Storage heaters issues/replacement

[nickso]

Hi folks,

Having issues with Storage heaters in the birds flat which has been empty for a while but recently she has had a pal staying there till he gets set up with another place.

He says Storage heaters are not working. Having never had anything to do with leccy heating and also never having lived there I'm not sure whats going on.

What time is the power supposed to be on to them? I though it was late night but I went round 3pm today for a look and the wall isolators were lit and one of them had a tiny amount of heat coming from it.....nothing that was going to prove useful though. Another day i was there at midday and there was no power at isolators or seemingly from the E7 meter in the cupboard outside. If it's on in the afternoon does this suggest she has E10? Even with the power being on there doesnt seem to be a great deal of heat coming out of them.

Apart from that storage heaters are crap anyway so I was considering replacing them with something a bit more 21st century. Whats the thoughts on some of these heaters that work on the normal tariff and give heat more instantly? Obviously the CU would need to be rewired and the E7 meter tails removed or made safe.

Hopefully theres pics attached of what I have.

 

[flameport]

Switching is radio controlled so the only way to know is to ask whoever supplies the electricity.

Modern storage heaters work in exactly the same way as those you have now. They may look slightly better but at £100s each it is uneconomic to replace them just for appearance.
Spare parts are available for most older heaters and they are simple to repair.

Heaters which are connected to normal power and work 'instantly' will cost far more to use if you heat the building for any sensible amount of time.
If only used for an hour or two each day they may be cheaper than storage heaters which by design heat the building all day.

In terms of efficiency, instant electric heaters are all the same, whether it costs £20 or £1000. Some manufacturers of high priced types will suck people in with claims of special core materials, electronic thermostats and Italian aluminium - it's all lies.

 

[JohnD]

The householder can ask their supplier what tariff they are on, and the hours. The stated times will be approximate because, to avoid surges, the switches are signalled to come on at varying times. It may be possible to see the nominal hours on the bill or on the supplier's website.

However the actual hours of the switch should be verified by observation. They may not correspond with the stated hours in the tariff, perhaps because of a cockup, perhaps because the teleswitch has failed, perhaps because the radio signal is obstructed. The switch has a standby which goes over to a timer if it can't pick up the switching signal.

Some consumers still have an electromechanical timeswitch with reserve spring, not a teleswitch. In the event of a long power cut this will run down after some days.

It is fairly common to find storage heaters that do not come on. Quite often this is because the householder pays no attention to the instructions, and piles washing or clothes on top of the heater, causing them to overheat and melt the fusible link or trip an overheat switch. This is a simple repair job for a competent electrician.

You mention changing to ordinary (peak rate) heaters. Full price electricity costs about twice as much as off-peak (check your tariff).

Storage heaters are a reasonable solution for people who are at home all day, perhaps elderly retired, invalids, or with small children. They are less popular with people who are out all day because the heaters will then be warming the home while it is empty, and running out of heat in the evening when the residents come home.

It is always worth investigating tariffs offered by other electricity suppliers, which may have better prices or better hours.

 

[Taylortwocities]

What time is the power supposed to be on to them?

As Flameport says, the specific day and night periods on an Economy 7 meter vary between different regions and at different times of year. Usually the night usage is recorded between 11:30pm and 6:30am in the winter and 12:30am to 7:30am in the summer.

The heaters then release their heat during the day. How much heat they store is controlled by the input control, and how much heat they release is controlled by the output control.

 

[endecotp]

Storage heaters have some sort of "output" control which may operate a fan or may just open a flap to let the heat out by convection. If power is going in but not coming out, turn up the "output" control. (See if Google can find the instruction book for your particular heater.)

Don't make any decisions about replacement until you know who's going to be in the flat longer term, as the best solution depends on their lifestyle i.e. what times of day heat is needed. But in any case, non-storage (instant) electric heaters probably won't be the right solution, at least not for most rooms.

 

[nickso]

Thanks folks. After a bit of digging I think he is being a fanny and turning it off and on thinking it just heats up whenever he demands.

Have told him to leave it on and not turn off for a few weeks and see how it goes. I knew about the output control and the one on the lounge heater is faulty in that it doesn't move but it did use to heat the room so maybe something to look at there.

The flat will probably be up for sale next year so I don't want to spend any money if I can help it....fingers crossed he gets over it.

I will check with the supplier what the times are on the switch.

 

[flameport]

I knew about the output control and the one on the lounge heater is faulty in that it doesn't move but it did use to heat the room so maybe something to look at there.

Probably not worth bothering about - in most situations the output control should be left at minimum. It's only there for the few times where an extra boost of heat is required later in the day, and even then should be set to minimum again before the next overnight charge.
The only time they are supposed to be left at maximum / open is for commercial premises where the intention is that all of the stored heat is emitted by the end of the working day, leaving nothing for the evening.

 

[Taylortwocities]

The off peak/E7 scenario doesn't really work for today's timescales. The idea was that the heater is charged up With heat that was discharged during the day, usually when the "little woman" was at home doing the washing, making the beds etc. Today, of course, the heat is there, mostly when the house is empty, with a miserable minimum amount of residual heat left when you eventually get home at 10pm courtesy of Southern Rail.
Something better than this needs to be invented for the 21st century.