Elkatherm Electric Radiators

Petefox83

Hi, I have done a search and not been able to find the information I am looking for, so thought I would do my first post.
We have moved into a home last year which already has installed Elkatherm electric radiators rather than traditional storage heaters (no gas supply in area). They are a newer type where the heating is controlled via an app which I am fine with, but last winter we were not able to find a happy medium with the heating and ended up paying a silly amount during the colder months. I think this was mostly due to one of the heaters being in a cooler landing area where the heater was having to be constantly on high power. 
I was just wondering if anyone has experience with these and how they have found the most efficient way to run them is. Is is best to have them on for certain times? Or just to a minimum temperature?

Thanks in advance. 

Robin9

What tariff are you running these on?

Petefox83

Sorry I should have added we are on an EDF fixed rate plan (pre payment), non economy 7 

Gerry1

Unfortunately if they operate on daytime electricity because they are non-storage you have the most expensive heating possible.  It sounds like you also have one of the most expensive electricity tariffs as well, so it's a double whammy.  If you rent, best to move to somewhere with gas central heating.

In the meantime, switch to a credit meter on a cheap single rate tariff.  What is the kWh rate and daily charge?

Petefox83

We currently pay 15.61/Kwh with a standing charge of 28.70.

Robin9

Put your consumption figures into a comparison site eg Citizens Advice - you can do much better than that

matelodave

A quick shufti at the Elkatherm website suggests that these are "storage" heaters but they don't appear to use off-peak energy and so are as expensive to run as Fischer or any other heater that uses full price electricity. IMO they are not storage heaters in the way we understand them in the UK where the heater stores sufficient energy overnight on off peak electricity and then dissipates that heat during the day and evening before the next recharge period.

As Robin suggest the only way you can save money is by turning them down or off or getting a better tariff (my Symbio tariff is 11p/kwh plus 24p/day). You do need to look at changing your supplier or tariff to get a better deal.

TBH any sort of heating that uses full price peak rate leccy (apart from a properly set up heat pump system) is going to be expensive to run and is best avoided.

Gerry1

To answer the OP's original question, it's best to set the fixed radiators so that they are switched on for a suitable warming-up period before getting up and returning from work.  This period will vary with the outdoor temperature, and in an ideal scenario there would be an external sensor to adjust the start time so that the occupied areas reach the desired temperature at exactly the correct time.

Alternatively, a clever app could call up the local weather conditions and do this automatically.  You'd also need a frost stat or such like to prevent burst pipes and damp if you go on holiday in the winter.

Theoretically the most efficient solution would be to switch the fixed radiators on manually when getting up and returning home, and rapidly raise the temperature to the desired level with several fan heaters.  That would avoid the heat lost from the building during the warm up period of an hour or whatever,  but it's probably not very realistic.