Dimplex v Elnur HHR heaters

MattNev

Hi,
Im swapping out my old Night storage heaters in my flat for new HHR heaters.  I am very lucky that due to my postcode and current poor energy rating I am eligible for a Grant to cover a company to fit new heaters for free.  Before this lucky break I had planned to try and save up for the Dimplex quantum heaters as I wanted the WiFi control and preferred the look.  However the company are offering installation of the Elnur EcoHHR heaters.  What is the difference between the two apart from the WiFi control.  I totally get the "beggars cant be choosers" thing but Elnur are even uglier than Dimplex - Im sure I will get slammed for that comment, im not trying to being ungrateful just interested in others experience and opinion on efficiency, usability and reliability. 

Scot_39

Elnur iirc now do a PRO SSH series for those wanting remote smart via internet control of their storage heaters.

Would they be available - with the company - or another in the area ?

Dimplex used to supply non RF models without wireless connectivity and home hub link (to internet) - for a lower price.

Have you checked they are offering the RF connected series - and if so - does it include the hub ?

Not looked at the details of either - but did look at old non connected specs a little - when I had a fault - my neighbour was upgrading to Quantums - so got a price - but the fix was in my CU - not the heater anyway.

But both are likely to be a major step up from older models - especially if as old and manual dial controlled like mine.

MattNev

From what I can tell the Elnur SSH heaters are not High heat retention, which is what they are offering, but I may be wrong. I totally understand that if the company are restricted by grant amounts they are going for the cheapest option that gives the best efficiency (and maybe have a deal with Elnur).

lohr500

MattNev said:

From what I can tell the Elnur SSH heaters are not High heat retention, which is what they are offering, but I may be wrong. I totally understand that if the company are restricted by grant amounts they are going for the cheapest option that gives the best efficiency (and maybe have a deal with Elnur).

They look like HHR to me : 

https://www.elnur.co.uk/product/ecombi-hhr-high-heat-retention-storage-heaters/

Scot_39

I wonder how much difference there would be in practice between a lot 20 fan assisted model and an HHR - but yes it is a clear difference in standards.

This - written for HA etc - 

https://adecoe.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Electric-Heating-Alternative-Heating-Part-Two-Delivery.pdf

has an interesting table quoting roughly £130 energy savings - savings with HHR vs normal "modern NSH" - but its a little scant on details - and then at £150-200 per unit (depending if use input or output rating matching ) PRO SSH vs HHR - thats a reasonable pay back if footing the bill for 3-4  or more heaters.

But balance of daily usability / running costs - versus desired functionality - internet connectivity - is an interesting question.

As the SSH's are notably cheaper than the EcoHHRs and Quantum RF's - capital costs many will be driving factor - but then it's not your money in this case.

I didn't really look to close at Elnurs as both state can only cope with 2 off peak periods per day - I have 3 on my current E10. The generic Dimplex description of their charge adaption - saw online somewhere - was equally unconvincing - as written for simple E7 (taking one snapshot nightly to tweek charge required iirc) - but never really talked to their tech support in detail if would do that 3x a day in my case.

matelodave

Have you asked whether you could pay the difference to get the heaters that you like rather than the ones they supply. 

I dont know how the grant system works, but I suspect they will only be allowed a specific budget  to do the work and that would allow for basic equipment within the spec but not all the lights, bells and whistles. But would they let you pay for the gold plating on top.

MattNev

matelodave said:

Have you asked whether you could pay the difference to get the heaters that you like rather than the ones they supply. 

I dont know how the grant system works, but I suspect they will only be allowed a specific budget  to do the work and that would allow for basic equipment within the spec but not all the lights, bells and whistles. But would they let you pay for the gold plating on top.

Hi, From the reply I had they say the scheme is fixed with the Elnur Ecombi heaters, im guessing they have secured a contract with them to get them cheap.  I appreciate the Grant money needs to go as far as it can to benefit the most.  Im not sure what the resale price would be or whether I would be contactually obliged to keep them for x amount of time.  

Swipe

They look fine to me

LaiLeng

Hi all

The house I’m planning to buy a property and it has Elnur Gabarron ECOHHR40 storage heaters. One of the rooms 15’ by 15 with high ceiling has a 1120W heater. 

