Storage heater recommendations

RedFraggle

You need a 24hr feed and E7 ideally. 
Tips:
Don't use a secondary heat source you'll mess with it's algorithms 
Trust it, I love my Quantums

GibbsRule_No3.

HA have insisted on installing Quantum Dimplex RF in my bungalow.  It is not going well, waiting for them to return and fix the E7, so at present I am having to use just the expensive Boost button.  Room is obviously warming up while that is activated but then drops like a stone when it goes off. When they do fix the problem does anyone have a tip on setting the timer settings?  My old NSHs would heat nicely overnight, so I’d wake to a lovely warm home, especially if I needed a potty break at 3am.  I’d have NSH on the number 1 release setting, so stayed warm during the day and was still toasty when I went to bed, most night’s after 10.30.

I usually wake around 5.30, so I’d like a warm house for when I get up, about an hour later. I work a couple of days a week and am normally away during the day at weekends. I know it will be trial and error but a tip for keeping it warm all day, like the old ones would be useful. Assume the higher I set the degree the quicker the storage will run out.

I agree about the noise from the fan and that the case is cold, unlike the old ones where there was no noise and the case itself was warm. At present I wished I’d kicked up a stink and told them I wanted to keep my old ones, I was pressured into changing by being told it was illegal not to let them instal the new ones, not sure how true that was.

EssexHebridean

OK - having now had central heating for a whole two months, it surprises me how much NSH's are already fading into distant memory for me, but I'll have a go...

Ours used to be set to come on immediately after the charging time finished in the morning - we found that HHR or not, it still lost sufficient heat while charging that we didn't need anything prior to that time, and it worked out a fair bit cheaper to not be asking it to produce heat while also charging. It was usually on for around an hour at that stage on weekdays, and then (using the "out all day" setting), was set to come back on again around an hour before we'd be back in again in the evening, with that heating window continuing until around 30 minutes to an hour before we went to bed. Weekends, I usually had set for a couple of hours in the morning - again from directly after charging finished - and then late afternoon through to, again, about an hour before we expected to go to bed. 

For context, ours was in the hallway, heating the centre of the flat and allowing the warmth to permeate into bathroom and 2 bedrooms where doors were left open during the day. We also had a large older style one in the front room (door to that was left closed as a rule when the heating was switched on) and a heated towel rail in the bathroom which was usually on for around 3 hours overnight into first thing in the morning. 

The quantums are a bit smarter than the old style ones in that it's not as simple as "the higher you set the heat output the faster it will run out" - the heater will adjust its own charge times to take account of both the heat output desired, the amount of time that output is desired for, and also by taking a view of the ambient temperature as well. 

GibbsRule_No3.

EssexHebridean thank you for such a useful post. My off peak goes off at 7.30 so I assume you are saying there is not much point me setting it to come on at 5.45 (I’ll leave it at this for tomorrow as it will be the first day of use) that I thought I would need, so it was warm when I do get up?  I saw mention of it learning my pattern of use but did not realise that the more I used it the longer it would charge for, guess that means it would cost more, not that I care I just want to be as warm as I was with the old conventional heaters.  I see trial and error in my future. I have three QM70s (bedroom, lounge and kitchen) one QM100 in the lounge.

lilac_dawn

@EssexHebridean which type of central heating did you have installed? Was it gas? 

EssexHebridean

It wasn’t so much “had installed” @lilac_dawn - more that we moved, and the new house has GCH in it.  Huge learning curve for us - last time we had a boiler and radiators was 20 years ago, and that was a simple “heatings on/heating’s off” setup without even a thermostat! So far the biggest novelty is showers and particularly hair washing not costing an absolute fortune - in our last home we had an electric shower where here of course it all runs straight off the boiler!  😆

@GibbsRule_No3 It will definitely take some trial and error. Allowing that you get up as early as you do, you may find a short release of stored heat just prior to that time makes you feel more comfortable, and the heaters will still have time to top back up again ahead of the E7 rate switching to peak. Because our Quantum was in the hallway right in the centre of the flat, we always found we could cope quite well with just the passive heat loss from it, plus the warmth from the heated towel rail in the bathroom for first thing. 

