How do you run electric storage heaters efficiently?

Question

How do you run electric storage heaters efficiently?

Answer 1

firstly only have them on in rooms that you use, keep the doors shut. make sure that they are set to come on on economy rates (white meter) and only for the time needed to heat them up. so if it takes 4 hours and you surface at 7pm set them to start at 3pm. when the weathers milder turn them down, you need to check the weather forecast ahead so you can plan for the next day.

Its a lot of work but worth it.

Answer 2

Insulate it from the wind and put a timer on it. If you can afford it, build a solar thermosiphon hot water heater in series with your electric heater.

Answer 3

They should run overnight on off peak electricity PROVIDED you have economy 7. If not, bin them and get something else. They are not cheap and if it's your own place, it is worth getting central heating.

Answer 4

Storage heaters are good idea if you have access to off-peak tariffs. Not every energy company offers such tariffs these days. If you can, get it to come on during off-peak periods. Make sure the room is energy efficient, i.e. good insulation, draught-proofing, etc. Do NOT attempt to keep the heat in by obstructing any holes or wrapping the heater. The thermal fuse at the top will blow and if it doesn't, there might be a fire.  

Answer 5

Set them to charge when the power is off peak.

Answer 6

The short answer is that you cannot, the long answer is that the reason for this is that they are normally fairly cold at night when you need the heat and they are storing it up using off peak electricity then they are giving you the heat in the day when you need it least as the temperature is higher, so they are really a waste of time as many councils etc found out which is why you will quite often find them chucked in skips etc. Did you know that most are filled with bricks, I kid you not, they are normally just a great big cabinet with a small electric heater and the bricks get heated up at night and the theory is that you can use the heat when you want, the reality is that they turn your dwelling into an oven when the sun is out.

Answer 7

Fit an external thermostat that will regulate the amount of charge delivered to the heater depending on outside conditions