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How to use Storage Heating

  • 04-10-2014 9:52pm
    #1
    kissmequick
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,065 ✭✭✭


    Can someone please tell me how to work Storage Heating to its' best-use and most cost-effective..... Have NightSaver Electricity. I presume the most heat will be outputted by having it turned up to the top, but is it substantially more expensive to have it turned up to the top of the dial or what is the best Setting to put it at to get some heat out for an evening...... Or what can I do to make sure the heat is used / emitted / transmitted or whatever, the most, the best, for the evening part of a 24-hour period..... Thanks.


Comments

  • #2
    transistor
    Registered Users Posts: 27 ✭transistor


    Your storage heater uses electrical heating elements to heat dense (and heavy) energy storage bricks. The elements are inside the bricks so when the power is on at night the bricks are heated from the inside. The heat is transferred to the room by convection. Air passes through slots in the bottom, up past the bricks and out the slots at the top. The air is warmed and the bricks lose their heat.

    The amount of heat stored = heater power x heating hours.
    e.g. A 2.5kW storage heater (check the label if you can see it) on for 6 hours each night will store 2.5 kW x 6 h = 15 kWh (kilowatt hours) of energy.

    If you were able to let this out evenly over 15 hours of the day you would get 1kW continuous heat. (1 kW x 15 hours = 15 kWh.) This is the same heating effect as an old-fashioned 1-bar electric heater or 10 x 100 W bulbs on all day.

    And this is the problem: the temperature of the bricks will drop as heat is lost during the day. The heaters will give off most of their heat while you are out at work and be cool by the time you get home. Most storage heaters have a flap on the top vent to reduce the airflow. By closing the flap before you leave home in the morning you can minimise the heat loss during the day and opening it again in the evening will release the heat that remains.

    Cost: you pay for kWh. Rough figures are 10c/kWh so in the example above the heater would cost 15 x 10c = €1.50 per day = €45 per month to operate.

    Comparison: if you were to turn off the storage heater and run a 2 kW heater for 3 hours each evening at, say, 17c day rate, cost would be 2 x 4 x 17c = €1.36 per day.

    Back to the storage heater: most have two controls
    1. A thermostat which turns off the heaters when they've reached a certain temperature thereby controlling the heat put into the bricks.
    2. The flap control mentioned earlier.
    You'll need to figure out which is which.

    Does that answer your question?


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