Immersion heater to run central heating

Danni636

Basically I either freezer, skint myself or move? Got another 6 months on this place, time to look after that I think 😂

Danni636

How do I switch to economy 7? I'm new to all this business 

Gerry1

tacpot12 said:

The OP's meter is a SMETS2 Smart-meter; the datasheet doesn't mention whether support for multi-rate tariffs, and as far as I know ALL SMETS2 Smart-meters have to be able to work on Economy 7, so the OP could switch to Economy 7. The bills seem to indicate that their tariff is not a multi-rate tariff.  

The S-number denotes that it is a single rate meter.  It has 48 registers, so presumably it could be reconfigured for Economy 7.  However, E7 would be a case of from the frying pan into the fire because the OP would need to use day rate for most of the room heating, and the E7 day rate is more expensive than standard rate and would probably wipe out any savings from starting with a full tank heated overnight.  The OP is stuck with a dreadful system.

Until moving, all the OP can do is to switch to a better tariff and to use less electricity, e.g. lower radiator and hot water temperatures, shorter showers, shorter room heating hours.

Gerry1

Danni636 said:

Basically I either freezer, skint myself or move? Got another 6 months on this place, time to look after that I think 😂

'Fraid so, that's the harsh reality.

Danni636 said:

How do I switch to economy 7? I'm new to all this business 

You don't.  You should switch tonight to the best single rate tariff you can find.  If the projection for annual usage of 3659kWh seems reasonable, use that figure to see who is the cheapest.  Probably best to avoid a tariff with an exit fee.

Danni636

Gerry1 said:

Danni636 said:

Basically I either freezer, skint myself or move? Got another 6 months on this place, time to look after that I think 😂

'Fraid so, that's the harsh reality.

Danni636 said:

How do I switch to economy 7? I'm new to all this business 

You don't.  You should switch tonight to the best single rate tariff you can find.  If the projection for annual usage of 3659kWh seems reasonable, use that figure to see who is the cheapest.  Probably best to avoid a tariff with an exit fee.

OK I will have a look right now. I really appreciate everyone's help, at least I know I'm not completely useless and can't work a bloody central heating system 😂

tacpot12

I think if you can get an electrician to trace the wiring from the Water Heater and the Heating circuits, and draw a diagram to show how the Horstmann controller is connected to the Immersion Heaters (and anything else), it will be possible to understand how the Hot Water and Heating systems in your flat works. Once you understand how it all works, you should be able to deduce how to use it most efficiently.

Gerry1

When you have found some likely candidates, have a look at the customer service ratings on Citizens Advice and the relevant threads on this forum ("Add your feedback on xxxx Energy").

Symbio are dirt cheap but can be fun and games, Neon Reef are fine (but no phone support), PFP give fake E7 quotations on their website and Outfox the Market are best avoided.

Gerry1

tacpot12 said:

I think if you can get an electrician to trace the wiring from the Water Heater and the Heating circuits, and draw a diagram to show how the Horstmann controller is connected to the Immersion Heaters (and anything else), it will be possible to understand how the Hot Water and Heating systems in your flat works. Once you understand how it all works, you should be able to deduce how to use it most efficiently.

That might be true if it was just for hot water but as it seems to be acting as an electric boiler that rather undermines the case for E7.  The Horstmann controller seems largely redundant on a single rate supply.  Paying for an electrician might not be cost effective for a six month tenancy.

In any case, the OP can do some simple checks by switching circuits on and off and looking at the red flashing light on the meter to see what's happening.  1000 flashes (impulses) and it's clocked up another expensive kWh.

matelodave

I agree with everything thats been said, it looks like a bodge that will cost a lot to use so you need to get onto the cheapest tariff that you can.

Unless there's another heating unit lurking under that timer panel, then a 3kwh water heater isn't going to be enough to heat the place.

It's difficult to work out what is going on without seeing what plumbing is connected to the tank and how the time switch has been wired or whether there's a heating circulating pump under there somewhere - can you hear a pump running when you turn on the hot water. Have you got a thermostat on the wall somewhere, if so then that might control a pump.
 
The mystery is the 40a circuit breaker marked HEATER in the fuse board if you've already got a 32a one for the water heater. The tank seems to be fitted with two 3kw immersion heaters so they are a bit overkill (3kw is about 12a so 16a breakers would be more than sufficient)

TBH you might even be better off with an oil filled rad with a timer and thermostat as you'll have a lot more control than pumping hot water around the place

ElwoodBlues

I guess the idea of the installation would be that you'd heat the water in the heat store overnight on E7, and then set the radiators/heating system to let the stored energy out gradually over the day. No idea if that is realistically achievable with the system that you've got there though. 150l heat store at best is going to hold about 12kw/h of energy, which doesn't sound a lot compared to a gas fired boiler (as usually drives wet radiators), but it'll depend on the size of the property and how well insulated it is.

To operate the system as economically as possible, you'd need to get on an E7 tariff, heat the flat to the warmest you can tolerate during the night, and then let the system bleed heat out of the heat store gradually during the day. Not sure that'll leave you with much hot water facility for anything else, especially in the evening though. And whether that strategy works for you at all depends on if you need/want heat during the day time - if you're out at work all day, all the heat you've put into the rooms over night is going to be wasted during the day time. If you can't make use of the economy 7 advantage, then you'd be better off not using the central heating side of it at all, just get yourself some electric room heaters (oil radiators etc). Place is probably alright in the summer, so try and move out before next winter!

It's a terrible looking system, but it might be manageable if you can control it meticulously. Unfortunately, this is the way things are going with the dumb idea of phasing out gas heating and pushing everyone onto electric - it looks ok on paper/in theory, but doesn;t generally stack up in real world use.