Storage Heater confusion ...

Piliger

I have one storage heater and was using it for a while last month.

But the night Obama was re-elected, I was sitting there at 4am and noticed it was VERY hot in the apartment ... so I put my hand over the storage heater and it was POURING out huge amounts of heat, more than I had ever found it does during the day.

I thought that the idea was to pay for the heater to STORE heat in the night and give it out in the day ?

Also the next afternoon I noticed the red light at the wall where the storage heater is hard wired into the wall, was on. Why is the light on in the afternoon ? I am very confused.


Also: A friend of mine in a very small damp apartment asked their landlord to get a night meter to use the storage heater ... but they came back and told her than Electric Ireland told them that this would mean the day rate would be increased ....... is this really true ? This means people with a night meter pay more even if they do not actually use the night meter ?

Electric Ireland: David

Hi Piliger,

I'm assuming you have a nightsaver (dual-tariff) meter - have you checked the timeswitch on this, to ensure it's in sync with the actual time? If it's not, it could be the case that the nightsaver meter is triggering the storage heaters at the incorrect time.

Piliger wrote:

A friend of mine in a very small damp apartment asked their landlord to get a night meter to use the storage heater ... but they came back and told her than Electric Ireland told them that this would mean the day rate would be increased ....... is this really true ?

Yes, the day rate is slightly increased, as is the standing charge if you are a nightsaver customer (for details, see our price plan page). However, to offset these increases and make a saving against the standard 24hr tariff, you would only need to use on average 3 to 4 units at the reduced night rate in each 24hr period (or a fifth or total usage). The nightrate offers a reduced night time price offering a 50% reduction on the day price.

If your name is on the bill, please feel free to PM me your account details so I can look into this further for you.

Thanks,

David.

Piliger

Just to report back to visitors to this forum......

Through the help of Electric Ireland's Dave here on this thread - I was able to send through a photo of my Night Rate Timer Clock located in the same box as the Meters.

It turns out that the Clock was waaaaay off ...... we are not sure if it was 2 hours or 14 hours off I hope that it will be possible to find out at some stage.

The implications are enormous for the cost of heating through the winter. Luckily I have only been in this apartment since March 2012.

I advise EVERYONE to go and check their Night Rate Clock ! and note that the clock appears to be on a 12 hour setup while the timer is on a 24 hr. So I still haven't figured out how anyone can tell if it set to 8am or 8pm ..... hopefully that will be resolved soon.

Thanks to Dave for the help.

Guester

Does anyone who has worked for or does now work for any of the electric providers know how to read the Analogue clocks at the centre of the Night Meter ?

The clock is a 12 hour analogue clock .... yet it manages a 24 system .. is there a giveaway indicator on it that shows where on the 24 hour cycles it is ?

Here is the photo in High Res.

Electric Ireland: David

Hi Guester,

The image of the timeswitch you linked to shows the time at 08.00, or 8am, just as the meter is entering into the 'day' rate (you can see the 'pins' are pressed down from 23.00 to 08.00, to activate the night rate).

The central 12hr dial is really just a design feature and the time can be read without referring to this; it mainly provides a quick visual reference, and as you can see, it also displays 8 o'clock. The actual 24hr time is indicated by the pink arrow/triangle at the top right of the circular dial; this remains stationary while the 24hr timeswitch surrounding it rotates (clockwise obviously ).

Hope this helps clear it up.

Thanks,

David.

Piliger

Ahhhh David - Thanks a lot. I see the pink triangle now. A strange system. I am glad I checked mine