Night Storage Heating

[mss636]

Hi,
I purchased a flat a few years back which didnt have any heating apart from electric oil filled radiators (Cut a story short it suited me so wasnt bothered). But now it's for sale a lot of people are asking for storage heaters.

Now I know my electricity has day supply and economy 7, as well as 2 fuse boxes (One with heating etc marked on the inside). There are also some "blanks" with on / off switches (With indicator light) around the flat which I assumed were where the heaters were fitted. However, while changing some sockets for new ones I noticed that some of the wiring has been connected to the small "heating" fuse box and is live during the day, and the switch points indicator lights come on during the day if I switch to the on position suggesting daytime power supply.

Is this normal and would it be easy to have storage heaters fitted, or does this sound like the electrics have been butchered and making having the heaters fitted expensive??

Any help or advice would be appreciated

 

[EFLImpudence]

Seems like both consumer units (fuse boxes) are connected to the 24hour supply and the wiring used for other things. Nothing wrong with that if done properly.

On the other hand, do the 'switch lights' work 24hours or is your E7 timer out of phase?

I hope, for your sake, whoever did it got the electricity company to put the two consumer units on the one supply and put the flat on a standard tariff as it would have been very uneconomical to have had E7 and not have used it. Do you still have two meters or one with multiple readouts and do you have two amounts on your bills?

You can by the sound of it replace the storage heaters and have them on E7.
IF the supply isn't still on E7 contact the company who sends the bills. If it is, then contact an electrician.

 

[mss636]

Ha ha, maybe I've been paying too much then lol. the "heating" fuse box must be on 24 hour supply as one of the sockets attached to it now has a 3 pin socket attached (Done previous to me moving in and found by accident) and this is running my wireless router which is on all day and night. But I do get a night time rate and a daytime rate on my bills. Also I have one meter, and on this meter it gives the daytime units, and if I press a button gives the nightime units used, so yes, one meter with multiple readouts and day and night bills. The problem is, the socket that is wired to the "heating" fuse box (and running the router) is on it's own with no wires for a 24 hour or different supply.

It's one of those things where if it's easily rectified I'll get it sorted, but if it sounds like there may be all sorts of problems with changing it I'll leave it alone, smile and say nothing :0)

 

[mss636]

Having just looked at another thread, if the heater fuse box is on 24 hour supply, but I still get night tarrifs, can I just use a digital immersion heater socket to put the heaters onto a timer to charge them, or would they need power to release the heat as well??

Much appreciated!

 

[EFLImpudence]

Well, it sounds like you still have E7 but I don't know why it's on all day.
Maybe it's the opposite to what I said before regarding being very uneconomical and you have cheap rate all day - wouldn't think so, though.

Do you have two immersion heaters - one near the bottom of the tank and one half way up?

You can put them, or one of them, on a timer but it has to be hard wired - not allowed to be plugged in. If you wanted a timer on a normal E7 you would need one with separate contacts to keep the clock going while E7 was off - but yours???

Perhaps you can investigate and find out which E7 fuse controls what. Take out one fuse at a time and see what doesn't work.
You could get an electrician to make sure what's what. It's a bit of a puzzle.

Storage heaters do not need an electrical supply to let out the heat.