Storage Heaters (again)

Snoopy1

Its getting to the time of year when these things have to go on and my bills will rocket.
Anyway i turned it on last night just to see if it was working.
This morning there was absolutely no heat. Does this mean that it was too warm outside for it to collect heat, or has the heater broken?

djimi

Broken most likely. Do yourself a favour and leave it that way! I have found that using heaters such as electric plug in oil filled radiators is quite a bit cheaper than storage heaters (to the tune of €100+ per bill during the winter).

Snoopy1

I'll tell the landlord, but id imagine it would be some time before he gets it fixed.
I was thinking about getting a heater that i could move around, is there any you could suggest?
Thanks

Mustard1972

djimi wrote: »

Broken most likely. Do yourself a favour and leave it that way! I have found that using heaters such as electric plug in oil filled radiators is quite a bit cheaper than storage heaters (to the tune of €100+ per bill during the winter).

Thats really strange that the electric oil filled heaters are cheaper than storage heaters.
I put storage heaters in 3 rooms I heat most and leave the oil fired CH rads off in those rooms now.
Ive been checking the meter and oil consumption every couple of days for the last few winters and taking into account the difference in the price of oil and electricity over those years Ive saved about €400 a year and had longer times of heating in those rooms by putting the storage heaters in.
Most people I know who have storage heater dont know how to use them at all. That could be a factor.

Snoopy1

I know how to use storage heaters, just dont know if this one is broken or not.
I find them incredibly expensive

Mustard1972

Snoopy1 wrote: »

I know how to use storage heaters, just dont know if this one is broken or not.
I find them incredibly expensive

Did you check the trip switch?
If thats ok you can open the heater and there will be a thermostat in it that could be stuck. Its an easy fix. Just google it and your heater model and you will get instructions.
Turn off the electricity before you do open the heater though.
You should be able to get calculations on how much it costs to store the heat in your particular heater and how long it takes to let out the heat at given temps over the day.
Also try reading your meter when you are using the storage heating, calculate what it cost you and then do the same if you are using a plug in heater.

Snoopy1

The trip switch seems ok.
I wouldnt trust myself to open up the heater though

djimi

Mustard1972 wrote: »

Thats really strange that the electric oil filled heaters are cheaper than storage heaters.

When I say oil filled I mean the electric plug in ones, not actual oil central heating.

I think a lot of it is down to how you can use them. With the plug in radiators its a lot easier to control their usage; we tend to turn them on for 20 minutes and off for 40, which is sufficient to heat the room while we sit there in the evening. Perhaps with similar usage there wouldnt be much difference in cost, but the storage heater is on for 12 hours a day and the plug in heater for a total of maybe 2 hours, and even taking day/night rate into account that simply works out a lot cheaper for us.

Mustard1972

djimi wrote: »

When I say oil filled I mean the electric plug in ones, not actual oil central heating.

I think a lot of it is down to how you can use them. With the plug in radiators its a lot easier to control their usage; we tend to turn them on for 20 minutes and off for 40, which is sufficient to heat the room while we sit there in the evening. Perhaps with similar usage there wouldnt be much difference in cost, but the storage heater is on for 12 hours a day and the plug in heater for a total of maybe 2 hours, and even taking day/night rate into account that simply works out a lot cheaper for us.

Yes I know the ones you mean. Tried them myself and found them to be very costly compared to storage. The only good thing about them is that you can plug them into a little meter socket you can buy which tells you EXACTLY how much electricity they have used while they are plugged in.

Storage heaters shouldnt drawing electricity for 12 hours a day. If they are there is something very wrong with the way you are using them and your storage heater must be faulty and as a result extremely dangerous. Get someone to look at it for you.

You cant plug a meter into them but you can get a very good idea of the electricity they are drawing if you take a meter reading before going to bed and when you get up in the morning for a few days. Then do the same thing for a few days with your storage heating activated and subtract. You could get tools to be more accurate but for the little bit more accuracy they arent worth the price. Obviously dont do this outside the heating season.

I know I sound anal, but being an engineer i am obsessed with measuring power consumption

Snoopy1

djimi wrote: »

When I say oil filled I mean the electric plug in ones, not actual oil central heating.

I think a lot of it is down to how you can use them. With the plug in radiators its a lot easier to control their usage; we tend to turn them on for 20 minutes and off for 40, which is sufficient to heat the room while we sit there in the evening. Perhaps with similar usage there wouldnt be much difference in cost, but the storage heater is on for 12 hours a day and the plug in heater for a total of maybe 2 hours, and even taking day/night rate into account that simply works out a lot cheaper for us.

Yea that's the ones i was thinking about.

Snoopy1

I turned the input up slightly last night, and this morning I came down to heat
Im still going to get one of those radiators you mentioned djimi so I can turn storage heaters off, and one for the bedrooms too.

Npleonard89

Where can you buy these other radiators you are talking about. I have the same problem with storage heaters giving off too much heat during the day then nothing left that evening so I will try to turn down the output until I go home frm work.

Del2005

Npleonard89 wrote: »

Where can you buy these other radiators you are talking about. I have the same problem with storage heaters giving off too much heat during the day then nothing left that evening so I will try to turn down the output until I go home frm work.

Any hardware store, bigger Tesco's, Argos and Aldi/Lidl do them fairly often. I've even seen them in Supervalu's/Centra's the odd time. Since it's that time of year they'll be popping up in loads of shops soon.

Npleonard89

Are the oil filled ones cheaper to run than the small wall hung electric radiators in most apartments?

Mrs OBumble

Npleonard89 wrote: »

Where can you buy these other radiators you are talking about. I have the same problem with storage heaters giving off too much heat during the day then nothing left that evening so I will try to turn down the output until I go home frm work.

I'd imagine any electrical goods shop will have them - they're like this.

(No, I'm not suggesting buying something that heavy off Amazon, was just a handy place to get a pic from. )

For bedrooms, buy one with a timer, and set it to go for 20 minutes before you get up, and 20 mins before you go to bed.

I'm a big fan of storage heating overall, but I wouldn't use it in places that don't need heat for hours on end. And I cannot understand the people who install it in hallways ...

Npleonard89

Thanks
I have a small wall hung electric radiator in the bedroom but its not great at giving off heat so maybe I would be better to buy an oil filled electric radiator and time it.

Del2005

Npleonard89 wrote: »

Thanks
I have a small wall hung electric radiator in the bedroom but its not great at giving off heat so maybe I would be better to buy an oil filled electric radiator and time it.

The wall hung heaters are worst than storage heaters as they are just a bare element inside the case. Definately get oil filled for these rooms

Mustard1972

Del2005 wrote: »

The wall hung heaters are worst than storage heaters as they are just a bare element inside the case. Definately get oil filled for these rooms

And what about the laws of physics.
Just saying

SpaceTime

Electricity going in all has to come out as heat.
A resistance element is a very simple device and that's all any electrical heater is.

An oil filled radiator will tend to produce more even heat though and doesn't create that burnt dry air scent that some convector heaters can because the whole surface of the radiator is dissipating the heat rather than passing the air (and dust) through hot elements.

They are also generally a lot safer as there is no red hot element in the air.

Snoopy1

I got this yesterday http://http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/4159201/Trail/searchtext%3ERADIATOR.htm
Seemed to warm up room nicely. Will get a smaller one for the bedrooms.
It was great to have instant heat, i didnt have it on for long though.