economy 7 & storage heaters. Considering econom10.

[Lancelot1]

This topic has been debated a lot on here so far. I mainly understand the tariff and meter/box differences. I am considering an oil filled towel rail in the bathroom instead of a storage heater. Unfortunately I don't have an on-peak supply in there for when the towel rail is cold during the day. So I was considering economy 10 just so the rail gets re-heated twice in the day. This would also satisfy a plinth heater I was going to install under the kitchen cabinets as no wall space in kitchen for storage heater. As kitchen/ lounge is open plan though the large storage heater in the lounge would give the background heat to the whole space. So back to the towel rail dilemma. Is it possible to have the single radial cct in bathroom switchable at the fuse box by a timer between the off and on-peak boxes so I could remain with economy 7? (I don't fancy routing an on-peak radial in there). The timer would stop it using all night time storage time as oil heats up quicker than bricks and probably brings room up to temp quickly for morning shower/bath times then during the evening a couple of evening hours (on peak!) at shower/bath time. The plinth heater in kitchen will unfortunately be on on-peak but just for emergency. The alternative would be economy 10 but that requires a meter and fusebox consolidation which is a lot of effort just to have a towel rail heating bathroom during day.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

 

[Lancelot1]

aha thanks "ban.." . A picture speaks 983 words. So this timer will take 2 mcb inputs: 1 from off-peak box and other from on-peak box?

 

[OwainDIYer]

... Is it possible to have the single radial cct in bathroom switchable at the fuse box by a timer between the off and on-peak boxes so I could remain with economy 7? (I don't fancy routing an on-peak radial in there).

That would be unnecessarily complicated.

You'd use a on-peak supply and an appropriate timer, like what Mr BAS's picture shows.

A towel rail should be within the capacity of a spur from a convenient and suitable socket in the bedroom/hall.

 

[stem]

I think the OP is saying he has an existing 7 supply for a storage heater in his bathroom, which he wants to change it for a oil filled towel rail. Hence the comment "Unfortunately I don't have an on-peak supply in there". If that is the case the existing supply would not be permanent and not suitable for operating a timer.

 

[Lancelot1]

Thanks owain and stern. Yes I wish I had spurred off the ring from the bedroom next door before I had tiled the bathroom! To spur off a neighboring socket now would be messy. At least mess in the fusebox cupboard is not seen.

 

[electronicsuk]

It should be possible to adjust things at the consumer unit if the existing heater is fed by a radial circuit from the off-peak board. There is absolutely no need to have any form of switching between the 24/7 and off-peak supplies, as during the E7 period, all your consumption is charged at the off-peak rate regardless of which consumer unit it is supplied from.

All you need is a timer and the existing feed moved from one CU to the other.

 

[Lancelot1]

ahh yes thanks electronicsuk. I knew economy 10 switched all its sockets to cheap at the off-peak times. I didn't realize (or forgot) economy 7 did too. Yes so I just re-wire the radial to the on peak board and put a timer on there to select which night/day hours to come on. Cheers