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Storage Heaters
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19-10-2011 9:19pm#1
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1. Storage heaters are exactly that. They store heat which is generated at night (11pm to 8am), by means of a cheap rate tariff, as there is not a high demand on our electricity grid at night. This is a separate meter that the consumer has and a separate sealed timeswitch, supplied by the ESB.
They store heat by means of elements heating bricks within the heater unit. To stop this heat dissipating immediately (during the night), the storage heater unit has an insulated housing.
To release this heat, there is an internal mechanical flap at the top of the heater, which the user can open to varying apertures, which allows heat to escape from the bricks and heat the surrounding environment.
2. To control the amount that we heat the bricks up to, we use the thermostat (Input Dial, situated at top or side of heater). This is a trial and error setting as it is relevant to the insulation properties of the building and heat required. As a base, during very cold weather, have it set high. During cold weather have it set medium. When the property is vacant, and dampness needs to be avoided, set both low. What you pay for your heating, will be proportional to this setting, but is also relational to the setting of the mechanical flap (Output Dial, situated at top or side of heater).
In other words, a kettle would take more time to boil, and hence use more electricity, if the lid was left off.
3. To control the amount of heat we let out of the heater, we use the Output Dial (mechanical flap). This should ideally be closed (output set low) during the night. As the bricks heat up, there is always some escape of heat through the insulation of the housing, which heats the surrounds adequately.
If we have this flap open (output set high) during the night, then the bricks are constantly releasing heat, so the thermostat does not control the input and you are constantly paying. Alongside this, the bricks have not stored enough heat to dissipate out during the day.
So the ideal setting for the flap is to have it closed during the night, and to be opened gradually during the day, as the heat is required. (please note, that if the area is still cold at night, with the input set high, you should open the flap slightly (output set low/medium)).
So, to summarise, Input is left at a certain setting relevant only to weather periods.
Output is left low at night and adjusted daily, relative to the heat required.
4. On the subject of combination heaters; In my personal opinion they are terrible. They have nothing to do with the storage heater. They are a separate convector heater, stuck on to the front of the storage heater, and run only on the high ESB tariff, day or night.
They have very bad thermostatic qualities, as they are attached to the storage heater, and hence their thermostat is reacting to the heat that is directly around the storage heater. They will cost you.
What I would recommend as a supplementary backup heater, irrelevant of what your main central heating system is, is the oil filled electric radiators on wheels. Their thermostat reacts excellently to the surrounding temperature, and does not click on, due to nuisance drafts, such as a door opening momentarily. In other words the differential in the thermostat is energy efficient.
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