Economy 7 electric switches

ezri

Hi, I’ve just moved into a bungalow that has Economy 7 electric heating, I understand the settings on the heaters, but not sure which electric switch is used for, one says Instant heat and the other says Night heat, both have a red light on them and neither of them has a fuse, maybe I’m just slow but not sure which is the switch to have on all the time to charge and heat during the day and which is for extra heat once you used your stored heat, I’m just very confused so any help would be greatly appreciated thanks

Gerry1

Welcome to the forum.  Unfortunately, it's the wrong one - it should have been in Energy !

If these are outlets on the wall, one supply will be live only at cheap rate times overnight and the other will be 24h.

The night one should be left on in the winter so that the heaters charge up and release heat in the day.

The day one depends on the type of NSH.  If it's a clever one such as Dimplex Quantum the outlet needs to be left on to power the fan that releases heat in the day.  This type of NSH can also give a daytime boost if the bricks have become cool in the afternoon, but at expensive daytime rates, so should be used sparingly.

Older, simpler NSHs may just have a convector bolted on for daytime top up use.  As there's no fan, the wall switch can be left switched off unless an expensive top up is needed.

Similar thinking applies to the immersion heaters; there are probably two.  One at the bottom of the tank on the E7 supply will give you a full tank of cheap hot water overnight, and the one halfway up will be on the 24h supply (probably marked Boost) and will give half a tank of expensive hot water if you run out.  Never leave the Boost switch permanently on, it will bankrupt you !

Sometimes there's just a 24h supply and a local timer (usually means a cheapskate landlord).  If so, it's vitally important to make sure that the timer doesn't drift away from the E7 switching times (e.g. after a power cut) otherwise most or all of your hot water will be at cripplingly expensive day rates.

ezri

Thanks for the welcome, sorry I posted in the wrong place, thank you for your help it’s been a great help 👍

Gerry1

You're not the first to post in the wrong place, and you won't be the last, the new forum is badly designed.

Mister_G

Gerry1 said:

You're not the first to post in the wrong place, and you won't be the last, the new forum is badly designed.

Quite!  But MSE appear to have no inclination to put it right!