Storage heaters random stupid question

Gerry1

Sounds like they're doing all the wrong things:-

• using daytime electricity for heating, probably still on expensive E7 rates
• using an electric shower instead of hot water from the hot tank heated at night rate
• three freezers for just 2 people !  Just get one efficient modern one.

Above all, get the NSHs fixed PDQ (which shouldn't be at all expensive), and make sure they're on circuits switched by an E7 meter.  Same for the immersion heater, making sure that any upper heater on a 24h supply (possibly labelled Boost) is left permanently off.

matelodave

Using oil filled radiators could be costing them twice as much as using storage heaters. When are they heating their water - ideally it should be during the overnight off-peak period. Three freezers could be using quite a lot especially if they are getting on a bit.

Do they really need to use the washing machine five times a week - they use just as much leccy when they are full as when they are only half full, so they could possibly economise by making sure the machine is full.

Dont confuse the In Home Device with a smart meter. The smart meter is what is in the meter cupboard and is connected to the incoming mains and fuse box. The IHD just allows you to remotely read it, so learn how to use it to get maximum benefit.

Check that their bills do actually reflect their consumption by reading the meterand checking that the bills are accurate - do not rely on the smart meter communicating correcly with the supplier - do your own checking.

As others have said, you cant compare the cost of heating a house with gas to heating with leccy. Leccy is 4-5 more expensive than gas and possibly even more if they are using daytime energy on an off peak tariff to heat their house, provide hot water and run three freezers (are they all full or could they just use one or two)
How much are they paying per kwh at peak and off-peak rates.

We use around 7200kwh of leccy and are presently only paying around £80 a month (although I suspect that it wont last much longer if the supplier goes bust)

Sunrise27

Storage heaters are broken and turned off
The immersion heater is on for an hour in the morning ( only 15 minutes of that is on economy 7 ) then an hour in the afternoon 
My mum said if she had it on for 2 hours early morning to take advantage of the economy 7 the water wouldn't stay hot all day ??

NSG666

Sunrise27 said:

Storage heaters are broken and turned off
The immersion heater is on for an hour in the morning ( only 15 minutes of that is on economy 7 ) then an hour in the afternoon 
My mum said if she had it on for 2 hours early morning to take advantage of the economy 7 the water wouldn't stay hot all day ??

If it's a proper E7 tank then it will have 2 immersions. The bottom one turns on and off with the E7 (unless it has been switched off) and cannot be used during the day depending on how it has been wired / controlled - when used overnight it will give a full tank of hot water. The top immersion is for 'boost' but only heats the top part of the tank so that might be why she thinks the hot water won't last all day as she's never heating the full tank.
That's how I have seen them in a proper E7 arrangement but they are sometimes wired so they can be overridden and then often not used properly - I used to see this happen a bit in student lets and the students would wonder why they had large bills.

Swipe

Sunrise27 said:

Storage heaters are broken and turned off
The immersion heater is on for an hour in the morning ( only 15 minutes of that is on economy 7 ) then an hour in the afternoon 
My mum said if she had it on for 2 hours early morning to take advantage of the economy 7 the water wouldn't stay hot all day ??

That makes no sense. My immersion heater is set to 60C, comes on between 2 and 4am for 90mins and the water is still piping hot at 10pm. And my lagging jacket is falling apart at that exposing the copper tank.

QrizB

Swipe said:

Sunrise27 said:

Storage heaters are broken and turned off
The immersion heater is on for an hour in the morning ( only 15 minutes of that is on economy 7 ) then an hour in the afternoon 
My mum said if she had it on for 2 hours early morning to take advantage of the economy 7 the water wouldn't stay hot all day ??

That makes no sense. My immersion heater is set to 60C, comes on between 2 and 4am for 90mins and the water is still piping hot at 10pm. And my lagging jacket is falling apart at that exposing the copper tank.

Agreed, when I had an E7 house I'd heat water overnight and it was plenty hot enough for a bath late the following evening. That tank had sprayed foam insulation.

Ectophile

So they are on E7 which gives cheap electricity at night, but more expensive electricity during the day (that's more expensive than a standard tarriff).  They avoid using any of the night-time cheap electricity, and do all their water heating and space heating during the day.

They need to get the storage heaters fixed, and change the timing on the immersion heater so it comes on in the middle if the night when it's cheapest.  Make sure the hot water tank, and the pipes leading to it, are well insulated.  My tank will stay hot for a day if I don't use too much of the hot water.

coffeehound

I wonder if the automatic E7 switching was lost when the smart meter was installed

@Sunrise27 did the storage heaters stop working properly when the meter was changed?

Sunrise27

coffeehound said:

I wonder if the automatic E7 switching was lost when the smart meter was installed

@Sunrise27 did the storage heaters stop working properly when the meter was changed?

Just asked them and they said they don't think so x 

coffeehound

Sunrise27 said:

coffeehound said:

I wonder if the automatic E7 switching was lost when the smart meter was installed

@Sunrise27 did the storage heaters stop working properly when the meter was changed?

Just asked them and they said they don't think so x 

Do you know what your parents are paying for their electric - peak rate, off-peak rate and daily standing charge?  It may be they can get a better tariff.

Can you post a photo of their meter with the nearby electrical wiring and consumer unit (fusebox)?

Do you know their E7 cheap rate times for certain?  It's best to verify this by seeing when the meter actually changes from Rate 1 to Rate 2 and back again if possible.

Does the hot water tank have a timer to switch it on, or just a wall switch?  Again, an overall photo of the tank and switches would help understand their situation.  In the meantime, can they try to run the immersion only on the cheap rate?  That alone should save them a few £.  If they were also able to use the shower during off-peak time, that's another potential saving, though obviously they would need to be up early.