Help re storage heaters

mollygrub

Hello all. My mum has just moved into an all electric house and storage heaters on E7. These heaters are quite old and not efficiently keeping her warm so she supplements them with heaters in the day (obviously at higher rate).
Q1. Does anyone know if she may be eligible for any help replacing them... she is a pensioner but not on pension credit 
Q2. Any ideas what she could replace the heaters with as she hates them and is really cold in the daytime? 
Q3. Is it maybe worth changing tariff to standard and just using heaters in day as it stands? She is really worried about the electricity bill but really cold too.
Any thoughts really gratefully passed on to her... 
Many thanks in advance....

Neil_Jones

Perils of all electric housing unfortunately.  It's going to be a case of take it or leave it.  If your mum owns the house it may be worth investigating adding a gas supply which will be cheaper in the long run, albeit with a larger upfront cost since you would have to have added a boiler, pipes, radiators, thermostats and a load of upheaval, but it will be cheaper to run.  If you rent, well you're probably stuck with what you've got unfortunately.

The only real saving grace with all electric properties is that if you switch a heater on, you get instant heat so it's 100% effective if nothing else.  Easiest way to save money is not to use it at all.  At the risk of sounding flippant, it might be worth investing in some jumpers.

mollygrub

She does wrap up warm and nope no gas option... thanks for replying. 

Gerry1

Best to check and improve the NSHs rather than waste money on expensive daytime electricity to run convectors or panel heaters.  And don't even think of those rip-off magic dust radiators that are bankruptcy inducing !

The existing NSHs may be under dimensioned, especially if they were originally used with E10, THTC or a similar tariff which had longer off peak hours and an afternoon boost.  It's also possible that one or more elements have failed, but they are cheap to replace.

It;s quite easy to check for failed elements.  Just before the cheap rate kicks in turn off all the NSHs locally, turn the input controls to maximum and turn off the immersion heaters.  Switch off all the other circuits at the consumer unit and turn on one NSH.  Count how many times the red light on the meter flashes per minute, the one marked '1000 Imp/kWh' or similar.  You can then work out how many flashes there would be one hour and therefore the kW being drawn by the NSH.  For example, it it's rated at 3.6kW but is drawing only 2.4kWh them it's likely that one of the three elements has failed.  Repeat for the other NSHs.

If they are under dimensioned then just buy one or more bigger ones, perhaps cascading them so that each area has a similar power increase.

mollygrub

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply... so...in a nutshell are you saying mum should stick with storage heaters.... but just upgrade them? 

Gerry1

Yes, it's probably the least worst option unless she goes for an oil boiler and wet radiators.  Just make sure she's on a competitive E7 tariff and the immersion heater only operates at the cheap rate times and the boost switch is permanently off.

mollygrub

Thanks so much ... I will pass this on but she hates her storage heaters so I may have to do some persuading!!! 

me1000uk

May not be much help as I moved into a property with oldish storage heaters but I have a legacy tariff suited to it, but there was a bit of a learning curve to using them. I have no idea whether your mum is using them correctly, so ignore if this is irrelevant, but essentially there are 2 controls, the input and output. The output on oldish storage heaters tends to control a flap that lets out more stored heat, and that often doesn't work properly. The concept essentially is one 'charges up the heat' and one controls how quickly it comes out.
I've found the output dial rather useless and usually have it turned down, so it may be worth leaving that on its lowest, and have the input on high or max. It's expensive and you may need to watch the meter readings because you can easily use 20 Kwh on one storage heater in a night.
If that makes a difference then great, and you can try to lower the input to a level where the heat is maintained.
Newer storage heaters apparently are better at retention, and there are plenty of schemes/grants for pensioners but probably needs advice from your supplier or the government websites as it varies by which part of the UK you're in.

I find heating is all about timing and management, so it could be worth some legwork to calculate the cost of the daytime heaters and compare the impact, with that of the storage heaters. You can then make a choice whether a cheaper daytime will be worthwhile. If you have 2 storage heaters running for 7 hours each at max capacity on E7, it may well be comparable in price to 2 strategically placed oil filled ones running during the day as and when you need it (on a non-E7 tariff). If it's a tenner a month difference for something that makes you live more comfortably then it's likely worth it. If it's a massive amount then it's worth seeking advice about grants or warm home discounts etc. A quick google should get you a number for your local energy advice charity or something and they'll have plenty of tips and info (some do home visits etc but probably not during COVID restrictions).

mollygrub

That's so kind of you to write such a comprehensive reply. Thank you so much!!

[Deleted User]

Hi,

you say the heaters are 'quite old', they should still be efficient though, unless an element has failed, which is quite rare, but easily fixed.

Here's a wee video with some tips.

Robin9

Could you check with your mum what tariff she is on. Hopefully she, or someone on her behalf contacted the existing supplier and gave meter readings. Did she then change suppliers ? If not then she may be on an expensive tariff.

She may be shocked at her first bill but it will be a winter one, summer ones will be much less.

Also she gets her £200 winter fuel allowance.