Storage Heaters aren't working!

453vezza

Hi, I moved into my maisonette in September. I have a storage heater in the stairwell and one in the lounge (the other rooms don't have any, so as you can imagine I'm wanting to solve this quickly as my house is starting to get very cold!)

I followed the instructions at the beginning of october of how to set up the input and output settings. However, I never felt the heaters get warm, but as it was still fairly warm outside, and the house wasn't getting too cold, I thought nothing of it. However, with the change of the weather and talking to others who have used storage heaters, there is something wrong. As an experiment, I set both heaters input and output up to 9 and nothing! I have checked the fuse box and they are all turned on.

Is there anything I may be missing to solve this issue? Otherwise I'm going to be really annoyed, having bought a flat and trusting that the heaters were working and that I'll have to fork out to fix them before the winter hits properly!

jk0

My tenants emailed on Friday with the same problem...


The storage heaters were turned off at the wall!

molerat

Does the hot water heat up ok overnight ? Separate timer for the heaters set to off ? If the breakers are on and the wall switches on unless you are handy with a multimeter you will need to get an electrician in.

Fire_Fox

Welcome to MSE. Second checking the circuit breakers and isolator switches are on. Then ask your neighbours, they may well have the same model of storage heaters.

Jackmydad

As already said by others, most likely a breaker or isolator.
Dimplex have their instruction books online. Probably most other mfrs too.
Worth reading if you haven't had storage heaters before.

shaun_from_Africa

If you can't find anything obvious, it might be worth calling the estate agents or solicitor you used for the purchase and ask if they would be willing to forward a letter or e-mail to the previous owners.
If they are, you might get a response from them telling you exactly what you need to know.

Fire_Fox

Just had another thought: check your electric meter including the timeclock.

In many properties the storage heaters are on a separate ring but the same two rate electricity supply as the rest of the electrics. So we can also, say, do laundry cheaper at night.

But some properties have the storage heaters connected to the the night/ low supply only, and everything else on the two rate supply. I think this is an older system, may even not be work properly on a new smart meter.

Not explained well because I don't really understand it myself! But ask neighbours or your electricity supplier's technical support if you think this may apply.

www.electriciansforums.co.uk/threads/storage-heaters-not-working-after-meter-change.106945/

EachPenny

Fire_Fox wrote: »

...But some properties have the storage heaters connected to the the night/ low supply only, and everything else on the two rate supply. I think this is an older system, may even not be work properly on a new smart meter.

Exactly the issue another poster has experienced in the last few days...

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5916426/no-economy-7-since-smart-meter-installed-ebico