storage heater/economy 7 queries

A question about : storage heater/economy 7 queries

This may sound like a stupid question but how do storage heaters know to come on at night time?

Do they have an internal timer? Does the change in electric supply for normal to ecomomy 7 trigger them?

I have storage heaters and i find them to be quite expensive (electricity bill is Ј50-60/m in winter in a one bed flat with just me as opposed to Ј15-20/m in summer) so i was wondering if possibly they are coming on at the wrong time?

Is that even possible or if they have an internal timer does switching them off all summer mess up the timings?

Any advice on this subject is very welcome

Best answers:

• Most storage heaters have timers which can be set.
  Try getting hold of a user manual for the type you have got.
  Economy 7 comes on after midnight . I have it to heat my water & it switches on automatically .
  Have a look at your electricity bill & you should be able to tell which tariff you are using the most . If its not economy 7 you need to set the timers.
  Hope this helps . Though as you can tell I'm no expert!
  W
• Storage heaters are usully wired into a separate circuit, connected to an Economy 7 meter.
  This is because they use so much electricity, they only come on overnight.
  They heat up overnight using "cheaper" electric, supposedly store it during the day and the you release the heat when you get in from work via the controls. You can also release the heat during the day, but be careful not to turn them up too high as you may run out of heat by late evening.
  Some newer ones also have a boost switch which controls a convector element on the front of the storage heater. This uses normal price electricity, not Economy 7 rates.
  I would never have storage heaters by choice, having replaced some old ones years ago, then replaced them again with gas central heating.
  They are just too expensive to run.
• Thanks everyone for the information, you've all been really helpful.
  I'm going to look for a supplier with better E7 rates to change to when winter comes around
  or possibly just not turn them on and just wrap myself up in a duvet instead!
  Thanks
• Are storage heaters thermostatic?
  If I use the highest setting will it just charge up at that setting all night? Or will it think "That's hot enough now"?
  I'm trying to work out the best way of using them in our flat!
• I have an interesting dilemma. I just turned on our kitchen storage heater a few days ago at about 8pm and it started heating up straight away. I kept an eye on it and it appears it's running all the time. Yesterday I went out to the meter, which is a digital type with different rates for the day and night-time tariffs, and after checking it over a period of hours - including after midnight - found that the "low rate" i.e. the economy 7 meter is running all the time (the figures have changed) and not the "normal" day time meter during the day (the figures are staying the same).
  I guess this means that for as long as this has been going on we've been getting ALL our electricity at the economy 7 rate, which is good as we've got five kids and our rented house is extremely badly insulated.
  Do I tell the supplier? Yes, of course I do - in a bit!
• Hi,
  I`m a bit worried about Mikeyorks and GaryS replies to your questions, it is different in my house. Everything is connected to the same meter it is only the rate charged that changes during the economy 7 time.
  We dont have any automatic control of the storage heaters, instead there is a timer in the kitchen which controls the storage heaters and hot water cyclinder. This must be properly set for the cheap hours of the night.
  If this is the setup in your place it is very likely the heaters are on during the expensive daytime rate. A power cut could easily have this effect on your timer or it could be set to always on.
  I have gone a step further and use a timer for the tumble dryer and dishwasher to take advantage of the cheap rate.
  B
• I'd take the Ј50-Ј60 per month if I were you. I've just had my latest electricity bill, for August, September and October, during that period I only used the two storage heaters for six weeks, one on high and one on low, with economy seven and overnight water heating - my bill for that period equates to just under Ј650! I just don't know what I'm going to do over the winter. It's a one bedroom flat with high ceilings and no gas in the village - I've had quotes for installing oil but, despite being three rooms and a hall and ground floor, it's coming in at Ј8500. Mind you, I don't feel like paying out for anymore electricity!
• Do they have an internal timer?
  No
  Does the change in electric supply for normal to ecomomy 7 trigger them?
  Yes (provided they're 'on' at the wall socket.)
  this is the way i thought it worked, but ive just been off the phone with scottish power and they say its nothing to do with them??
  sorry i have a similar problem to others that they are coming on during peak hours.
  in fairness to sp their explaination seems fair enough, they've recently fitted a new meter e7, i was on e10(equivalent) before and claim that the meter itself does not switch on the heaters at off peak, there should be timers for the heater.
  and by my unqualified electrical knowledge/guesswork i think as the heaters are ran off there own fusebox then into the new meter there is no timer anywhere in the circuit so when i put them on at the wall they draw lecy am/pm. sp gave the impression that the meter switches tariffs at the correct time but the storage heater will draw lecy as soon as they are turned on at the wall, you need the timer to have them go on at the cheap hours or manually do it yourself at those times, which is not goin to happen.
  or is there a feed out of the meter that is soley for storage heaters and only lets the lecy pass when the off peak hours are on.
  its all a bit conusing if anyone could shed some light on it i'd be grateful.
  brrrr its getting cold.
• My parents have them and they work great. They also have a boost of 2 hours at cheap rates during the afternoon. There house is really warm all the time.
  To me, using gas to electrically pump water around the house seems a bit silly, but that's what I have in my home.
  GG
• just spoke to sp and they say that control rate, which i have on my bill along with night/day, is for the usage of the heaters, whether you use them am/pm, as i dont have any timer on the heater circuit it is done manually at each heater, it will draw lecy but be charged at the control tariff, a little less than night rates. does that sound correct?
• The Economy-7 set-up in my house, here in N.Ireland, seems slightly more complicated than others in this thread. I have two electric meters, and a 'radio teleswitch'.
  The first meter is for the normal house electrics, has 'low' and 'normal' readings, and is switched by a transmitted signal through the night for a 7 hour economy cycle.
  The second meter is for water and room heaters, and this feeds the radio teleswitch which switches on the water and storage heaters seperately. Iirc, the heaters get switched on and off through the night to a total time of 7 hours, whereas the water gets 4 hours through the night and 1 hour boost in the afternoon.
  As said before, the storage heater input regulates the amount of heat stored during the nightly 'charge', although the output 'boost' control on my heaters controlled the release of more heat (via a temperature controlled flap) if required in the evening when the storage temperature was dropping a bit. Basically, changing to a convection type of heat as the radiated heat was dropping, so this could be left in a mid position through the night as the heat build up would close the flap automatically.
  Although I have to say that I now have only one storage heater left installed as a back-up, should my oil-fired heating play up. I use the econ7 for tumble drying and summer water heating.
• Hi, hope someone can help me. I'm sorry if this is a really stupid question, but how do you know if your heaters are storage heaters or just normal heaters?