Storage heater recommendations

JadeGurl

Hi everyone, I’m thinking of getting a storage heater for my living room and was hoping for some recommendations. I live in a new build 2 bed flat. There aren’t draughts or anything but the insulation’s really bad, and the flat doesn’t retain heat when it’s switched off plus I’m on the ground floor and the floor gets quite cold. I’m on an economy 7 tariff. I’ve been avoiding being home during the day most of the winter but just started a full time job, working from home 3-4 days and will need to be home. I’m very sensitive to cold so will need heating but really can’t use it in the day it’s too expensive. Was wondering if anyone has any recommendations for night storage heaters. I saw some second hand ones on gumtree but it all seems quite complicated, the sellers told me I’ll need an electrician to install them. I thought I could just plug and go! Looking at new ones too, don’t really know where to begin. Any suggestions or signposting to guides would be amazing. Thanks 

Robin9

Have you any heating in the flat ?    eg Panel heaters .

Can you give us your actual consumptions please -  both day and night.


Edit - By "New Build" - what year/decade ?

Raxiel

I know it doesn't directly answer your original question, but as far as keeping warm while working from home goes, I picked up a small heat pad last October. I have it on my chair and even on its lowest setting it's pretty effective at keeping me warm and means I can leave the central heating off through the day, only turning it back up when the kids come home.

It's not perfect, I do occasionally get chilly fingers and toes when it's particularly cold out. But it costs next to nothing to run and, only cost £20 to buy. Cheap enough to get as a stopgap while you consider your options for a more substantial solution.

I don't know enough about storage heaters to comment in detail there.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

as you are on E7, did your flat used to have storage heaters, and if so, are the connection points still there?

Gerry1

Do you own the flat and intend to stay there for a reasonable time?

If so, your best bet would be to go for new High Heat Retention NSHs, assuming that it's impossible to get gas and that a heat pump isn't realistic.  HHR NSHs are better than the old plain 'Box of Bricks' ones: HHRs use a fan to blow out heat only at times when it's needed. so they are cheaper to run because they don't leak heat all through the night.  Think of them like a vacuum flask compared to a hot water bottle.  HHR NSHs will make the flat easier to sell when the time comes.

Ideally you need two supplies, a 24h circuit for the controller and the fan, and an E7 circuit switched by the meter.  That prevents any possibility of it charging up at expensive daytime rates.  A workaround is to use a single 24h circuit with the NSH wired and programmed to charge at the appropriate times.  However, it's then imperative to ensure that it's programmed to mimic the actual switching times, not the times when the meter is supposed to switch over.  Get it wrong an it's an ongoing expensive mistake !  The only way to be sure is to look at the meter and see when it changes over.

Better still is to make sure that one of the E7 outlets has a neon indicator, then you can see at a glance when it's cheap rate.

Dimplex Quantum and Elnur are brands to consider.  If in doubt go for a bigger unit to make sure it doesn't get too cool in the evenings.  They have a heating element that can be used to give a boost if you've messed things up, but this should be used very sparingly because it uses expensive daytime rates.

With an HHR it's very important that you are fully au fait with its programming.  You'll get big bills if it's automatically using the top-up heater, but you can limit its hours of operation.  Don't rely on the default settings or the installer (who is unlikely to be there around midnight to see when the E7 rate kicks in), learn all about it and do it yourself.

Similar thinking applies to the immersion heaters: the lower one should be on an E7 switched circuit, the upper one (Boost) should be left switched off.

In the meantime, check your bills and do the sums: if you don't yet have NSHs it's probably cheaper to change to single rate in the meantime.  This doesn't need a meter change.  Most suppliers will happily bill an E7 meter at single rate: if yours doesn't, just switch to a friendlier company.

JadeGurl

Robin9 said:

Have you any heating in the flat ?    eg Panel heaters .

Can you give us your actual consumptions please -  both day and night.


Edit - By "New Build" - what year/decade ?

Thanks for the response. These were built in 2004, so not mega new it’s just what the advert said. 

There are heaters in the flat, quite basic electric dimplex ones attached to the walls. 

Last month my day consumption was 23464 and night was 37259 

Gerry1

JadeGurl said:

Robin9 said:

Have you any heating in the flat ?    eg Panel heaters .

Can you give us your actual consumptions please -  both day and night.


Edit - By "New Build" - what year/decade ?

