blue

The storage heaters have 2 parts. One switch for the storage, the other controls the output. But it also allows it turn on another heating element if the storage output won't cover it. I don't want it coming on when I'm not there. Don't care how cold the house is during the day. So i can't switch that part on. Also the lounge second part is broken. I just want heating for an hour in the morning and a few hours in evening.
So I'm back on E7 and my electric heaters with timers are arriving today. Earlier this year using the storage and thermostatic electric heaters I was absolutely freezing the whole time. With no way of waking up to a warm bedroom and bathroom. Will be interesting to see how expensive this works out.