Help with power supply

Mrbuchan1983 · 18 Jan 2021

Hi, looking for some advice.

I gotten rid of my storage heaters and went to change the old switches to 3 pin sockets.

I plugged in my new heater and of course it didn’t work. As I have now realised the power is on a timer and not 24/7 as it was for the storage heater.

I have 2 fuse boards in my cupboard. The one with the sockets in question has 3 circuits, the immersion heater, the storage heaters and a 24/7 circuit.

I want the storage circuit to now be on 24/7. How do I go about this? Do I need a sparky in to do the work and if I do what’s a ballpark figure for that kind of work.
I don’t seem to have any spaces in either fuse board as it stands.

Also, I don’t have an economy 7 rate as such. I have a normal rate for one meter and a heating rate in the other.

Any help much appreciated

SUNRAY · 18 Jan 2021

From your description it sounds like a replacement would be one solution. Do you have RCD in the 24h box, if not the replacement is almost a prerequisite, as is a qualified electrician to issue the required paperwork.

Picures help us a lot.

Mrbuchan1983 · 18 Jan 2021

So the first one is my ‘regular’ fuse box and the second is the one with the storage part. Circuit B. I see there are 3 spaces in the other fuse box.

Any idea for the best way around this?

endecotp · 18 Jan 2021

Mrbuchan1983 said:
I gotten rid of my storage heaters

Why?

and went to change the old switches to 3 pin sockets.

Why? What are you really trying to achieve?

Do I need a sparky in to do the work

Yes, almost certainly.

Mrbuchan1983 · 18 Jan 2021

My storage heaters were ancient and not doing the job. I could still reinstate storage heaters if there are ones out there that will do the job and don’t break the bank.

If I don’t have storage heaters there seemed little point in having a redundant switch on the wall when I could have extra sockets, which my home is lacking.

Sparky it is then I guess.

endecotp · 18 Jan 2021

So how are you going to heat your home now?

Mrbuchan1983 · 19 Jan 2021

Haverland heaters, so far better and cheaper than the storage heaters I had.

winston1 · 19 Jan 2021

Mrbuchan1983 said:
Haverland heaters, so far better and cheaper than the storage heaters I had.

Electric radiators on a standard electric supply is the most expensive method of heating available. Certainly not cheaper than storage heaters on an economy 7 supply.

endecotp · 19 Jan 2021

Apparently these are “energy efficient electric radiators”.

We’ve had a few people here recently who have replaced their storage heaters with much more expensive to run non-storage electric heaters. It seems bizarre to me. What’s going on? Is it because people are using storage heaters but with the wrong tariff? Is it to do with wanting heat in the evening, not the daytime, and lacking the controls to get that? Do people just find the bulk of the storage heaters unattractive and want something nicer to look at?

endecotp · 19 Jan 2021

Anyway. Are you not going to connect the new non-storage heaters where the storage heaters were?

winston1 · 19 Jan 2021

endecotp said:
Apparently these are “energy efficient electric radiators”.

We’ve had a few people here recently who have replaced their storage heaters with much more expensive to run non-storage electric heaters. It seems bizarre to me. What’s going on?

I think they are taken in by the misleading information, lies even, of the electric radiator manufacturers. Not come across Haverland before but I know Fischer have been "done" by Trading Standards over this.

Mrbuchan1983 · 19 Jan 2021

Yeah, I want to connect them to where the storage heaters were, using the same power source, but as the power only comes on at certain times I need to sort this. This is the problem.

if storage heaters didn’t look so bad I might have been tempted to keep them. seems little point in decorating everything to have a monstrosity attached to the wall. I like the look of the Haverland heaters and so far I’m happy with the performance and cost to run.

endecotp · 19 Jan 2021

Mrbuchan1983 said:
Yeah, I want to connect them to where the storage heaters were

OK. It may be better to wire the heaters to the existing outlets, rather than fitting sockets and plugging them in.

I’m happy with the performance and cost to run.

I guess this is because you were not previously on an economy 7 tariff, so the cost has not increased.

(Though if they’re not actually connected yet, how do you know what the running cost is?)

Mrbuchan1983 · 19 Jan 2021

I wasn’t on economy 7. I was on a single heat EDF rate for the heating and a promotional rate for everything else. 11.25p/kWh and 14.71p/kWh respectively. Only 1 standing charge though ‍

at 17p

I have had the new heater running off other plugs but want to mount them where the storage heaters were. Hence my problem.

JohnW2 · 19 Jan 2021

Mrbuchan1983 said:
I wasn’t on economy 7. I was on a single heat EDF rate for the heating and a promotional rate for everything else. 11.25p/kWh and 14.71p/kWh respectively. Only 1 standing charge though ‍ at 17p

Those figures are not atypical of E7 tariffs in general, other than that it sounds as if you got the cheap rate only for heating, whereas with most E7 setups everything is 'cheap' during the 'off-peak' hours.

With E7, I'm currently paying 15.45p 'peak rate' and 10.84p (for everything) 'cheap rate' (both incl. VAT), with ESB.

Kind Regards, John

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Help with power supply

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