Economy 10 and storage heaters

zebedy

Hi,
I live in a flat that is totally electric and am on an Economy 10 plan. I have storage heaters.
I don't understand how it all works - can anyone explain it all to me (very simply please).

Also there are 2 switches on my water tank, one at the bottom (which is always switched in the on position but only really comes on at certain times (can see light come on) and one about half way up - should this be on or off?). There are also 2 thermostats(?) on the tank by the cable to each switch

Any explanationcs would be very welcome
I'm sure the wealth of knowledge here will provide some answers/suggestions

mute_posting

Top switch should be OFF unless you want to boost the temperature when the "off-peak" is off (i.e. you run out of hot water between charges on E10)

The idea of being part way up is that it only heats part of the tank (the top)

Basically, the E10 should come on 3 times per day (I think) depending on area this is likely to be (roughly)

00:00 to 05:00
13:00 to 16:00 and
20:00 to 22:00

As far as I can determine, on some tarrifs, all usage during the above hours is charged at the lower rate, on others only the heating / water usage is charged at the lower rate.

HTH
MP

PS, I currently have a poll running to see how much off-peak usage people on E7 and E10 tarrifs use. If you have time, please vote and add any comments.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=839209

zebedy

thanks i'll make sure the higher switch is off.

It seems like there's not much I can do to utilise the economy time periods as my storage heaters and washing machine don't have timers on them. I suppose i could do my washing in the evening but would be very noisy as no door between kitchen and lounge.

other things like cooker and kettle etc you just have to use when you need to use and then firdg/freezer is on the whole time

I wonder if it's really worth it?

mute_posting

zebedy wrote: »

It seems like there's not much I can do to utilise the economy time periods as my storage heaters and washing machine don't have timers on them?

Regards the storage heaters, they "should" be on a circuit that only comes live during off-peak hours so you shouldn't have a problem there.. (Just double check though, do the heaters, or the wall switch they are connected to have neon indicators that only illuminate at certain times? - assuming they only have one connection!)

You really need to do a bit of investigation to determine if it is cost effective, (which I belive it probably will be in an all electric house with storage heating), to be on E10. The break even point (i.e. where it is cost effective to be on a split rate tarrif) is usually bewteen 10 and 20% of units used at low rate (can be worked out if you have all your unit rates and standing charge details to hand - post here if u want)

First, find out from your supplier exactly when your off-peak times are in your area (it varies by region) and check how many readings there are on your meter (maybe 2, possibly 3)
then try and read your meter readings just before and then just after one of these off-peak times and see which readings alter.

Obviously whenever you do this investigation, make sure something else is being used other than heating or water (run the washing machine for example) so there is non-heating usage you can use to verify what usage is charged to which units.

HTH

MP

zebedy

thanks again for the words of wisdom. I have email Eon to find out times of off peak etc.

My storage heaters don't have an illumination switch and there isn't one at their wall switch either (there is the one you can manually switch on to get instant heat at vast expense which I therefore don't use). They have an input and output control which again I don't really understand. If input is on 3 shouldn't output be on the same or possibly on full (6 i think0 so i get everything i've put in???

I have 3 readings and a total.
When I get my bill through i'll work out what % i'm using to see if it's cost effective, thanks for the info (then I can fill in your poll too)

mute_posting

I don't have traditional storage heaters myself, but I believe the INPUT control controls how fast it charges i.e. in milder weather you may not want it fully charged because you may not use all the stored heat, thus by reducing the charge rate with the input control the heater charges more gently using less energy but also not charging fully in the off-peak period.

The output control (I believe) moves a flap or damper which dictates how fast the store releases it's heat.

"there is the one you can manually switch on to get instant heat at vast expense which I therefore don't use"

by the sounds of this yours have 2 supplies to the storage heaters- the off peak one for charging and a permenant one for boosting when off-peak isn't available which makes me suspect the off-peak will be controlled and you don't need to worry about it charging during peak hours.

MP