storage heaters - stupid question?

[amh124]

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 economy 7 trigger them?

I have storage heaters and i find them to be quite expensive (electricity bill is £50-60/m in winter in a one bed flat with just me as opposed to £15-20/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

 

[JohnD]

Usually the electricity meter has a timer that turn on the power to a separate set of circuits. They do not have an internal timer.

If you have a look round your meter you will quite likely find you have two sets of readings on it, a day time and a night time one. And you will probably find you have two consumer units (fuseboxes), one of which supplied only the storage heaters which are on separate individual circuits, each fused at 15 or 16Amps.

Storage heaters are cheaper to install than central heating but not cheap to run and give out most of the heat during the day, which is OK if you are retired or staying at home to look after a baby, but no good if you are out at work.

Make sure all of yours are switched off during the summer.

 

[stem]

Some meters are switched over by radio signal (Imbedded in BBC Radio 4 I believe) These switches have the advantage of being immune to the hours time difference between BST & GMT and natural inaccuracies in a timeswitch over a period of time. See the link below

www.energynetworks.org/rts/moreinfo.asp

 

[crystal ball]

If you have an Electratech system (old Manweb Norweb areas) it relies on pulse relays to switch on the heaters, which can become stuck on charging heaters 24 hours, I have seen them held closed with blu tack resulting in hefty bills.

Storage heaters are relatively expensive to run but dont forget to take into account servicing costs of gas boilers, and systems and boiler replacements every 10-15 years, storage heaters are almost maintenance free

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Storage heaters are cheaper to install than central heating but not cheap to run and give out most of the heat during the day, which is OK if you are retired or staying at home to look after a baby, but no good if you are out at work.

They also require you to be able to predict the temperature for the following day to decide whether to have them on, and to what extent.

 

[crystal ball]

Ther used to be an option for a weather watch system which involved outdoor sensors and electronic gadgetry to "predict" the temperature, my system with central heating is similar, first sign of spring off it goes, until the wife realises.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

You need to stop making the comments about her being pleased to see you...

 

[securespark]

storage heaters are almost maintenance free

Not in my 19 years of experience they're not!!!

 

[RF Lighting]

storage heaters are almost maintenance free

Not in my 19 years of experience they're not!!!

I only have 9 years under my belt, but I'd second that.

 

[crystal ball]

storage heaters are almost maintenance free

Not in my 19 years of experience they're not!!!

Please elaborate, I know thermal links melt and elements fail but on the whole they are pretty reliable

 

[plugwash]

Some meters are switched over by radio signal (Imbedded in BBC Radio 4 I believe) These switches have the advantage of being immune to the hours time difference between BST & GMT and natural inaccuracies in a timeswitch over a period of time. See the link below

www.energynetworks.org/rts/moreinfo.asp[/QUOTE]
iirc the real reason for using teleswitches is that they don't have to turn them on and off at the exact same times every day as long as the customer gets thier quota of hours. This is very usefull from the point of view of supply/demand balancing of the grid.

 

[amh124]

Thanks for all the info, you've all been really helpful

Thanks