I would appreciate your thoughts and opinions on the following as well any other advice:

* As I work from home and will need the heating on all day as well as evening, will this type of storage heaters serves my needs?
* Is it costly to use these storage heaters considering my usage?
* Will this size storage heater be sufficient for the room size?
* Is the heat controllable ie adjustable to only release at certain time of the day?
* Can the heaters in the living and bedroom be controlled separately so that the former produces heat during the day and the latter, in the morning and evening?

Thank you, LaiLeng

Scot_39

15ft by 15ft is not that large a room by older property standards - and unless window sizes or build quality poor - your probably going to be fine - but yes it is worrying that some sites say only good for upto 10m2.

(Edit And as you have tagged this onto a Elnur vs Dimplex - the same site quotes 15m2 for the similar 3.3kw input rated Dimplex Quantum - but then it has a rated output of 1.5kW)

(My LR is slightly smaller - 15x 13 - and normal ceilings - but a sliding metal framed patio door are probably more lossy than a typical sized window - and my old non fan assisted heater - also around 1kW output is fine for my needs - even in codest weather I don't charge it to anywhere near max - either e7's 7 hrs or e10's 10)

You could put your room dimensions into a sizing tool - I've used the Dimplex one in past when considered upgrading to Quantums - but remember it's a sizing tool not an an average power required on a typical winter's day - and iirc uses -3C or suggests use -5C in Scotland as a typical worst case external temp.

Well configured HHR NSH on a well chosen tariff - are probably the next best thing from a high COP ASHP - in terms of electrical heating for many  - especially those at home most of the time - as opposed to those who just want to boost rooms for a few hours in evening.

But if your used to other forms of heating - like GCH and even simpler panels - they are more the tortoise than the hare - they run a normally lower power output - so need to be allowed to deliver it for longer.

The 1120W you have been quoted I suspect might be the output rating - as the charge rating is nearer 3.5kW from the restricted e7 style feed - if so, then over 24 hours - thats potentially 26 kWh energy output into one room - although in 7 hours it can only charge 24.4 kWh from the restricted feed according to data sheet during standard E7 hours - it also has a potential boost element - Elnur call it balance element - itself around 1 kW - which can by default operate for 5 hours per day - from the 24/7 supply feed.

So in theory a max of nearer 30 kWh - but thats a lot for a 15x15 - or even a well insulated small house - if you arent heating it to a high temp.  And that's just 1 heater.

Storage heaters - used to often be refered to as "granny and/or comfort" heaters - as the old ones especially - are better suited in some respects to smaller homes and those at home all day - like the retired - than for those out at work for large chunks of it - as they tended to leak stored heat energy - perhaps when those out at work wouldn't require it.

But the modern HHR models - are far better at retaining the heat - for those out at work - as leak less heat when no output demanded / required.

And the elnurs are thermostatically controlled - on a timer basis - so can set different temps by time - and are self adapting as far as charge taken nightly.  So need a lot less fath than older manual heaters - far more set and forget than mine - when I can be changing one or more of my heaters settings every 2-3 days as temps vary.

Just make sure you download a manual and iirc from posts you do need to set it to match your e7 / off peak rate times - and remember to check again around GMT / DST switches in case they change - and of course temperature needs.  The defaults iirc are a rather generous 18 moon (night) 21 sun (day) iirc.

And make sure you use them on a decent off-peak tariff - not all suppliers will split the Ofgem cap for multirate variable tariffs - at the same balance between peak and off-peak.  

Last winter when cap rates were a few pence higher - one user posted a table for his region with a c4p+ spread in off-peak / peak rates - c11-15p iirc (but the cheaper off-peak - came with higher peak to balance Ofgem cap - that poster was a high off peak user - so wanted a cheap off-peak rate).

If you learn to use NSH as your main heat source and have a HW immersion tank - even better if it feeds shower - you could (easily I would guess) expect to be using over half your energy at night rate.

I'm on E10 - a longer variant of E7 - and I average 75-80% off peak annually - and even in summer pretty close to 50% - and that excludes about 15% for my cold fed shower some days when cannot time it off peak.