Need help choosing a new heating system!

Gerry1

Make sure you know your meter's E7 switching times accurately.

Some meters have a two hour gap at peak rate, e.g. in the Seeboard area it's 2230 - 0030 and 0230 - 0730 GMT so if you switch on the boost immersion heater at midnight GMT then much of its consumption is likely to be at peak rate.

tim_p

macman said:

Jules2054 said:

macman said:

Get the 3 NSH's fixed or replaced, any other option requires capital outlay, which you don't have. Stop using any form of electric heating on peak rate E7, it's literally burning money.

Please read other posts before commenting.....
Thanks! 

I have-what point are you making?
Why is your hot water expensive if it's from E7 cheap rate?

Didn’t the OP say the lower (E7) element (or stat) had failed so they were having to use the upper, boost element on full price elec for hot water?  (Or am I thinking of another similar thread?)

macman

That is referred to by other posters, but I can see no reference to that by the OP in their first post?
If that is the case, quite why the OP is not simply changing the lower element is baffling me. The cost is trivial, along with repairing the NSH's. They've then jumped to the outlay of an entire new wet CH system using LPG, though they have no savings. Will the grant cover the entire cost of that: boiler, rads, and tank?
The original set up (when fully working) cannot have been that bad-they've had it for 32 years!

tim_p

It’s buried in the the OPs quote of Gerry1, so I can see why it wasn’t easy to find. As I commented earlier whilst replacing an immersion *should* be straightforward it very often isn’t if the element screw thread is stuck solid in the flimsy copper tank, hence suggesting an easy check of the ‘stat first.  In my experience it’s the stats that fail and just stop working, when the element goes it usually trips the breaker or fuse on that circuit.

Robin9

macman said:

...................
The original set up (when fully working) cannot have been that bad-they've had it for 32 years!

I wonder if the OP has also had the same supplier and same (standard) tariff for the last 32 years as well.

OP do you get the OAP Winter Fuel Payment and Warm Homes Discount?   Spend these on getting an electrician in for half a day - fit new immersion heater element/stat,  replace the storage thermal links or fuses - keep warm. Anything else won't be sorted for this winter.

macman

There's nothing to indicate that the OP is on SVT or has never switched supplier. However, even the cheapest E7 tariff is going to be hopelessly uneconomic if the hot water is being heated on peak rate and there are only two working NSH's of the 5 installed. E7 typically needs around 30% being used on cheap rate, and the OP is probably well under that level.

Talldave

OP is using the second immersion element overnight, so on cheap rate - provided they're not in a "2 peak hours in the middle of the night" region.

Talldave

OP is using the second immersion element overnight, so on cheap rate - provided they're not in a "2 peak hours in the middle of the night" region.

macman

That would depend on how the E7 side is wired. If the whole install is at least 32 years old, then it's likely that only the NSH's and the bottom immersion heater element are wired to the cheap rate metering. Either way, the whole install is not being used as intended.
If the install was originally adequate for heat and hot water (before the lack of maintenance issues), then it can be made so again, and the bills will come sharply down with the shift of usage from peak rate back to cheap rate.

matelodave

Talldave said:

OP is using the second immersion element overnight, so on cheap rate - provided they're not in a "2 peak hours in the middle of the night" region.

AS Macman suggest the place is probably wired with a separate e7 circuits for heating and hot water and so there's a better than even chance that all leccy that's not fed via the off-peak contactor is being charged at peak rates. Some older setups don't get the advantage of off-peak leccy to the rest of the house overnight.