Replacing an old Economy 7 heater with a modern one, will I save much on electric bills?

Dandytf

Lots of very useful advice thanks
I called SP whom advised my times were 22:00-08:30
I'm not quite convinced and found this white meter 1 info which could be correct?

WM1 

23:00 to 07:30 GMT (i.e. 00:00 to 08:30 BST in summer)

Dandytf

@RedFraggle

Those 21c winter times seem very generous for my minimum usage.
Is it possible to confirm if your setup was 2 Circuits or Single.
Love the Screenshot!
6.4kwh upto 13.4kwh- This is very impressive considering 7am-10pm times 

thanks

Swipe

Dandytf said:

Lots of very useful advice thanks
I called SP whom advised my times were 22:00-08:30
I'm not quite convinced and found this white meter 1 info which could be correct?

WM1 

23:00 to 07:30 GMT (i.e. 00:00 to 08:30 BST in summer)

I would tend not to rely on third party info, either from the supplier or forums, but rather stay up late and get up early to witness the switch over times yourself.

Gerry1

As Swipe says, what counts is what the meter on the wall actually does, not what's on the web or what somebody in a call centre says.  It's determined by your DNO, not SP.

Scot_39

The dual vs single wiring is covered in many other discussions.

Although in theory a well configured AND MAINTAINED set of time settings should just be as cheap to run on single wiring - it's just a safer bet "to go dual wired" to let the system take care and avoid risk of charging main input circuit at peak rate - as unit then "iirc the manual" will only ever uses the meter switched supply input for main charge element.

Dual wiring should only be a question of running a switched or at least removable fuse spur fed from the local ring main (think adjacent wall socket - no floor boards etc) if already have a meter switched supply to existing storage panel - based on answers from other upgraders in other posts.

But if it's a fresh install - each heater now needs it's own iirc 20A MCB and spur wiring back to the consumer unit.

In the old analogue days - meters have been known to run several hours out - it is less likely in digital / smart world - but rare problems have been found.

So if end up single wiring - check whether Quantum timings need adjusting for GMT / DST(BST) - as their is a risk of 1 hr at wrong rate if they don't match meter. Think that point was answered in another thread - just cannot remember the answer.

IIRC - the factory defaults - is that they will take charge 24/7 as required in single wire mode - regardless of cost.

As to programming - they have upto 4 charge periods that would need configured - in reality only one needed for most E7 (I actually thought there was one that had 2 active zones in the overall window - but cannot quickly find a reference).

This one shows lots of scope for regional variation though.

Edit :  re https://switchd.co.uk/energy/guides/economy7/

Others below suggest this site is not a reliable guide - so please check

@Dandytf

Be careful of whitemeter - SP ran several tariffs under that banner name - see e.g.

https://www.scottishpower.co.uk/energy-efficiency/energy-efficiency-toolkit/electric-heating

Note that first line - white meter 1 - is 8.5 hrs at SP discretion off peak in your CS quoted 22:00 to 08:30 window - not the full 10.5 hr window.

Not sure how discretion works - meter programming I guess - fixed ?

Scot_39

Dandytf said:

Lots of very useful advice thanks
I called SP whom advised my times were 22:00-08:30
I'm not quite convinced and found this white meter 1 info which could be correct?

WM1 

23:00 to 07:30 GMT (i.e. 00:00 to 08:30 BST in summer)

According to SP link I posted above - thats the fix times only for what they term key meters (prepay ?)

But given your morning end time agrees - the start time - might too.

RedFraggle

I have a separate E7 circuit as the flat was built like that. Without that I'd have needed to programme for the off peak hours but the quantums are pretty user friendly. 
I work from home, and have arthritis, so can't be cold so 21C it is 🤣
Thought the screenshot was the best way to illustrate and I love that I can monitor usage to avoid any nasty surprises. 
I still have 2 old style NSHs - one in the hallway that I use in winter and one in my bedroom that I can't use as the heat leakage cooks me. 
The Quantums really are a huge improvement on traditional NSHs in my opinion. 
Can't advice on cost savings as I upgraded the living areas to Quantum before moving in but I've been very impressed with them having previously only ever had GCH. 

RedFraggle

Stubod said:

I have heard the the Dimplex Quantums are "difficult/complicated" to set up. Just wondering what users experiences are and whether they are worth the extra over the more conventional types. I would certainly like to get at least one new heater installed before next Winter?

I don't think they're difficult at all. They run themselves and adjust themselves. Just don't mess them up by using a secondary heat source in the same room as it fools the temperature monitoring into thinking the weather's warmed up and they won't take sufficient charge for the next day. If you're cold turn them up. 

Stubod

RedFraggle said:

I don't think they're difficult at all. They run themselves and adjust themselves. Just don't mess them up by using a secondary heat source in the same room as it fools the temperature monitoring into thinking the weather's warmed up and they won't take sufficient charge for the next day. If you're cold turn them up. 

Ta for the heads up. Could be a problem as our main heating in the livingroom during the evening is a multi fuel burner...although that is normally "out" buy the time the SH come on?? ...and I assume I could programme the timers not to turn the heater on until about 3:00 am??

Dandytf

re checked

SP

MPAN Area 18

South Scotlad

Normal E7 off peak times (GMT)

23:00 - 07:30

That would become

00:00-08:30 bst

thanks mser's delayed install, I'll post update.

Some great advice some of which I recall from Dimplex pdf, and great tip to avoid temptation to re use single Hallogen Heater.