Loading/Wattage - please enlighten

Mystic_CT

"The QM150 Dimplex Quantum Heater has a Heat Output of 1.5" (?)

"Loading/Wattage is:

3300W Off-peak

1300W Peak"

What does this mean in plain English? I'm trying to get an idea of how much electricity the heater will consume per hour. Thanks.

macman

It will charge at a rate of 3.3kW per hour, so the hourly cost is 3.3 x your kWh unit cost off peak. Max charge is 23.1kW, so from cold it will charge to 100% in 7 hours, as you would expect for an E7 device.
The output rate is 1.5kw, so, in theory it should give about 15 hours output from a full charge, at maximum output..

Mystic_CT

Many thanks, macman. You're a star! 😘

matelodave

Thats not totally true.

As Macman says it has an OFF PEAK input of 3.3kw which will store up to 23.1kwh and it will potentially dissipate that over 15hrs at approx 1.5kw per hour.

HOWEVER it also has a 1.3kw PEAK heating element in it to boost the output when the unit has either run out of stored energy or cant acheive the required room temperatures

The general idea being that the storage facility provides around 90% of your normal heating requirements but requires the additional boost of the peak rate heater when it's run out of heat 

This is what the blurb says - "Off-peak heat stored in core and supplemented by direct acting peak energy".

"By using primarily off-peak energy, it is expected that 90% of the heating requirement will be met with low cost energy, offering you savings of up to 27% compared to a standard storage heater system* and up to 47% compared to an electric convector or radiator system*. "

Mystic_CT

Thanks, Matelodave, for the extra information on the Dimplex Quantum heater.

Had a quote today from another company for 6 storage heaters. Came to almost £9,500 (with all the add-ons and VAT).

Seriously losing the will to live...😟

matelodave

With  a cost like that it would be worth exploring another form of heating, oil, lpg or even an ais source heatpump if you dont have acess to mains gas.

Who was the other company - it wasn't for Fischer or Rointe heaters was it?

Be very careful as some heaters filled with magic dust or fairy oils are decribed as storage heaters and they aren't. They cost an arm and a leg to buy you also have to donate the rest of your body to pay the running costs

There are cheaper storage heaters around, but even for Quantums, that sounds like a lot of money -  a quck shuft on t'interweb reckons they are around £700-£800 each so the cost of six is around £4k so where is the the other £5.5k going.

You can get less exotic High Heat Retention heaters with fewer bells and whistles for less and ordinary storage heaters for even less.

Although the up front cost of a heatpump would be higher, the running costs would be lower than storage heaters or lpg and you'd get a fair bit back from the RHI scheme. It's worthwhile exploring.

Mystic_CT

Thanks, Matelodave. I'm weighing up all my options at this stage. The £9,500 quote was for Elkatherm heaters, by the way.

matelodave

This should be the first warning which is written into the glossy brochure - "In addition, ELKAtherm radiators have a hybrid ceramic clay core". (which is really another name for magic dust).

They are similar to Fischer which also have fairy dust cores.. Rointe are actually oil filled radiators with golden sparkly oil (or something similar). It was the stupidly high price that made me think that they were similar to Fischer or their ilk.

They use exactly the same amount of electricity and produce eactly the same amount of heat as a similar rated oil filled radiator from Argos or B&Q costing £25 or so

None of these are storage heaters, despite any description which suggests that they are and they do not benefit from off-peak leccy. You have to use peak rate leccy when they are in use. The only sort of heating that is more expensive is the electric flow boiler feeding hot water radiators or burning £20 notes in the fireplace.

rp1974

I was unsure if the Elkatherm were storage heaters,there not,so they are the notorious fancy electric radiators in effect then.
Other than actual night storage heaters using an E7 tariff/supply I'd be seriously questioning the competency and motivations of whosoever recommended such things.

matelodave

The motivation is greed, they still end up fleecing enough people who do actually buy them, so they really dont need to sell many to make a significant profit or commission.

You'll find it difficult, if not impossible to get a price for one to install yourself - they always seem to need a person to come and survey and give you a quotation, usually with the benefit of a large discount if you sign on the dotted line at the time (they can also be very difficult to eject from your premises when you've had enough). 

You can buy Rointe - look here (https://www.cef.co.uk/catalogue/products/4578880-1-6kw-15-element-digital-low-consumption-radiator ), but even at that price you'd be hard pushed to inflate the cost of supply & install  to £9500 for six of them. TBH £550 for a 1.6kw heater is daft when you can get one of these for hundreds of pounds less. maybe not so pretty but?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=2kw+oil-filled+radiators&adgrpid=122970316068&gclid=CjwKCAjw9r-DBhBxEiwA9qYUpXZ83m7khdC8aUOV_ga-IC3lyE8mv5a5IP2pg3u67GXvtwkJlUI8fhoCs54QAvD_BwE&hvadid=484337651250&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9050369&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=5429784668686846465&hvtargid=kwd-1061413427985&hydadcr=20937_1721503&tag=googhydr-21&ref=pd_sl_t9tsl5tit_e

Mystic_CT

Yes, they are fancy electric radiators. However, the company literature does describe Elkatherm heating as a "modern electric storage heating technology".

Anyway, as I'm researching the best and long-term heating options for my home, the home visit/survey proved to be a useful exercise 😉