Storage Heater/Night Rate

four18

In my place since May only looking at the heating set up now ! basically its a One bed apt with a storage heater in the main room and a wall heater in bedroom which seems fine. Beside the storage heater are 2 switches Day and night. Out in the landing I tracked down my meter which has a day rate reading and a night one.
I have looked at it after midnight and the little arrow switches down to point at the night reading but nothing happens when I use the night switch by the storage heater. The day switch works always. Do I just use the day switch after midnight to heat the thing for the next day or will I call in the landlord ? I am not really techie so I hope this makes sense.
Thanks

JOHNPT

You have a combi heater. The Day switch can be turned on anytime and gives instant heat. The night switch comes on about 11pm until 8 am. Turn this switch (night switch) on and leave it on all night - you should have heat in the morning.

four18

Ok, I'll try that. night switch on, See if theres any heat in the morning. Turned the 2 dials up full. Will keep you posted and thanks for reply

four18

Nah no joy. Left it on all night turned up full, Nothing.

pyromania

check have you power at night switch,youneed to wait till meter has switched over to night rate ,after 11. check mcb ,maybe cut out in stat in heater

four18

How will I check for power ? There are no lights etc showing when night switch is on. The only way I could check would be to remove the front of the switch and use a phase tester...yes ?

My last 2 bills showed approx 200 units used on day rate and 40 on night rate. I assume the 40 units were tv computer etc used after midnight (thats when the meter switches over, I checked last night)

Would my winter heating bill be through the roof if I just used the convector ? bit that works ?
Maybe the landlord is due a call.

Red Alert

The "Night" switch should normally be turned on and left on all times once it gets cold. The supply will be energised automatically throughout the cheap rate period at night. To get started, set the Input or Charge control to about 1/2 way. Set the Output or Boost control to its minimum. You should have heat the next morning if everything works OK. Make sure any Storage Heater MCB's in your fusebox aren't tripped.

Leave the "Day" switch off unless you actually need extra heat.

If you get no joy, then it's time to dig a little deeper:

Next thing to check is the room thermostat, if there is one. They usually control the instant/Day part of the heater, but sometimes were installed on the Night input to prevent overheating in milder weather. Until you know what's going on, set any room thermostat well into the mid 20's or even higher.

Last thing is have a look at your fusebox again, and this time see if you have a small box with two knobs on it and a label that says Devireg. These use an outdoor sensor and cut back the charging hours as the weather gets warmer. If you have one, it may be cutting off or reducing the charge since it's still relatively warm.

four18

Ok, I have set the controls as you suggested, had a look at the fuseboard, the switch labeled storage is not tripped. There is a switch below it labeled esb timer. It looks a bit different to the others, the switch bit is slightly T shaped and it shows red with a 1 printed on it when up like the rest of them, click it down and it shows green with a 0 printed on the green. I assume I leave it pointing up like the rest of them showing red ? I wont really know until later when the little arrow on the meter moves to point at the night reading whether anything changes.

If no joy I will just phone the landlord. In the meanwhile the day/boost part is working fine if it gets a bit chilly !

Thanks for your help, M

Red Alert

That thing I suspect is what's called a contactor. It's an electrically-operated switch that energises the storage heaters when told to do so by the ESB metering equipment. This is what makes the storage heaters charge when the cheap rate kicks in.

Your ESB meter has a timer that changes the night rate over - it's either in the meter already if it's digital, or it's a big round clock otherwise. As well as changing the rate on the meter, it has another wire coming out of it that controls the contactor in your fuse board.

The T-shaped switch on the contactor will either manually hold it on, manually hold it off or else leave it under automatic control, where it gets its instructions from your meter/timer. It may be worth dropping into your neighbour if they've the same system and asking to see what position theirs is left in.

four18

I will try a bit of fiddling tonight when night rate kicks in. Thanks for all your help