Storage Heaters

tracey1098

Anyone have these? Any idea of monthly cost for electricity.

Turnipman

tracey1098 wrote: »

Anyone have these? Any idea of monthly cost for electricity.

That depends on the electricity tarrif that you're on, whether you have a night meter, and what the heater wattage is.

For example a 1 kw storage heater will consume 1 unit of electricity per hour while a
2 kw storage heater will consume 2 units of electricity per hour.

If you have a night meter, you'd run them from 23.00 to 08.00 and night rate electricity would be about 11 cent a unit.

So, a simple calculation would be:-

1 x 2kw storage heater running for 9 hours a night for 30 days would require a maximum of 540 (2*9*30) units of electricity.

At 11 cent a unit, this would cost you about €60 a month.

When I lived in an apartment I had two of them and thought that they were excellent. Neat and tidy, no maintenance costs and they last forever!

Galway K9

tracey1098 wrote: »

Anyone have these? Any idea of monthly cost for electricity.

From personal experience.....RUN!!!

punisher5112

OP is it the only source of heat. They will be expensive but also depends on how you use them.

We have them in our house but have a stove so never use them and stove heats whole house no back boiler.

Just leave all doors open heat goes up.

Mrs OBumble

punisher5112 wrote: »

OP is it the only source of heat. They will can be expensive but also depends on how you use them.

And how many rooms you heat, and whether your adjust the settings according to the weather forecast and the likely use of the house the next day.

Remember, many areas rooms in your house don't need heating. And some just need small bits of additional heating (eg bedrooms) not all day. Storage heaters are for living areas.

Cost depends on all sorts of factors. But I haven't found them a disaster.

Del2005

The biggest pain with storage heaters is that you have to watch the weather forecast like a hawk and adjust them accordingly. If you have them set to high the room will become a sauna and you can't open the window/door as the heat will be lost for when you need it later on in the day.

They are also useless if you work, the heat will be gone when you get home.

tracey1098

We both work so would need house to be warm in the evening, can they notbe timed to come on at a certain time of day? Wouldn't b anyone in the house during the day normally.

dori_dormer

We had storage heaters for years and most you can set to release their heat in the afternoon or evening. There are usually 2 dials, one input, one output. The output one would determine the time released ( not usually and actual time but something like 1= afternoon , 2= evening etc.) you may have to look up the manual online

seamus

They're not as bad as people make out so long as you're careful about ensuring that they're adjusted correctly. You can still get caught out, especially at this time of year when it can be cold in the morning but sunshine in the afternoon heats everything up massively, creating a sauna in the evening.

There's a bit of trial-and-error in getting the input and output correct, but you figure it out pretty quickly. The main issue I have with storage heating is the massive variance it creates in your electricity bills. Mine vary from ~€100 every two months in the summer to €300+ in the winter.

Sounds like huge money, but when you factor in that you have no other bills for your heating (i.e. gas/oil), it's not more expensive than other types of heating. The main downside is its inflexibility - if you forget to adjust it correctly, you can't "undo" it and get your house at the right temperature, and it costs you money.

The evening/morning adjustment bit is basically about how much you open the vent at the top of the unit. You can set it to be fully open, in which case it will release all of its heat quickly; the room will warm up quickly, but after a few hours, you'll have lost all of the stored heat. This is a good setting if you're at home all day because your normal activity will heat the room(s) anyway so it won't be cold come evening time.
If you set the vent to be partially open, it releases the heat more slowly so it builds through the day and thus the room is warmest in the evening - provided the heat isn't escaping through windows and doors.

You can also set the vent to a minimal setting, which is where it should be all the time unless you specifically need it otherwise. The settings are often called "morning" and "evening" settings, but that's a bit misleading.

Del2005

tracey1098 wrote: »

We both work so would need house to be warm in the evening, can they notbe timed to come on at a certain time of day? Wouldn't b anyone in the house during the day normally.

I've storage heaters and south facing patio doors and window. I've tried all settings and no matter how I set it I needed to run the fan heater at some stage after I came home from work to keep the room comfortable. I've also been in a sauna in the afternoon on days I'm not working and still needed to run the fan heater at around 8 or 9 in the evening.

When I'm working I don't bother with the storage heater I use a combination of the fan and a mobile oil filled radiator.