Storage heater timer mayhem

[rusty07]

Hello,

I recently moved into a new flat which has no gas, but storage heaters installed in the bedrooms. I don't know too much about storage heaters, but I have an economy 7 tariff with the electricity provider.

The problem I'm having is that the dimplex storage heaters also have convector heaters built in to provide top up extra heating when required, especially towards the end of the day when the storage heaters seem to be low.

However, the wall sockets that provide power to the storage heater units only have power to them between 1am and 6am. This allows the storage heaters to charge up at night, but renders the built in convector heaters useless as you can never turn it on during the day as there is no electricity.

Has anyone come across a similar setup? I would have expected a timer to control the power to the wall sockets, however there are no timers in the flat.

Any advice would be very much appreciated. Thanks.

 

[RF Lighting]

Normally the proper storage heater part is connected to the off peak supply (like you have), and the convector heater and or fan is connected to the peak supply, and manually switched on by you as and when required.

 

[rusty07]

Would I be right in thinking then, that I have no control over the off peak supply? So once the off peak supply/rate switches over to peak rate around 7am, anything wired to the off peak supply is off as opposed to being switched over to peak rate automatically?
Thanks.

 

[RF Lighting]

Yeah thats right.

The off peak supply is controlled by a time switch or telemeter owned by your DNO

This is sealed by them and cannot be adjusted by anyone else.

 

[JohnD]

can you take a photo of your meters/supply/consumer units/timeclock, and the cables between them?

I think that is the old way of doing the installation, it may be possible to update it.

 

[rusty07]

Sure. Just taken some photos. Hope these are of use.

The fuse box, the two trip switches on the far left are for the two storage heaters

The meters are just outside the flat, they are in a cupboard that only the electricity board seem to be allowed to access.

The wall socket to the storage heater, only has power from around 1am to 7 or 8am.

The dual controls on the storage heater. The front controls with the switch are supposed to be for the convector heater while the back two are for the storage heater.

Apologies if I've stated on the obvious on some of these, but I'm not too familiar with storage heaters yet. Thanks for all your replies so far.

 

[JohnD]

the wall socket looks like a double outlet. Are both outlets live and dead at the same time?

 

[rusty07]

I don't think it is a double outlet. Where the cable goes into the outlet there is a fuse (which from the photo looks like another on/off switch) and then there is the actual on/off switch.

Both outlets are live and dead at the same time.

 

[nozspark]

Do you own or rent this flat??

Obviously if you own it then you can make alterations as you wish. If you rent it then get in touch with your landlord and tell them that the NSH Boost is not working and could they arrange for it to be fixed.

I think that if you do rent you will find that your landlord will not pay for this work to be carried out, so you would be better getting a couple of fan heaters and using them as a Boost.

 

[Taylortwocities]

You should have two cables going into the heater. one on the off peak side and a second connected to the regular socket circuit (might be on a plug, may be wired direct into a second switched outlet.

The pic of the rad shows the boost controls - maybe they didnt bother wiring that side up for some reason.

 

[rusty07]

I recently bought the flat, so I can make any changes that are needed. What is the NSH Boost? I've already had an electrician look at this and not figure out why its not working. He suggested that there may be timers controlling the sockets but perhaps buried in the wall and that is why they can't be found.

From this thread, I've already figured out that is quite unlikely! RF Lighting suggested earlier that the storage heater/convector heater combo unit require two seperate feeds, I've had a look at the base of the storage heaters and there are infact what appear to be two cable outlets, however only one of them is wired to the wall socket.

 

[nozspark]

NSH = night storage heater

I would agree with RF. The type of heater that you have uses two different supplies. a) your E7 tarrif to charge your NSH and b) your standard day time tarrif to supply a fan and possibly a small heating element.

Now as your E7 circuits are switched by either a time clock or telemeter then this is not suitable for the Boost control. What you need to do is get someone to connect the boost side of the heater to a local socket circuit via a switched fused spur and it should then keep you nice and toasty during them cold winter nights

 

[nozspark]

It also look like that your E7 is controlled by a 'Sangamo' type time clock (2 pic, hole to right of meter)

 

[rusty07]

Thanks all for your help, I think my problem is solved. Someone never bothered to wire up both the storage heater to the E7 and the top-up to the mains. What appears to have happened is the top-up convector heater is wired to the eco 7 and the storage heater is not wired up at all. Totally pointless heaters in their current configuration!

 

[rusty07]

Do I have any control over the Sangamo or is that purely controlled by the electricity provider?