Electric Storage Heating

[Libellule77]

Hiya. I have just moved into a new house which has electric storage heating. I have never used these before - can anyone tell me how to use them, so they provide heat at the right time of day for me (evenings) and also make it most cost effective (as I have heard they can be expensive to run !)

Thanks !

[pauln90]

The idea behind the storage heaters is that they run on the economy 7 tarif.They have a separate electric feed and meter. So you should have two electric meters. If you dont then they may just be wired to the normal meter.

If you have the economy tariff then the heaters take electricity during the night, when the cost is cheaper, and then you have the slow release of heat during the rest of the day.

Depending on the type of heater you have you may be able to regulate them so that you can increase the heat in the evening. Even so again dependent on the type of heater you may find that they are cooling down during the evening


See here for more info

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_7

[Maisie1234]

I have unidare storage heaters quite old, but the basics are the same, they store heat in the early hours ( cheaper night rate) and blow the heat out during the day, mine have two switches input and output both 1 to 7 the higher the input the more electric you use, the lesser the number the less electric you use, the output blows out the heat ,the higher the number the more heat it blows out, if you are out during the day turn the output down to number one, this shuts the valve off so no heat comes out, then when you come in you can turn them up, I tend to put input between 3 and 4 and output on number one when I am at work and turn them up in the evening. Hope this helps.

[Libellule77]

Thanks for the answers ! Much appreciated.

[WendyS]

I think one of the tricks of using storage heaters economically is to make sure you check the weather forecast for the next day before you go to bed. If they're forecasting mild weather you can probably turn the heaters down a notch or two and thus save a little electricity. Similarly when very cold nights are forecast, you may have to turn them up a little. If your whole house/flat is wired into the Economy 7 tarriff, you should also try and get used to using cheaper rate electricity during the off-peak hours for other equipment, i.e. putting your washing machine on a timer so it runs during the cheap electricity period, and perhaps investing in a slow cooker, so that you can cook caseroles, stews, etc. overnight instead of using your cooker's oven during peak rate periods. And if you get up very early before the off peak rate ends, you can also use your tumble drier at the cheap rate too.

[Libellule77]

Thanks for the tips WendyS ! ;-)