Storage Heaters

Conrad83

Hi, I'm looking for some advice on our storage heaters we have in our rented property.

We have received a whopper €500 bill for our electricity and think that it is possibly the storage heaters, either we are not using them correctly or there is a fault with them.

We current have 2 in our downstairs living room which we turn the input dial up to 3-4 overnight (the max it goes to is 8) and we turn the output to 2-3 in the evenings to release the heat (but turn this back down before going to bed).

Our electricity supplier has advised that the bulk of our bill is generated from night time units which leads us to believe it could be the storage heaters.

We are using them as per guidelines given to us when we moved into the property (or so we believe).

Anyone know the ins and outs of them? We are 2 adults living in a small 2 bed townhouse with only 2 storage heaters so feel this bill is nuts and trying to find the problem!

Idbatterim

I think they are idiotic (storage heaters), say you leave the house in the morning, you likely dont even go into the living room. the same with heating bedrooms all day, when you only go into them at night. I put my electric rad with thermostat on for twently minutes before bed and it has brought the bedroom up to 18 degrees...

ercork

Conrad83 wrote: »

Hi, I'm looking for some advice on our storage heaters we have in our rented property.

We have received a whopper €500 bill for our electricity and think that it is possibly the storage heaters, either we are not using them correctly or there is a fault with them.

We current have 2 in our downstairs living room which we turn the input dial up to 3-4 overnight (the max it goes to is 8) and we turn the output to 2-3 in the evenings to release the heat (but turn this back down before going to bed).

Our electricity supplier has advised that the bulk of our bill is generated from night time units which leads us to believe it could be the storage heaters.

We are using them as per guidelines given to us when we moved into the property (or so we believe).

Anyone know the ins and outs of them? We are 2 adults living in a small 2 bed townhouse with only 2 storage heaters so feel this bill is nuts and trying to find the problem!

I don't know the model of your storage heaters but the large ones are usually 3.5kW. So charging one of those at full power for 8 hours would use 28kWhrs (28 units of electricity)
- 2 heaters would use 56 units
- assuming 10c per unit (check your bill) gives €5.60 per day
- 60 days gives €336 (assuming a two month bill)
- between standing charge, hot water, panel heaters, etc. you could run up well over €100 here.

So check if my 3.5kW guess above matches yours. If it does and if your input dial is broken then that might explain the bill?

Conrad83

ercork wrote: »

I don't know the model of your storage heaters but the large ones are usually 3.5kW. So charging one of those at full power for 8 hours would use 28kWhrs (28 units of electricity)
- 2 heaters would use 56 units
- assuming 10c per unit (check your bill) gives €5.60 per day
- 60 days gives €336 (assuming a two month bill)
- between standing charge, hot water, panel heaters, etc. you could run up well over €100 here.

So check if my 3.5kW guess above matches yours. If it does and if your input dial is broken then that might explain the bill?

Thanks for the response! 1 is a large ish storage heater and the other is small. They are both turned half way during this cold weather (3-4). So by your theory then it would definitely suggest an issue with them. We have an electrician calling tomorrow so hopefully we will get to the bottom of it and there is something wrong with them rather then us using them incorrectly!

ercork

Conrad83 wrote: »

Thanks for the response! 1 is a large ish storage heater and the other is small. They are both turned half way during this cold weather (3-4). So by your theory then it would definitely suggest an issue with them. We have an electrician calling tomorrow so hopefully we will get to the bottom of it and there is something wrong with them rather then us using them incorrectly!

It's worth investigating at least. Also, if you have access to your electricity meter try checking how many units are used each night and see if it tallies with the stuff I said earlier.

Conrad83

ercork wrote: »

It's worth investigating at least. Also, if you have access to your electricity meter try checking how many units are used each night and see if it tallies with the stuff I said earlier.

Thank you we will! The fact the bulk of the bill is generated from night time units leads me to believe it is the storage units