New Storage Heater Query

WiserMiser

It didn't charge between 5am - 7am because the bricks were already hot enough by then. Same way that a car with a 55 litre tank won't always clock up 55 litres on the pump after you've filled up, the tank won't necessarily have been empty when you started pumping.

If the room was cold this moring then it's because you didn't program it to be sufficiently warm enough at that time on a Tuesday.

Scot_39

At this time of year a 3.4kW heater should be more than enough to heat a typical room to 18C.

My living room was over 17 - with my 3.4kW on min input - charging to that 3x a day - literally for 20 mins at a time in some slots. Thats warm for me in winter layering mode - so turned it off - as 14-15C forecast by Wed - its still 17 12 hours later without any fresh charge last night.

Id have thought 2 hours might just be enough for most rooms and 18C anyway. Nearly 7kW is the equivalent of running an old single bar for 7 hours - it's not a trivial energy amount.

Are you trying to run at 18C room temps all day every day (fixed temp mode) ?

If on weekly - has it been configured properly (3 dots when you want comfort temp - if thats the 18 target) and activated for all 7 days of the week - when did it switch on the actual room heating / 18C this morning ?

EssexHebridean

Two things stand out to me -

A HHR NSH shouldn't feel particularly warm when charging, and certainly not immediately it starts charging.

Remember that your "£5 by 9am" should be the total cost for the day, from that heater, SO LONG AS it is connected correctly and any balancing element is turned off automatic.

All NSH's will cost more to charge for their first couple of days switched on and charging - even old box of bricks style ones. The new style ones are really excellent at balancing the amount of heat required with the amount of charge taken, IF you let them do their thing. The worst thing you can do with them is to try and micromanage.

Alnat1

You need to totally change how you're thinking about the timer.

The heaters will automatically heat as much as they need overnight on the cheap rate. there is NO timer needed for this. First few days this will be a big charge, then it will settle down and learn how much it needs to use, depending on your heating times.

The timers need to be set for when you want the ROOMS to be heated. So if you get up at 7am, set the "on" time for 6am so it's warm when you get up. If you're around all day set the "off" time for about an hour before you go to bed. If you're out at work, set an "off" point at 7am and another "on" for an hour before you get home in the afternoon. Or similar to suit your households needs.

eric4395

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81926511#Comment_81926511

Thanks for everyone's replies and advice much appreciated. I managed to get a technical guy from where i bought the heater He suggested going back to the basics and talked me thro setting it up in fixed temp mode 18 deg for now. Every day. Its set it up to come on at midnight and go off at 7.am . (within my cheap rate times) He said as others have said you need to run it like this till the bricks heat up over a period of a few days at least. It will prob cost more initially until the heater settles down & then i will have more control in how i want to use the heat eventually by adjusting the settings to suit.

eric4395

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81926564#Comment_81926564

According to instruction manual you set your charging periods within the lower rate period (ie anywhere from 23:30 till 07:30 ) which i have as stated in my previous post. That has been verified by the ecostrad technician.

If you didnt do this it wouldnt come on at all.?

Scot_39

Hope that settles down OK for you, but some of the confusion over answers is - most folk think of heater ON - as when output ON - room heat demanded - so would say thats more like

- room heating ON 24/7 at 18C

- and charging midnight to 7am - so 7 hrs max per night - hopefully lot less once settled.

See how you get on and then especially if its an unused room overnight or some days (out at work etc) - you might want to try weekly programmable - with a lower economy setting overnight or unused day time - say 14-15 etc. and then letting it run as above - 1hr on comfort say - before get up / return if out at work etc

Scot_39

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81926660#Comment_81926660

I used to think that about the Elnur HHR - as it also says in manual you have to set the times to match the off peak. An actual user however has posted to say he can smart charge his by leaving the timings blank.

The Dimplex HHR range says you dont have to set for dual wired only single wired (no restricted meter switched feed)

Id go with the manual and leave them set if your happy - and that 7 hrs allows them in theory around 24kWh storage - thats more than I use on average in winter (17-20kWh ) - for 2 bed house - let alone one room.

IT might not be able to actually store a full 8 hr charge anyway.

And bear in mind the caution over the case temps - did you discuss that with tech support ?

Alnat1

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81926660#Comment_81926660

So how do you control when/if you want the house to heat during the day?

Ectophile

Is the problem that you have set the heater to keep the room at 18C all day, so it's running out of heat by the evening?

The modern ones can be programmed to heat the room only when you need it.