Storage Heaters

[Rob.]

I have 3 storage heaters downstairs in my house and no matter how hard I try and how many different settings I try I just don`t seem to get it right so that the house is warmest in the evening. I`m thinking, maximum setting for "input" and minimum setting for "output" which I would then adjust when I get home at night to a higher setting. Does this sound right to any of you that have these Voodoo controlled bloody things?

Oh to have mains gas and a boiler...

[DAVE-W]

We have them throughout our office.........never ever seem to get a happy medium.

I'm either wearing a vest, shirt and sweater with my hands shivering or sweating like a turkey in December

[Simpo Two]

You're right, storage heater are total outdated wk. You come down in the morning to 75 degrees F and 0% humidity, then freeze in the evening because the bricks are cooling down, and a bit of metal is really not going to keep the heat in.

If you can't get gas, what about a multi-fuel burner for a top-up?

[Rob.]

For the lounge at least I think I need to maybe invest in a plug heater type thingy.

[Ordinary Bloke]

Rob, they're useless for people who are out during the day. Maybe use them at weekends, for weekdays here's my suggestions:

1) If you have a fireplace, maybe you can burn some wood or coal, potentially cheap heating.

2) Get an oil-filled electric heater or two with timers, keep unused rooms cold by closing the doors.

3) Wear warmer clothes. Seriously, it's the cheapest way to stay warm.

Good luck.

[B17NNS]

DAVE-W said:

never ever seem to get a happy medium.

try www.cheeryclairvoiyants.com

[mically]

quite simple
just moved house, and never seen/ heard nor used them before.

Anyways, I found the following method the best.

They come at night time, controlled by a timer.

Input -6
Output -2

Come on at 2am-6am.

When I get up in a morning, I turn them to:
Input -0
Output -2

This keeps some heat in the house, so it's not icey cold.

When i come in from work, the input remains at 0, and the output goes up to 4 or 5, depending.

Before I go to bed, i turn them back to:

Input -6
Output -2

I eventually got into the mindset of thinking of these as batteries, which have to be charged every so often, and you have to plan their usage.

once i got used to this concept, i found them to be quite good.
(plus leccy is cheaper between 2am-6am) :-)

[Red Kite]

Mine have settings from 1 to 9. I've been using one in the bedroom and one in the kitchen on 5 for the last few days. Saving the output mainly until I come home from work. But I'm terrified of the cost. I've been told they are extortionate. Anybody know?

[spikeyhead]

wk things, use electric though the night to warm up some bricks.

These bricks cool down during the day when you're not at home.

fking ste.

[Ordinary Bloke]

Red Kite said:

Mine have settings from 1 to 9. I've been using one in the bedroom and one in the kitchen on 5 for the last few days. Saving the output mainly until I come home from work. But I'm terrified of the cost. I've been told they are extortionate. Anybody know?

Mine were on economy 7 tariff, I think it was about 2/3rds the cost of normal electricity, which would be around the cost of gas heating.

I had 2 meters, one for normal electricity and one for economy 7. So I didn't need to turn the input dwon each morning, as they switched off automatically at 6 or 7 or 8am whatever.

But they're not very good...

[Simpo Two]

Red Kite said:

Mine have settings from 1 to 9. I've been using one in the bedroom and one in the kitchen on 5 for the last few days. Saving the output mainly until I come home from work. But I'm terrified of the cost. I've been told they are extortionate. Anybody know?

The cute idea is that they run on 'cheap' night-time electricity, 2p a unit etc. Except the utility companies are a bit brassic, and a bit greedy, so it isn't 2p a unit. And the timing systems are very good at going wrong, so you end up charging your storage heaters at 30p/unit... my mother, who lives alone, got a bill of over £800 for the spring quarter... after the usual aggro with the provider, they finally said they'd got the two readings the wrong way round... good job I raised the alarm.

[Red Kite]

Ordinary Bloke said:

Red Kite said:

Mine have settings from 1 to 9. I've been using one in the bedroom and one in the kitchen on 5 for the last few days. Saving the output mainly until I come home from work. But I'm terrified of the cost. I've been told they are extortionate. Anybody know?

Mine were on economy 7 tariff, I think it was about 2/3rds the cost of normal electricity, which would be around the cost of gas heating.

I had 2 meters, one for normal electricity and one for economy 7. So I didn't need to turn the input dwon each morning, as they switched off automatically at 6 or 7 or 8am whatever.

But they're not very good...

Thanks. Yes, I should have said, I've got one of those night rate thingys, and they come on through the night on a timer.
They don't seem so bad on 5. But it just sounds a bit high (and therefore expensive). The worst thing is, having to guess how cold it might be tomorrow!!!

[Red Kite]

Simpo Two said:

Red Kite said:

Mine have settings from 1 to 9. I've been using one in the bedroom and one in the kitchen on 5 for the last few days. Saving the output mainly until I come home from work. But I'm terrified of the cost. I've been told they are extortionate. Anybody know?

