Can you explain E7 and heaters for an idiot...

lizzie201296

Hi
I need some super simple explanations about E7 and storage heaters - I have read other threads but they end up becoming too confusing!
I have just moved into my new house. It is all electric and I am on EDF E7. The bedrooms and hall have storage heaters which I am happy with. At the moment while it's freezing cold, I have the bedroom heaters on very low input and output during the night then switch them off (at the wall) at 7am and they still release heat slowly until about 8pm. I then switch them back on again at about 11pm. This seems to work fine.

My issue is that in the living room there is currently a pretty old looking DeLonghi electric heater - not a storage heater - which is rubbish. I have it set to heat up to 20 degrees when it's on, switch off when it reaches that temp and switch on again when the temp drops. However, because it is so rubbish it puts out so little heat that it is basically always on. (I only switch it on when I am in the room - it's unplugged when the room is empty). It costs a fortune to run and only heats up the very small area next to it for about 5 minutes. All round rubbish.

SO my question is about what I should replace this with. Am I better of getting a storage heater or replacing it with a more modern efficient electric (panel) heater? The house is empty Monday-Friday from 8am to 7pm, but we are in during the day a lot on the weekends. I basically want something that is cheap to run, but that actually heats the room up when I am in it (but doesn't waste energy by heating it up when I'm not in...)

I've read so many conflicting posts about whether storage heaters are the right thing, and I am terrible at understanding all the techy stuff behind it. I would love someone to just say this is the right thing to get and be done with it :j

Any recommendations on type of heater and brand/model would be so so helpful, thank you!

dunstonh

It may help to seperate the two things. heating and economy 7.

E7 gives you 7 hours of low cost electric. The times vary but are typically around midnight to 7am. So, any electricity you use at the night rate is about half the cost of the day rate.

I am on E7 but dont have electric heating. But it still works out cheaper for me to be on E7. So, its all about use of electric and when. You can buy devices that have settings to draw their power in that 7 hour slot (either through storage or by timers delaying their use - such as tumble driers etc).

This is what storage heaters are doing. They are drawing their charge for those 7 hours at cheap rate. And only recharge during those 7 hours. it is important to make sure the hours on the devices are aligned with the meter.

Am I better of getting a storage heater or replacing it with a more modern efficient electric (panel) heater?

Or a more modern efficient storage heater. Storage heaters have improved in efficiency as well. Ones with thermostats on, fan assisted (uses less electricity), improved timers, improved insulation.

For E7 to be efficient, you need to draw around 1/3rd of your overall electricity in those 7 hours.

lizzie201296

Thanks for the reply. So I have looked at my account and have gathered some numbers, they make no sense to me so perhaps someone can explain and tell me if I am using too much/paying too much etc. Now I'm wondering if I should just move to a standard tarrif (not E7), and replace all the storage heaters. My only concern with that is what it would mean for the hot water tank which is an immersion heater set to heat up during the night price.

So on a standard weekday (when nobody is in all day, the rubbish living room heater is switched on for maybe 2-3 hours in the evening, no washing machine is used). EDF tells me:
62% night (00:00-05.590)
12% morning (06:00-11:59)
9% afternoon (12:00-17:59)
17% evening (18:00-23:59)
This equates to:
17.73 kwh night (£1.51)
8.98 kwh day (£2.06)

On an average Sunday (both at home, washing machine used a couple of times. rubbish heater on for maybe 5 hours throughout the day and evening):
44% night
14% morning
21% afternoon
21% evening
which equals:
18.70 kwh night (£1.59)
21.07 kwh day (£4.70)

Interestingly I had a look at Decembe 25th when nobody was in the house at all, all the heaters were switched off at the wall (except for one storage heater in the hall which was on lowest settings) as was the water tank and the usage was:
3.04 kwh night (£0.34)
0.95 kwh day (£0.30)

Hopefully these numbers will mean something to someone and you might be able to tell me whether it is even worth me staying on E7. My confusion is that during the week, it looks like most energy is used at night so E7 makes sense, but the weekends it flips the other way. Obviously at the moment it is cold winter so the heaters are being used at night, but in Summer none of them (including the rubbish living room one) will be on.. so will E7 make sense then?

Also do these numbers look ok generally in terms of use, or does something look too high - I'm worried that something is costing too much that I'm not aware of (ie. on December 25th when nothing was switched on except the fridge.... is 3.04/0.95 kwh a lot for an otherwise empty switched off house..?)

Any help would be hugely appreciated...!
Thanks

Gloomendoom

You won't be able to get a more efficient electric panel heater for your living room. They all put out what you put in... including the one you already have.

What you can do, as suggested above, is make use of the reduced rate electricity more effectively by installing a storage heater in its place. This could give you around twice the heat for the same cost.

However, storage heater aren't cheap so it might work out cheaper overall just to get a cheap panel or oil heater to supplement the existing one and spend the money you have saved on the extra electricity at the full daytime rate.

collectors

Must admit that my place was electric when I moved in with no mains gas. So, I fitted LPG heating & have been very happy with it & I got the bonus of gas hobs. Now I rent 3 rooms in a 5-bed property & admittedly I am very careful with the heating & I average out £90.00 per month over the year for H/water-heating & cooking.
But, I did do a lot of building work when I moved in & put in an underground LPG tank for neatness.
Now I used to be an electrician & would talk customers out of NS heaters if at all possible.