Which is more economical to heat a room in a flat: a Dyson hot+cool fan or a storage heater ?

chris112

i previously lived in a one bedroom flat on the second floor, so in the winter months it was not as cold a my current ground floor flat
in the colder months i would only need to use the dyson fan now and then during the day and the electric heater (in the bedroom) 30 minutes before going to bed, to get the chill out the room

but since its now getting colder and this flat only having storage heaters ive been leaving one of them on overnight to warm the bedroom and my electricity usage is considerably higher
- since using the storage heater i have used 150 more units of electricity, over the space of 10 days and my other electrical appliances usage has not increased

i am on an economy 7 tariff

ajbell

Electric blanket for overnight use?, just 15w on lowest setting, 60 hours use for £1.

PeterGr

The storage heater(s) and fan heater are cery different appliances. In winter the storage heater is intended to be left on so that it 'stores' heat for 7 hours during the night using off peak electricity. That heat is intended to be released the following day. There is an input control which allows some restriction of the amount stored in milder weather. The output control is shut at night, and opened during the following day to release heat.


If the storage heater and fan heater are similarly rated ( ie 1500W / 2000W ) then the storage heater can use the equivalent kWh of using the fan heater for 7 hours. Depending on your tariff the cost between peak and off peak means 7 hours off peak my be equal to 4 or 5 during the day.


So storage heaters use considerable amounts of kWh, but release it over most of the day. A fan heater can give a short burst of heat, instantaneously, but if used excessively would cost more for the same amount of kWh. As long as it is affordable using them together as appropriate is the best strategy. Come Spring and the storage heaters can be off, and the fan heater used intermittently.

cranford

If the 150 units is on the E7 meter then this will assuming a rate of about 7.5p cost you about £11. The Dyson heater is probably rated at 2kwh so assuming a day rate of 15p you can use it for 36 hours for your £11, ie about 2 and a half hours a day.

macman

Its not the actual usage that should concern you, but the cost. Assuming you are on an E7 tariff, then any usage on peak rate (i.e. the Dyson) will cost you about 300% more than using the NSH on night rate.
That's the whole point of E7: to utilise the cheap night rate for water and heating.

Richie-from-the-Boro

Wrong way round Chris 112.

Heat + water are E7 and as macman said, considerably cheaper. You should close the output/damper down tight on NSH. For economy use an on-demand over/under electric blanket for the bedroom and an on-demand wall panel radiator in the bathroom.and the night store heater for your living (99% of flat time) room.

nigelbb

macman wrote: »

Its not the actual usage that should concern you, but the cost. Assuming you are on an E7 tariff, then any usage on peak rate (i.e. the Dyson) will cost you about 300% more than using the NSH on night rate.
That's the whole point of E7: to utilise the cheap night rate for water and heating.

Don't forget the obvious drawback of night storage heaters that you are paying for heating before you know whether you are going to need it or not. Additionally if you are out at work all day having the storage heaters keep your home toasty is a total waste of money.

macman

nigelbb wrote: »

Don't forget the obvious drawback of night storage heaters that you are paying for heating before you know whether you are going to need it or not. Additionally if you are out at work all day having the storage heaters keep your home toasty is a total waste of money.

That might apply in the crossover period between spring/summer and summer/autumn, but certainly not in early January.
The NSH's are perfectly suitable for day workers as long as the output damper is set correctly so as to retain enough heat to last through the evening, as Richie has stated. The problem is that most people totally fail to set or adjust their NSH's, and so they discharge too fast during the day.

chris112

Thanks for all the replies,

nigelbb, that is my concern with NSH, like i mentioned before the bedroom heat is only required 30 minutes before going to bed, so it seems wasteful to leave the bedroom SH on overnight

im thinking a solution would be buying a small electric radiator to plug in 30 minutes before bed then turning off
any tips when buying a economical portable electric heater?

this autumn the flat has been comfortable without any additional heating

chris112

-- I just realised that the heater in the living room cant be a storage heater because it doesn't have the inputs/Output dials:




Do you think the Dyson would be more cost effective to run during the day rather than this heater?

PeterGr

FXL is a range of Dimplex storage heaters and there are operating instructions available to download online.


I think your picture shows part of the output setting. The range also has a boost function which runs on peak rate supply, so it is important that you read the information available and identify the model / type that you have.