New storage heaters, Dimplex Quantum??

Stubod

Hi all, looking to pull the trigger on replacing a couple of our 25+ year old storage heaters. Noted that Dimplex Quantums sseem to be a popular, (although more expensive) choice.

Just looking for some input as  to whether they are worth the extra money?

A bit of background....we are now retired, so at home most days. Not really bothered about the seemingly endless ways to programme the new type storage heaters. 

Our current "old fashioned / dumb" radiators have no timer controls so they just come on at around midnight, heat up depending on the thermostat setting and then shut down when the temp is reached. 

We never open up the "flaps" to let more heat out and they are normally running cold by early / mid evening so we have a multi fuel burner as our main heat source in the evening.

Ideally I woud like to programme any new heaters to come on later in the morning so there is more heat available during the evening. (According to my smart meter data the current heaters are only "on" for a 3 hours before they "turn off", so I thought it may be better to have the new heaters programmed to come on around 3:00 am??).

I dont ever intend to use a "boost" function, ie burn daytlime electric to boost the heat input.

So I suppose my question is, is it worth buying Quantums, or should I just buy an alternative "high heat" retention heater without a lot of bells and whistles given the way I would intend to run the?

..which is basically to have them come on for (eg), 3 hours from 4:00am to 7:00am, and not bother with any "boost" options?

Many thanks for getting this far, and for any advice from any current users...

Gerry1

You don't need to program the charging times (assuming you do it properly with both a 24h and E7 supply), the Quantum will do it automatically.  You just need to specify how warm you want it and when.

@EssexHebridean is the go-to person to advise.

Stubod

Ta for the comment.....but I think that is my problem, I don't think I need / want that level of sophistication? I just want the heaters to come on later in the morning, and be more efficient at "storing up" the heat to to release it later in the day? 

The only problem with my current heaters is that they come on too early, and no onger seem to retain the stored heat......probably over thinking it....

Scot_39

You might not currently want or ever need all the bells and whistles.

But you might be interested in say the latest Quantum RF dependent fix offer from B Gas - that gives iirc c10p night rates where you may find 14-16p more typical for e7 in many regions with other big suppliers.

That potential 4p+(*) a unit might cover the extra cost of the quantums and the hub in a reasonable time scale let alone heater lifetime - if a heavy electric heat user (not so clear as you use a multifuel - wood ? - burner too )

That only the latest tech from the right supplier can open upto you.

There's a thread here on it if search.

Edit (*) if your current nsh are large ones, and charge for 3 hrs - that could be (upto 2×3.3x 3hrs) = 20kWh per day still - so the BG tariff might save you £1 per day

But I must admit the likes of Creda TSRE lot 20 with similar controls and other some cheaper lot 20 models - have at times seemed a potentially better bet to save a few £100s - as was half looking at mixing.

Iirc @EssexHebridean has recently moved, but was running a mix of Quantum nsh and older nsh including a much older Creda model in hallway or such iirc.

Swipe

If you tend to wake in the night like I do to spend a penny, maybe it's worth leaving them off and then switching them on when you wake in the wee hours.

Stubod

..thanks......just commited to Octopus "fix" for 12 months, so changing supplier is not really an option..

At the mo we only tend to use 2 heaters, one i the hallway, and one in the living room. We don't like heat in the bedroom and just use a heated under blanket for half an hour, and in the kitchen I have just installed a plinth heater we we use as and when needed. (Seems pointless heating the kitchen all day when we are probably only in there for the odd hour here and there...).

(..and we don't bother heating the servants quarters....   ...)

Scot_39

Swipe said:

If you tend to wake in the night like I do to spend a penny, maybe it's worth leaving them off and then switching them on when you wake in the wee hours.

Or if happy with old nsh and expect them to last a while.

Depending on consumer unit and meter arrangement get them wired to a live feed mcb spur  with a dedicated 16A timer switch to do the same automatically.  

Edit : If you can find digital ones that will preserve the timing over 17hrs the off peak is off - you might not even need to change feed.


Or fit a auxiliary contactor and timer to drive the off peak consumer unit.

And save £100s on cost of new heaters.

Gerry1

Quantums will do exactly what you want.  They won't waste money by leaking heat throughout the night when it's not needed, nor do you have to have them blowing out heat in the morning if you don't need it.

However, if they're correctly dimensioned and programmed it won't have to be one or the other, you can be warm in the morning and late in the evening as well.

If it gets chilly in the evenings it may well be the case that one or more elements in your simple Box of Bricks NSHs have failed.  They're cheap and easy to replace.  Just do the Storage Heater Sanity Test.

Stubod

..I am (fairly) happy that our current / old heaters are working OK as the heat across the whole "radiator" is even. The problem is the almost none existant insulation. The house is generally quite warm during the day, just looking for less heat during the day, and more at night...

EssexHebridean

Stubod said:

..thanks......just commited to Octopus "fix" for 12 months, so changing supplier is not really an option..

At the mo we only tend to use 2 heaters, one i the hallway, and one in the living room. We don't like heat in the bedroom and just use a heated under blanket for half an hour, and in the kitchen I have just installed a plinth heater we we use as and when needed. (Seems pointless heating the kitchen all day when we are probably only in there for the odd hour here and there...).

(..and we don't bother heating the servants quarters....   ...)

Right - so this is exactly the heating setup we had, or rather used, because like you we always kept the bedrooms unheated, the NSH’s there being older style ones, and so tended to make the rooms unduly hot overnight. 

Thr hallway heater was a Quantum - just a small one, but excellent at heating the middle of the flat. The living room one was an older style one again - and like you we used to keep the output fully closed, varying the input depending on the temperature required. Generally speaking ours was still giving out at least some heat by mid evening, but not always sufficient to actually be warm. The Quantum, however, would still be giving a decent heat level out by the time it finished its evening heating slot. We let ours do its thing in relation to charging - firstly because with the twin feed you CAN just let it sort itself out, but also because it did it far more efficiently than we would have done probably! 

We had the Quantum programmed to come on for a short while in the morning after the charging period ended - we found that although it’s insulation was very good indeed, it did lose enough heat still to leave the place feeling just warm enough first thing - the short amount of heating was as much as anything to get the ambient temperature up just a little more. Then generally speaking it would be off all day until a short time before we were due in from work - through until about half an hour before we were intending to go to bed.  The thing the Quantums are really good at is making sure that they manage their charging -v- heat output, you do need to learn to trust them though, for a long while I probably meddled with ours too much truth be told!  They do have the option for the boost element too - and although ours wasn’t used often, it did occasionally get used for a short while for example returning from a winter holiday and wanting to warm the place quickly. It also isn’t an automatic “balancing element” like some makes have - on the Quantum it will only kick in if you physically ask it to. 

I’m going to tag @RedFraggle here too as they have more up to date versions of the Quantum than the one we had. 

Gerry1

Stubod said:

...just looking for less heat during the day, and more at night...

https://youtu.be/UeB3Xf_qKvA