Storage Heaters - turn them off?

AquaTactic

Hey,

The heat fades from my overnight storage heaters by the time I really need it in the evening.  They heat my flat during the day - when I'm not there.  This means I'm turning convection heaters on from around 7pm until bedtime - still peak hours.

I'm on an off-peak tariff but don't feel I'm getting the most out of it...

Does anyone have experience of turning their storage heaters off completely, using convection heaters when needed, and changing to a fixed tariff...  Would that save money?

Thank you 

tamste

What sort of storage heaters do you have and how do you control them?

If modern HHR/SSH heaters, you can program them as "out all day" and they should then retain the heat for the evening. They retain ~40-50% of the heat they take in over 24 hours.

If old style manual controlled heaters, do you switch the output off when you go out, and back on when you return? These will leak more heat then the modern equivalents, but should hold the heat for the evening if the output is switched to 0 when you are out.

Newbie_John

I'd say so, you would need to also ask your provider to move you to normal, not E7 tariff.
Right now you have something 35p rate during the day and 13p at night but you can switch to 25p-ish flat rate.

If you stop heating during night/day you will need significantly more electricity, but if you only home after 6pm then it could work.

You can give it a go, and see if it works, you can always reverse.

Stubod

I lknow they are expensive to buy, but the more modern HHR storage heaters are a bit of a game changer. We had the same problem in our hall, a 25+ year old SH ran out of steam around 5:00 pm after leaking heat all day. 

We were lucky enough to get a free Dimplex Quantum off a freecycle site, (nb you do need dual power supplies to run these, ie  the control circuit needs power for 24 hrs per day). Even though we are at home most of the day we have it set to "out all day", with 2 periods when it actually gives out heat, (early morning for about 30 mins, and again in the evening from about 6:00pm to 8:00pm). It is still pumping out heat all through the evening.

southone

AquaTactic said:

Does anyone have experience of turning their storage heaters off completely, using convection heaters when needed, and changing to a fixed tariff...  Would that save money?

Thank you 

Are you heating water on the cheap rate night tariff too?

Gerry1

Stubod said:

We were lucky enough to get a free Dimplex Quantum off a freecycle site, (nb you do need dual power supplies to run these, ie  the control circuit needs power for 24 hrs per day).

They can be programmed and wired to work from a single 24h supply, but woe betide you if there's any variance between your supposed times and the meter's actual times !

EssexHebridean

Backtrack a bit here - OP, someone asked earlier on what heaters they are, and a make a model number plus details of tap where you currently have the controls set might help get some clarity here. 

We certainly don’t have even close to enough information to begin to suggest that you might be cheaper to switch to a single rate tariff, so hold your horses on that one for a bit. 

As well as the storage heaters, how much else do you currently load shift to running overnight in your off peak rate? For example do you run the washing machine or a dishwasher if you have one? 

Stubod

Gerry1 said:

They can be programmed and wired to work from a single 24h supply, but woe betide you if there's any variance between your supposed times and the meter's actual times !

...problem is ours are wired into the supply that is only switched "on" for the duration of the economy 7 hours. It wouldd therefore mean converting the economy 7 fuse box so that it was live for 24 hrs. Problem with that is we still have some original "dumb" storage heaters??

EssexHebridean

Quantum’s aren’t suitable for an off-peak only supply as far as I know - they need to be live 24/7 for their “smart” aspects to function correctly.

Gerry1

It would be legit to plug the Quantum's low power 24h control circuit into a nearby 13A socket (unless it's on a different phase, which is unlikely).

tamste

I understand that Quantum's can be connected to a 24hr supply, as can the Elnur equivalents.

My Elnurs are set that way (24hr) as it would have taken a significant rewire when I replaced the old heaters recently due to 3-phase supply. You cannot fit them with different phases on the E7 and peak supply. I program the charging at the heater level rather than relying on the E7 contactor switch.

Don't think connecting them to a 13A socket (i.e. your ring main) is safe as when they are charging there will be significant load. Normally they should each be connected to their own 20A RCD