Clueless Newbie... how do I use my central heating???

smallbrowncat

Hello all!!

Just wondering if anyone could help me figure out how to use my central heating.... I know it sounds rather embarassing/stupid to ask this, but I recently moved to Ireland from New Zealand (no central heating for love or money down there) and I have no idea how to operate it or best use it. All assistance/tips greatly appreciated!!

I live in a newish 85sqm 2 bedroom apartment - all electric heating. Apartment is well-insulated. The living room and hallway have 3 electric night storage heaters (boxy Dimplex ones on the wall) - they look like this http://www.thegascompany.ie/iopen24/electric-storage-heater-dimplex-xmx712n-radiator-kilowatt-output-p-968666.html. The bedroom heaters I think are not night storage - it is electric heating that has a timer option (ie it is skinnier and smaller, when you switch it on, it starts pumping out heat straight away).

I have figured out the timer for the ones in the bedroom (I think), but it is the ones in the living room and hallway that I am not sure about. I have found the instructions online for the model and I know about the input and output knobs. What I do not know is:

- do I leave the switch on the wall (next to the heater) always on? Ie, I have to predict that I want heating for the following evening, so will flick the switch on the evening before? The heaters also know to only heat themselves up during the nighttime (ie cheaper power).... right?? It's not just sucking in power every time the switch is on?
- two of the night storage heaters just have one switch on the wall next to it. The third, slightly bigger one (also has a boost fan heater function), has two switches. Do I always leave both of these switches on?? The left one says "Fused" and the right one says "On".
- what is the best way to heat my apartment? Should I have all the heaters in the apartment on (living room/hallway) and set on timer (bedrooms)? In NZ the tendency (due to no central heating, poor insulation and very expensive electricity) is to just heat one room at a time - ie the living room, and then switching on another oil heater in the bedroom an hour or so before you go to bed (or just getting into bed with a hot water bottle and 3 layers of pyjamas VERY quickly). With central heating are you meant to have all the heaters in the house on? Ie - the second bedroom is just a spare bedroom for guests/drying clothes/ironing board etc. Should I have the heater going in there on a very low level?

Sorry for the silly questions.... I'm sure this must all be very basic stuff when you've grown up with central heating. Just worried I'm going to freeze/use heating inefficiently/run up a massive power bill!!

Thanks ever so much!

meercat

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055468851&highlight=storage+heating
better luck in electrical forum

Joey the lips

Hi - have moved this to Electrical hope an electrician will advise you better on programming etc.... Best of luck

Red Alert

That's a usual enough setup for Irish apartments (and houses). Storage heating can often be expensive due to incorrect usage, but does have the advantages of not requiring a gas bill and separate standing charge.

You will need to have a look over your ESB bill or your opening account letter. On it you'll either be on a Standard Tariff + Night Storage Heating (2 meters), or Nightsaver (1 meter). If you're on a standard tariff with no mention of Nightsaver or Night Storage Heating you'll need to talk to the ESB.

The overall idea is that they charge up at night with the cheap electricity, and if your installation is wired up correctly that'll happen once the Night or Off-Peak switches on the heaters are turned on and left on. That'll be the switch that doesn't do anything during the day. You can then set the input control to make the heater take in enough heat during the night for the following day, and the boost knob (not the in-built convector or fan heater) can be used to control the release of heat. You may have a fan-assisted storage heater where a fan does this too, but they're relatively rare in Ireland. Switch off the convector or fan heater when not in use at the wall switch as it uses on-peak energy.

In many cases there are no other controls for the night charging other than the onboard control. Some installations use a room thermostat to limit the temperature in the rooms during charging. Others use a special controller (usually made by Devireg in the fuse box) that delays the charging period depending on how hot it is outside. Installations such as this generally work best if the heaters are left on maximum, search the forums for Devireg if you've got one of those.

The smaller heaters are direct-acting panel heaters and aren't great to be honest. Remember that the off-peak time starts about 11pm if you're on Nightsaver (not for NSH only), so if you go to bed late enough you can take the chill off the bedroom on the cheap rate.

facken

smallbrowncat wrote: »

Hello all!!

Just wondering if anyone could help me figure out how to use my central heating.... I know it sounds rather embarassing/stupid to ask this, but I recently moved to Ireland from New Zealand (no central heating for love or money down there) and I have no idea how to operate it or best use it. All assistance/tips greatly appreciated!!

I live in a newish 85sqm 2 bedroom apartment - all electric heating. Apartment is well-insulated. The living room and hallway have 3 electric night storage heaters (boxy Dimplex ones on the wall) - they look like this http://www.thegascompany.ie/iopen24/electric-storage-heater-dimplex-xmx712n-radiator-kilowatt-output-p-968666.html. The bedroom heaters I think are not night storage - it is electric heating that has a timer option (ie it is skinnier and smaller, when you switch it on, it starts pumping out heat straight away).

I have figured out the timer for the ones in the bedroom (I think), but it is the ones in the living room and hallway that I am not sure about. I have found the instructions online for the model and I know about the input and output knobs. What I do not know is:

- do I leave the switch on the wall (next to the heater) always on? Ie, I have to predict that I want heating for the following evening, so will flick the switch on the evening before? The heaters also know to only heat themselves up during the nighttime (ie cheaper power).... right?? It's not just sucking in power every time the switch is on?
- two of the night storage heaters just have one switch on the wall next to it. The third, slightly bigger one (also has a boost fan heater function), has two switches. Do I always leave both of these switches on?? The left one says "Fused" and the right one says "On".
- what is the best way to heat my apartment? Should I have all the heaters in the apartment on (living room/hallway) and set on timer (bedrooms)? In NZ the tendency (due to no central heating, poor insulation and very expensive electricity) is to just heat one room at a time - ie the living room, and then switching on another oil heater in the bedroom an hour or so before you go to bed (or just getting into bed with a hot water bottle and 3 layers of pyjamas VERY quickly). With central heating are you meant to have all the heaters in the house on? Ie - the second bedroom is just a spare bedroom for guests/drying clothes/ironing board etc. Should I have the heater going in there on a very low level?

Sorry for the silly questions.... I'm sure this must all be very basic stuff when you've grown up with central heating. Just worried I'm going to freeze/use heating inefficiently/run up a massive power bill!!

Thanks ever so much!

When it comes to using electricity for heating I would turn off anything you don't need. As you said, use the nighttime savings to your advantage. If a friend is coming to stay turn on the one in the spare room, if not, leave it off. Nighttime savings is the key.