Powerbank for an electric oil heater using Economy 7

worlestone

Bit of a random thought.  We're on Economy 7, cannot afford to do solar PV with a battery, I was wondering whether one of those big power banks people use for camping would be able to charge overnight then run an oil filled radiator as needed in the evening when our storage heaters have gone off.

Anyone know about these things? Thanks

teaselMay

Generally they'd have too low capacity and too low power output for any meaningful heating

moneysaver1978

I assume OP was talking about a portable power station, not one of these power banks for mobile phones?

victor2

Even small electric radiators take a lot of power - typically more than a "Portable Power Station" can deliver.

lohr500

I'm not sure the economics would work out.

Looks like a 2.5kWh or 3kWh power bank would set you back around £1500.
It would probably be OK running a 1kW oil filled heater.
If it was a cold room and the heater ran continually then you would get around 2.5 hours run time, give or take.

I don't know what your off peak and peak costs are, but on EDF in my region they would be 13p and 29p.

So you would save around (29-13) * 2.5 = £0.40 by running the heater for 2.5 hours each day from the powerbank charged up overnight.

It would take 3750 days of 2.5 hours daily usage, or 10 years to cover the £1500 outlay for the powerbank. By which time the batteries or the inverter in the powerbank will probably have failed. 

A better option to keep warm after the storage heaters cool down might be to look at plug-in heated throws which typically use around 150 watts and cost circa £40 

teaselMay

moneysaver1978 said:

I assume OP was talking about a portable power station, not one of these power banks for mobile phones?

That one has a power output of 600W and capacity 299Wh no where near enough power or capacity

Scot_39

worlestone said:

Bit of a random thought.  We're on Economy 7, cannot afford to do solar PV with a battery, I was wondering whether one of those big power banks people use for camping would be able to charge overnight then run an oil filled radiator as needed in the evening when our storage heaters have gone off.

Anyone know about these things? Thanks

Suspect the pay back would be many years - but sure someone will be along with a personal example soon.

Most of the camping kit in the £100s type price range - even those with secondary batteries - costing several £100s - typically only power sub 1 kW for any length of time - and again only 1-2 kWh of battery store.

To put that in perspective - my large oil filled rad - suitable for say a living room or hall to heat multiple rooms - needs upto 2.1 kW power - so you might need a 2.5-3kW invertor - and on a winters evening - dark from say 4-12 - would need to maybe draw not the full theoretical 8x2.1 kW = 16.8kWh of stored power - but could draw 5-10kWh - if the primary source of heating in a cold space.

That sort of kit - would be getting into the mid 4 figures i.e. £1000s installed - from a quick google across a couple of vendors including the batteries - to save currently say 15p/kWh - maybe a £1 a day on average - over 4-5 months a year.

moneysaver1978

teaselMay said:

moneysaver1978 said:

I assume OP was talking about a portable power station, not one of these power banks for mobile phones?

That one has a power output of 600W and capacity 299Wh no where near enough power or capacity

Agree, it was just the first one I found, there were others that has a bigger capacity and deliver higher power costing thousands of pounds.

teaselMay

Yep I had a quick search too, that's going to be the issue, anything with enough power and capacity is going to be so expensive as to negate the benefit of avoiding peak rate. They'd take decades to break even and not last that long

Scot_39

lohr500 said:

I'm not sure the economics would work out.

Looks like a 2.5kWh or 3kWh power bank would set you back around £1500.
It would probably be OK running a 1kW oil filled heater.
If it was a cold room and the heater ran continually then you would get around 2.5 hours run time, give or take.

I don't know what your off peak and peak costs are, but on EDF in my region they would be 13p and 29p.

So you would save around (29-13) * 2.5 = £0.40 by running the heater for 2.5 hours each day from the powerbank charged up overnight.

It would take 3750 days of 2.5 hours daily usage, or 10 years to cover the £1500 outlay for the powerbank. By which time the batteries or the inverter in the powerbank will probably have failed. 

A better option to keep warm after the storage heaters cool down might be to look at plug-in heated throws which typically use around 150 watts and cost circa £40 

Oh didn't realise they started that cheap. 

And yes as a late evening top up - my 2kW / 5-10 kWh probably a little OTT.

But to be honest - I suspect the OP would potentially be better simply buying a better replacement - maybe HHR type storage heater or two for that sort of money - for critical rooms.

Newbie_John

Battery is not a economical solution.

You want to cut heating costs during the day.. options are storage heater - instead of electricity it keeps heat through the day, switch to some novelty tarrif like Agile from Octopus, you get various rates through the day 10-16 tends to be cheaper, but then 16-19 much more expensive. There are new players like Tomatoe Energy that offer cheap rates during the day but you'll be a testing guinea pig going through all their teething problems.
Some other options like electric blanket, keeping doors shut and heating one room only.