Electric Boiler Settings

[trey]

Hello,

I've had an electric boiler (Dimplex Ascari) fitted. I've had the plumbing and electrics finished off but neither the plumber of the electrician have enough experience of electric boilers to give advice on some of the settings - and Dimplex technical support are crap.

So perhaps someone can suggest some settings or trials to optimize the following:

Minimum pipe temperature (21-80) default 65. This is the temperature that the boiler will try and get the pipe water to. It gradually energises successive elements up to the max to get to this temperature asap.

Maximum pipe temperature (Min-80) default 80. Between the min and the max the boiler scales back the power. At the max it's power off - there is a 100C overheat protection too.

I think the max value is probably fine, but I wondered about the min. Essentially it should be the minimum temp required to have the radiators work efficiently. Is 65 sufficient?

Then my other question, is what temperature do I set the thermostat (it's a 6 segment per day programmable thermostat). I plan to have 5:30-7am and 4:30-10:30 as the hotter times during the week and the other two times will be a background level. But I've not lived in a house with central heating since I left home 10 years ago - up until recently we've only had a log burner. So I have no idea what is a "normal" temperature to have for warm (when we're in) and what is good for the background when we're out.

All advice welcome -especially would like to hear from anyone with an electric boiler.

 

[Stevel]

We have had an electric boiler fitted, and thought I would share some information - there seems to be very little about them online.

We had one to replace our multifuel backboiler - a nice idea in principle, but it never got the house warm, only mildy warmish - after our oil boiler died on us and we got several crazy-price quotes to replace it.

Cost: About £1300 from the plumber, and £300 from the electrician. This includes boiler and parts.

This was the order of events:
Plumber fits boiler
Sparks connects to the mains (warning, HUGE cable needs running!)
Plumber commissions boiler

It is pretty small - about four shoe boxes stacked up, end-to-end, and is virtually silent. It is in our airing cupboard (no fumes), and I can just about hear it click on and off.

It works incredibly well, and is supposedly more efficient than any other fuel boiler.

The big question: How expensive is it to run?
A lot of the reviews there are to find on electric boilers say they are expensive to run without defining expensive. I have an OWL Electricity Monitor, and have obviously kept a very careful eye on the cost. I pay 16p/p/Kw on my current tariff, and am currently paying about £3.50 a day in electricity. This covers, heating, lighting, cooking and hot water. To add perspective, I live in a 3 bed semi-detached with a lot of insulation, so I probably waste less heating than most!

If anyone else is considering an electric boiler, I'm happy to answer any questions that I am able to!