New storage heaters cost help

set

Gerry1 said:

Does each NSH have one supply circuit or two?

If only one, take great care that they're programmed to your meter's actual E7 times, not what they're supposed to be.

Hi, The electrician put another supply in for both heaters yesterday. Ie we now have two plugs for each heater. 

set

Scot_39 said:

So to give say 1kW all day would need 24kWh energy, charged off peak or from boost element.

The 150 iirc is c3.3 kW main charge elements the 100 will be lower.  If matches output guess 2.2kW.

That's the power they will draw when charging over night. But probably never the whole off peak period after settled - just like the old ones it takes a lot to get them upto temp from cold.

But unless they need that charge - to heat the room - they will adapt their energy  input over time.

If these are not dual connected - to live and your off peak circuits (they can be wired purely off live) - less likely as are nsh upgrades perhaps (that often need the new live spur, reusing old e7 only time switched circuits spur) make sure the charge times are set accurately - to match your exact times (are you sure that's ending 8am - in winter gmt and summer bst for instance ?)

And also be careful - as these are hybrid devices - they actually contain a separate heater element - that can be used to boost heat output using peak rate.  The 150 about 1.1kW iirc., 100 again lower. So can act also essentially like a £20-30 plug in fan heater if insufficient charge.

It's potentially not just the low power fan that's on at peak rate.

These are well insulated and need the fan to circulate the heat - they don't rely on passive radiation and convection like older models.  They just don't leak enough heat to give output rating without it.

I'm not sure if these boosting elements can be on in at same time as charge - again an actual owner might advise. 

As the c9kW displayed more than the 2 charge elements alone - just a potential thought.

But this again should adapt out as learns your needs.

But properly setup - these should be better - particularly on e7 where an old conventional model tends to leak heat perhaps when you don't need it and you get the warm am, cold in evening or too hot am warm in evening problem.

If your struggling post again any Q - owners of them  have been helpful to other new users.

Hope they work well for you.

And post back and let us know how you get on once they settle down.

As someone who may need the same upgrades - always interesting to read feedback from new owners.

 Hi Thank you so much for your reply, not going to lie I'm going to have to read it again when I get home and have a brew lol I will post updates on what the display says about cost etc. 

Gerry1

Good, that's one potential pitfall out of the way.  The other is allowing the Boost peak rate heater to come on automatically.

Mstty

Jumping in on this thread, somewhere someone had a good link for second hand storage heaters. We may have the need for a couple of replacements for flats?

RedFraggle

I think you're misinterpreting the cost really too. Last night my Quantum 125 RF. Took a charge of 10 kWh

My night rate is around 15p per kwh so that heater cost £1.50 to charge up. I'll get heat from that for 14 hours today maintaining 20 - 21C in that room. 

EssexHebridean

set said:

EssexHebridean said:

Give it a few days - my Quantum takes a big old gulp of electricity it's first couple of nights on each year - as do the box of bricks type come to that.  The Quantums will also have been "aware" that they had less than half the usual time to get its required charge in so they will have been working at full wallop trying to get as much charge as possible in the time available.  The good news is that assuming the IHD (which is what you have pictured by the way - NOT the smart meter) is set correctly then the heaters are definitely drawing power as they should be on the off peak. 

Thanks for your reply. These heaters are new to us. Previously using at least 10-15 year old ones   with regards to the fan at the bottom of the unit, does that go on for a while, is it used for Boost AND to keep the temp to the setting we put in?  I think the noise of the fan is going to take a bit of getting used to.

The fan is used for heat output during your programmed times and for the boost option too - you'll almost certainly find that you just stop noticing at after a while - I have to consciously stop and listen now to be sure ours is on when it should be! 

Scot_39

littleteapot said:

Check the overnight charge timings *actually* match the off-peak period on your meter (check the meter at various times late night and early morning if necessary) and that the thermostat options/temperatures are set correctly on your new heater as per the instructions and any guidance other members of this forum with experience of this particular model give you.

As others have pointed out, the first night heating a new storage heater from cold will use a lot more energy than the nightly re-heat, so it's probably worth measuring its consumption again after another 1-2 nights once the adaptive charge algorithm has settled before drawing any conclusions. 

Could be wrong, but thought the timer issue is related to single feed wiring only.  Not peak and external switched off peak.

The dimplex manual only talks about the timer settings in fig 9b for single feed wiring for instance.

But this would imply they sense a difference and not obvious from wiring diagram.

Can an actual owner comment on this 

As your definitely right don't want to be using peak rate to charge.

And given some meters like mine are gmt only - that could need fiddling with every 6 months if not.  Or restricting to  oops 6  hrs I guess - even less if in a split e7 or e10 tariff.

Gerry1

Split E7 is not a problem: there are two on and off settings.

littleteapot

In an earlier post the OP said they had an electrician provide a 'second feed' to each heater. Therefore I assume that the original outlet was connected to the E7 contactor and therefore only live during off-peak hours for the old, dumb storage heaters. The new feed must be a continuous live for the electronics, fan and boost element of the Quantum.

I haven't specifically read the instruction manual for the quantum, but on my Elnur ECOHHR units even though dual fed I still have to set the charge timer to match the times my E7 outlets are live, otherwise it fails to charge correctly (sometimes giving an error code) and if left on the default settings would use the 1100w boost element for up to 6 hours per day at peak rate to try to maintain the room temperature.

Hopefully someone well versed in Quantums will come on here to advise the OP on the timer settings required (or not) as may be the case.

Scot_39

Gerry1 said:

Split E7 is not a problem: there are two on and off settings.

There are upto 4 iirc.

The problem I was referring to was gmt bst - so start end moving by an hour.

Actually only lose an hr per slot, but 2 in a split e7 - is it SE that still does it ? 

So either manually change - or set for common core timing.

So my e10 has 3 slots, 5 overnight, 3 afternoon, 2 night.

That shortest one is 8-10pm in winter, 9-11pm in summer , and so would need to change or have in theory installer set 9-10pm.  Edit Only if wired for single feed for Quantums, possibly always for Elnurs (see @littleteapot) based on users feedback.

Overnight 12-5, 1-6, adjust or set 1-5 only for both.

So lose 1 hr charge per slot or tinker at clock changes.

My e10 becomes e7.

Mind you I would be mortified by bills if e10 meant 10 hrs of charging at my 7 kW for 3.

And it's an installation manual not a user manual described feature iirc.

But Dimplex specifically say for Fixed time external - so maybe that is meant to exclude any such meters.

Noticed they have now added a section on supplier controlled charging to latest rf series as well.