The cute idea is that they run on 'cheap' night-time electricity, 2p a unit etc. Except the utility companies are a bit brassic, and a bit greedy, so it isn't 2p a unit. And the timing systems are very good at going wrong, so you end up charging your storage heaters at 30p/unit... my mother, who lives alone, got a bill of over £800 for the spring quarter... after the usual aggro with the provider, they finally said they'd got the two readings the wrong way round... good job I raised the alarm.

I'll watch out for that one. Thanks

[AndyWoodall]

We have storage heaters in our flat, being well insulated and pretty snug we don't have to use them much, although when we do they don't seem too bad.

I still haven't worked out how to use them though, just turn them on when it gets cold and some warm stuff comes out. If someone can successfully explain how these are really meant to work I'd love to know.

[GingerWizard]

Mate i feel for ya, i had two massive ones in a pokey little cottage, downstairs. So the sink either had a sheet of ice on it; or was merrly bubbling away as i had just unleashed the beasts...... I never got the hang of it either, i ended up buying a £50 oil radiator and just switching it on when i wanted, and set the storage to max input, half output. Hideously expensive and often had to stand cups of water on them to humidify the room..... I hope you get this resolved and are slightly better then the ones i had..... Oh the oil radiator is highly reccommended.....

GingerWizard

Edited by GingerWizard on Thursday 4th December 23:13

[sniff diesel]

B17NNS said:

DAVE-W said:

never ever seem to get a happy medium.

try www.cheeryclairvoiyants.com

[northwest monkey]

AndyWoodall said:

We have storage heaters in our flat, being well insulated and pretty snug we don't have to use them much, although when we do they don't seem too bad.

I still haven't worked out how to use them though, just turn them on when it gets cold and some warm stuff comes out. If someone can successfully explain how these are really meant to work I'd love to know.

Basically Andy they're full of heavy bricks with heating rods in between. The rods heat up - typically overnight (hence the name 'night storage') - which heats the bricks and then you're free to release the heat during the day. Warm air heating works on the same sort of principle.

My view is, is that they were originally designed for old people who tend to be in during the day - no point heating your flat while your at work is there? I'm guessing your flat is 1960's build? I have replaced storage heating in a couple of flats this year & put in 1500W convector panels with timers. Much cheaper to run & much more convenient.

[Simpo Two]

B17NNS said:

DAVE-W said:

never ever seem to get a happy medium.

try www.cheeryclairvoiyants.com

Nope, even that doesn't work

[AndyWoodall]

northwest monkey said:

AndyWoodall said:

We have storage heaters in our flat, being well insulated and pretty snug we don't have to use them much, although when we do they don't seem too bad.

I still haven't worked out how to use them though, just turn them on when it gets cold and some warm stuff comes out. If someone can successfully explain how these are really meant to work I'd love to know.

Basically Andy they're full of heavy bricks with heating rods in between. The rods heat up - typically overnight (hence the name 'night storage') - which heats the bricks and then you're free to release the heat during the day. Warm air heating works on the same sort of principle.

My view is, is that they were originally designed for old people who tend to be in during the day - no point heating your flat while your at work is there? I'm guessing your flat is 1960's build? I have replaced storage heating in a couple of flats this year & put in 1500W convector panels with timers. Much cheaper to run & much more convenient.

Heaters with bricks in them, amazing. I was fortunate to grow up with oil fired central heating so this is a bit new to me. Was confused when we moved into our luxury executive 3 series style apartment to be faced with these monsters. LOL

Ours are constantly off, just turn them on when it gets cold, is that a suitable way of using them then?

[northwest monkey]

AndyWoodall said:

northwest monkey said:

AndyWoodall said:

We have storage heaters in our flat, being well insulated and pretty snug we don't have to use them much, although when we do they don't seem too bad.

I still haven't worked out how to use them though, just turn them on when it gets cold and some warm stuff comes out. If someone can successfully explain how these are really meant to work I'd love to know.

Basically Andy they're full of heavy bricks with heating rods in between. The rods heat up - typically overnight (hence the name 'night storage') - which heats the bricks and then you're free to release the heat during the day. Warm air heating works on the same sort of principle.

My view is, is that they were originally designed for old people who tend to be in during the day - no point heating your flat while your at work is there? I'm guessing your flat is 1960's build? I have replaced storage heating in a couple of flats this year & put in 1500W convector panels with timers. Much cheaper to run & much more convenient.

Heaters with bricks in them, amazing. I was fortunate to grow up with oil fired central heating so this is a bit new to me. Was confused when we moved into our luxury executive 3 series style apartment to be faced with these monsters. LOL

Ours are constantly off, just turn them on when it gets cold, is that a suitable way of using them then?

They're amazing when you have to get rid of them mate - they weigh a ton so you have to break them down then leave it all to cool for a few days. In fact, the word I was looking for was 'annoying' rather than 'amazing'. Saying that though, the bricks don't half make a dent in soft lawns when lobbed from a 3rd floor

They are cheap though which explains why they are still around...

It's probably an expensive way of using them - it's likely they're "charging" up & you may or may not be using the heat but your paying to charge them anyway....