Last month my day consumption was 23464 and night was 37259 

No, those are likely to be the usage figures from when the meter was installed.  They suggest that there were NSHs that were unwisely replaced with panel heaters.

So right now you have the worst of all possible worlds, panel heaters that are cripplingly expensive to run and an unsuitable tariff that then makes a bad situation even worse.

JadeGurl

Gerry1 said:

Do you own the flat and intend to stay there for a reasonable time?

If so, your best bet would be to go for new High Heat Retention NSHs, assuming that it's impossible to get gas and that a heat pump isn't realistic.  HHR NSHs are better than the old plain 'Box of Bricks' ones: HHRs use a fan to blow out heat only at times when it's needed. so they are cheaper to run because they don't leak heat all through the night.  Think of them like a vacuum flask compared to a hot water bottle.  HHR NSHs will make the flat easier to sell when the time comes.

Ideally you need two supplies, a 24h circuit for the controller and the fan, and an E7 circuit switched by the meter.  That prevents any possibility of it charging up at expensive daytime rates.  A workaround is to use a single 24h circuit with the NSH wired and programmed to charge at the appropriate times.  However, it's then imperative to ensure that it's programmed to mimic the actual switching times, not the times when the meter is supposed to switch over.  Get it wrong an it's an ongoing expensive mistake !  The only way to be sure is to look at the meter and see when it changes over.

Better still is to make sure that one of the E7 outlets has a neon indicator, then you can see at a glance when it's cheap rate.

Dimplex Quantum and Elnur are brands to consider.  If in doubt go for a bigger unit to make sure it doesn't get too cool in the evenings.  They have a heating element that can be used to give a boost if you've messed things up, but this should be used very sparingly because it uses expensive daytime rates.

With an HHR it's very important that you are fully au fait with its programming.  You'll get big bills if it's automatically using the top-up heater, but you can limit its hours of operation.  Don't rely on the default settings or the installer (who is unlikely to be there around midnight to see when the E7 rate kicks in), learn all about it and do it yourself.

Similar thinking applies to the immersion heaters: the lower one should be on an E7 switched circuit, the upper one (Boost) should be left switched off.

In the meantime, check your bills and do the sums: if you don't yet have NSHs it's probably cheaper to change to single rate in the meantime.  This doesn't need a meter change.  Most suppliers will happily bill an E7 meter at single rate: if yours doesn't, just switch to a friendlier company.

Thanks for taking the time to respond! And the recommendations. I own my flat, I’ll probably be here for another couple years and then review. 

What’s a heat pump and an immersion heater? I haven’t heard of those before! 

Sadly there’s no gas in the area and the building manager told me no plans for it either. Two neighbors have told me their suppliers are refusing to switch them to e7 so I’m afraid to come off my tariff in case I can’t get back on! I want the NSHs for peace of mind so I can heat my flat in the day without worrying.  If I get something secondhand, do you know where I can look for an engineer to install them.. I agree it’s important to know how storage heaters work.. is there any place that teaches this online? Thank you! 

Robin9

You will almost certainly have an immersion heater - that's what supplies your hot water.  A big tank in a storage cupboard

There should be two switches associated with it - one at the bottom is on the off peak and should be switched on - the one at the top perhaps marked Boost - should be off (unless you run out of hot water)

JadeGurl

Gerry1 said:

JadeGurl said:

Robin9 said:

Have you any heating in the flat ?    eg Panel heaters .

Can you give us your actual consumptions please -  both day and night.


Edit - By "New Build" - what year/decade ?

Last month my day consumption was 23464 and night was 37259 

No, those are likely to be the usage figures from when the meter was installed.  They suggest that there were NSHs that were unwisely replaced with panel heaters.

So right now you have the worst of all possible worlds, panel heaters that are cripplingly expensive to run and an unsuitable tariff that then makes a bad situation even worse.

I don’t really understand.. my figures change every month..I’ve been here around 18 months.. so I think the figures are from when I was here.. the night ones a lot higher because Ive been avoiding coming home till midnight almost every day and stayed up most of the night with an oil filled radiator on in one room  (was in between school and jobs so didn’t have to wake up early but that’s changed now) 

pochase

The numbers you gave are what has been used since the meters were installed.

Your usage is the difference between the last reading last and today. 

Most do a reading once a month, but it makes sense to do them more often while you get a feeling for what you use.

Do you submit readings to your supplier? That is important, otherwise they will estimate your usage and you might pay to much upfront, or you will have a debt later on.