Should I switch to Economy 7?

macman

Gerry1 said:

danrv said:

Gerry1 said:

Swipe said:

Old storage heaters leaked heat all the time whether it was needed or not.  It was wasteful being warm through the night, ditto if you're out all day.  New storage heaters have better insulation and also need a fan on a 24h circuit to blow out the heat in the day.  However, they can be programmed to charge up overnight from a 24h circuit.

Thanks, I see now. The new ones aren’t convection heaters at all. Heat is kept inside and 
then distributed by fan.

Think of an old NSH box of bricks as being like a hot water bottle, and a fan assisted modern one as a thermos flask.

Except you wouldn't want to put an NSH on your legs in bed...

danrv

Just wondering if it would be ok to install the heaters in stages. I can’t decide what would be best for the bedrooms but 2 or 3 Quantums dowstairs would be a start.
Does all depend on whether the house can be wired for E7 circuits.

danrv

coffeehound said:

macman said:

It would be daft to fit convectors in the bedrooms, as these will then be running on peak rate E7. Use NSH's throughout.

Disagree:  bedrooms don't necessarily need heating during the day, and will get some heat from below anyway.  A simple plug-in heater on a timer can be left on low overnight to maintain 18℃ or whatever using off-peak rate without requiring a dedicated circuit to be installed.  Would save £100s if it avoids installing Quantums.

This is helpful, thanks.
I’m currently using cheap convectors all round as an experiment to compare kWh usage to the warm air heater.
This heater (10kw) provides up to 73kwh’s of heat to six rooms via ducting.
I’m thinking of maybe going for Quantum NSHs downstairs and convectors upstairs.
This would be easier to wire as the convectors can use a standard ring main socket.

The bulk of the heat needs to be centre house (hallway) as it’s open with a stairwell and landing. 
A good calculation might be to have roughly half the warm air heater power/storage capacity in three Quantums downstairs.
Means the convectors would be on E7 day rate but the rooms aren’t used most of the time. Currently paying 20p per kWh day rate on E10.

Gerry1

danrv said:

coffeehound said:

macman said:

It would be daft to fit convectors in the bedrooms, as these will then be running on peak rate E7. Use NSH's throughout.

Disagree:  bedrooms don't necessarily need heating during the day, and will get some heat from below anyway.  A simple plug-in heater on a timer can be left on low overnight to maintain 18℃ or whatever using off-peak rate without requiring a dedicated circuit to be installed.  Would save £100s if it avoids installing Quantums.

I’m thinking of maybe going for Quantum NSHs downstairs and convectors upstairs.
This would be easier to wire as the convectors can use a standard ring main socket.

Remember that you can't plug the largest version into a 13A socket, and take care not to overload the ring main.

danrv

Gerry1 said:

Remember that you can't plug the largest version into a 13A socket, and take care not to overload the ring main.

Thanks. I was more referring to the cheap convector heaters on a ring main.
The Quantums downstairs need a little thought regarding wiring. Ideally each would be on a seperate radial from the CU, controlled by the new E7 timer.
Would like to keep wiring simple and reduce the need to chase walls. Whether running from dual supply switched E7 or single 24hr using the Quantum’s timer, I think 2.5mm cable is needed.

danrv

Gerry1 said:
 I don't have NSHs but I switch between E7 and standard rate depending on who is cheaper at the time.

That’s what’s holding me up at the moment - what meter to fit and deciding between Economy 7 with NSH/electric rads or single rate with ASHP air 2 air.
Probably will go with the former and heat water on night rate.

I guess for single rate tariff on an E7 timer, the two readings are combined.
Would be convenient to have that flexibility as I don’t want to be changing meters very often.

Gerry1

danrv said:

Gerry1 said:
 I don't have NSHs but I switch between E7 and standard rate depending on who is cheaper at the time.

I guess for single rate tariff on an E7 timer, the two readings are combined.
Would be convenient to have that flexibility as I don’t want to be changing meters very often.

If you have an E7 meter they usually just bill the registers separately as though it were an E7 tariff, but the rate is the same.  Most suppliers are happy to do this (well, at least those that are competitive for me), but Bulb refuse to do so for some unknown reason.

danrv

Gerry1 said:

If you have an E7 meter they usually just bill the registers separately as though it were an E7 tariff, but the rate is the same.  Most suppliers are happy to do this (well, at least those that are competitive for me), but Bulb refuse to do so for some unknown reason.

Ok thanks. So an E7 meter could still be used if changing heating system at a later date.
Useful to have anyway for hot water. 

danrv

coffeehound said:

macman said:

It would be daft to fit convectors in the bedrooms, as these will then be running on peak rate E7. Use NSH's throughout.

Disagree:  bedrooms don't necessarily need heating during the day, and will get some heat from below anyway.  A simple plug-in heater on a timer can be left on low overnight to maintain 18℃ or whatever using off-peak rate without requiring a dedicated circuit to be installed.  Would save £100s if it avoids installing Quantums.

Just looking at this again. Didn’t realize you meant heating the room overnight when it’s not really needed.
Makes sense though as it’s off peak rate. Then if the room’s used, this together with heat from downstairs, would hopefully reduce peak rate use.