lilac_dawn

@EssexHebridean that makes me feel better as you were such a cheerleader for quantums I’d have hated to think you’d ripped them out 😂  We have an electric shower in our holiday home and I’m not a fan as it’s a bit erratic depending on water pressure. The one at home is on Eco 7 immersion so that’s better. I’d love GSH again though - I bet you’re enjoying yours  

EssexHebridean

lilac_dawn said:

@EssexHebridean that makes me feel better as you were such a cheerleader for quantums I’d have hated to think you’d ripped them out 😂  We have an electric shower in our holiday home and I’m not a fan as it’s a bit erratic depending on water pressure. The one at home is on Eco 7 immersion so that’s better. I’d love GSH again though - I bet you’re enjoying yours  

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t! 😆 When we originally moved into the flat we had initially assumed we would have it installed, but it didn’t take long to realise that this would have meant a huge amount of upheaval, but everything we had heard about storage heaters prior to that had been negative, basically. In fact, it didn’t take long to get to grips with using E7 and NSH’s - and we learned pretty fast that essentially most of the naysaying came from those with older, “lossy” heaters which they also very probably weren’t using efficiently. The first revelation was getting our original ancient front room one replaced with a Dimplex XLN - suddenly we had heating that actually let us produce warmth when we needed it AND used a fraction of the energy to heat than the old one did - even though the XLN models aren’t High Heat Retention, the insulation was such an improvement on the old ones it made a big difference. The second was having that single Quantum installed some years later - the controllability of that was incredible. We didn’t stop learning about using the heaters and the economy 7 effectively though - each winter, there were always new discoveries relating to how we could be more efficient with our energy spending. 

Stubod

..many thanks for this post...we are in the process of upgrading our 25+ years old heaters with some Dimplex Quantums....(assuming I can find an electrician to fit them!!)

lilac_dawn

EssexHebridean said:

lilac_dawn said:

@EssexHebridean that makes me feel better as you were such a cheerleader for quantums I’d have hated to think you’d ripped them out 😂  We have an electric shower in our holiday home and I’m not a fan as it’s a bit erratic depending on water pressure. The one at home is on Eco 7 immersion so that’s better. I’d love GSH again though - I bet you’re enjoying yours  

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t! 😆 When we originally moved into the flat we had initially assumed we would have it installed, but it didn’t take long to realise that this would have meant a huge amount of upheaval, but everything we had heard about storage heaters prior to that had been negative, basically. In fact, it didn’t take long to get to grips with using E7 and NSH’s - and we learned pretty fast that essentially most of the naysaying came from those with older, “lossy” heaters which they also very probably weren’t using efficiently. The first revelation was getting our original ancient front room one replaced with a Dimplex XLN - suddenly we had heating that actually let us produce warmth when we needed it AND used a fraction of the energy to heat than the old one did - even though the XLN models aren’t High Heat Retention, the insulation was such an improvement on the old ones it made a big difference. The second was having that single Quantum installed some years later - the controllability of that was incredible. We didn’t stop learning about using the heaters and the economy 7 effectively though - each winter, there were always new discoveries relating to how we could be more efficient with our energy spending. 

I've lived with E7 for almost 20 years now so am well-versed. When I moved 2 years ago, I foolishly moved to another apartment in the same development so am resigned to putting up with E7 for a few years yet. I don't find it too bad as it just requires a bit of forward planning for using the washing machine and dishwasher at the right time - I have been known to do ironing at midnight too! I have an XLN too in the living room but my issue is the room is so large it is really hard to heat. There's an old SH there too but the two aren't enough to heat the room well so I am on a mission this year to improve things. This new property had been tenanted for 20 years and had an odd set-up with 2 SHs always on and a SH in one of the bedrooms so the first winter I got it all serviced and moved some of the heaters around. Now I want to upgrade some of them (would still prefer GSH but it's not going to happen!)