Reply With QuoteI changed my Daughters storage heater for Dimplex panel heaters with modules controlled by her phone.Quite a saving on the old units and warmer.Immersion heaters two off were changed for stainless steel versions ,very hard water in our area.
My elderly in-laws have just moved in to a retirement complex and have inherited years of what appears to be old and very tired equipment.
They have 3 old Dimplex storage heaters and a very old a rusty immersion heater with 2 elements with one not working. He’s moved house with the old energy supplier and has been put on the basic daytime rate with economy 7 in the nights. Problem is there are no timer controls for the immersion heater or the heaters and so he’d need to wake up at midnight to stick them all on manually.
Has anyone had a new electric heating system set up recently which incorporates the latest heaters and immersion with controls?
If so what did you have fitted, did you go for the basic units or gone for the latest silicone storage units
Cheers
FFF
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I changed my Daughters storage heater for Dimplex panel heaters with modules controlled by her phone.Quite a saving on the old units and warmer.Immersion heaters two off were changed for stainless steel versions ,very hard water in our area.
Trouble is they aren’t particularly tech savvy so I’d imagine that would be a non starter
Cheers for the reply
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But the point of economy 7 is that the heaters are on a separate circuit that only goes live between midnight and 7 am so he should have no need to get up?
We had a bit of a row with the supplier as my sons teleswitch timer is faulty, but since that’s sorted his old heaters are doing fine and they don’t have timers - just dials for input and output.
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Then my understanding of how the system works is wrongOriginally Posted by Halitosis
I assumed there would be timers that should come on at midnight etc
Are you saying the units are simply left on and will take what they need until they’ve had enough.
Not sure how that works tbh?
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Have they spoken to the management of the retirement complex they now reside in ?
Surely that would be Step 1 ?
We have economy 7 with storage heaters. The system switches over the circuit to cheap rate at midnight automatically (no clocks) and we hear the clunk when it does it both coming on and switching off. The storage heaters on night charge up to whatever temperature it is set to then switches off. If required they will turn back on to top up before the daytime rate switches on.
You don’t need to buy the wi fi module.
Its privately owned within the complex so he's responsible.
If they’re not tech savvy, then these are great - literally don’t touch them, once they’re switched on the economy 7 kicks on at midnight and then disperses the heat generated at night throughout the day. They’re great for small spaces, like flats and bungalows. I’d also voice a preference towards the older storage heaters. The newer ones need to conform to energy efficiency standards and I’ve noticed these to not hold as much heat. I’ve a mix of new and old in my flat.
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As alas58 says, storage heaters on an Economy 7 tariff will work without a timer. We had a complete faff that was documented in this thread which might help explain how the system works. Basically the storage heaters are on a completely separate wiring circuit that only goes live when the timer (teleswitch as I learned) switches late at night as the low tarrif commences, and then switches off again when the high rate takes over around 7am. If your Dad's meter is anything like my son's, there'll be two meter readings with an arrow pointing to whichever one is "live" at the moment. When the low/night rate is live then the circuit to the storage heaters is live which enables them to "charge up" (with the electric elements warming the surrounding cement bricks). The first of the dials on a storage heater is a thermostat that determines the temperature that the bricks reach before cutting off the supply. The cement bricks them release their heat throughout the day. The rate at which the heat is released is determined by the second dial - which simply and mechanically opens or closes vents allowing air to pass through the bricks and circulate the warmth through the room.
It's all very rudimentary, but surprisingly effective. Some folk replace the storage heating system with a single rate electricity meter and alternative heating systems, but in my humble opinion the Economy 7 system works fine. It's a little inefficient in terms of controllability, but otherwise great.
Caveat - recent craziness in electricity prices haven't worked in favour of Economy 7 tariffs but I still think it preferable.
Cheers for that and has helped with a few questions i had. I noted 2 fuse boxes with only the 2 units and immersion in the 2nd box. There was no power to any of them and werent live so again your explanation makes a lot of sense. Theyre very old dimplex units and id have naturally assumed not as efficient as some newer stuff but yet again youve answered the questionsCheers
FFF
Modern storage heaters might possibly be more controllable but old ones are equally (100%) efficient. 1kW of electricity in, 1kW of heat out.
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