Storage Heater with Two Switches

Lucyx · 15-01-2010 12:24am #1

I have 2 storage heaters in my living room but the larger one has two on/off switches on the wall beside it, can anyone tell me what each switch is for pls??

belmulletman · 15-01-2010 12:27am

Lucyx wrote: »

I have 2 storage heaters in my living room but the larger one has two on/off switches on the wall beside it, can anyone tell me what each switch is for pls??

One is the swtich that turns on the Storage Heater option, the other turns on the Convector. One switch should always turn on, the other should just come on at night (11pm - 8am).
That Help?

Lucyx · 15-01-2010 12:34am

belmulletman wrote: »

One is the swtich that turns on the Storage Heater option, the other turns on the Convector. One switch should always turn on, the other should just come on at night (11pm - 8am).
That Help?

yes that helps thank you belmulletman.

so I leave both switches on all the time do I ?

Rackstar · 15-01-2010 12:49am

Dont leave the convector on. Its more for instant heat and will cost you a fortune to run 24/7. Leave the other switch on, it uses electricity at the night rate and lets the heat out gradually.

belmulletman · 15-01-2010 12:52am

Lucyx wrote: »

yes that helps thank you belmulletman.

so I leave both switches on all the time do I ?

The Storage Switch should only be on when you want the heater to work in Storage heater mode (note: the Input Dial on the heater controls how much heat the heater stores, the output, well, controls the heat it outputs - not very well mind you, all the output does is move a flap. I very rarely move the output from 1 as heat comes out anyways!).
The convector switch "could" be left on, as long as the switch on the side of the heater isn't on as well all the time (there is a switch on the side right, and a dial? That controls the convector heater mode - essentially a boost to the heat as it's instant)

Me, during this weather, I have the storage switch left on so it charges at night... and turn on the convertor switch on the wall on when I want to boost the heat with the convector mode.

Hope that helps.

Lucyx · 15-01-2010 12:57am

ok thanks for the info.

so is the convector switch the one with the fuse?
i did hear a noise when i switched that on actually.

belmulletman · 15-01-2010 1:02am

Lucyx wrote: »

ok thanks for the info.

so is the convector switch the one with the fuse?
i did hear a noise when i switched that on actually.

switches are set up differently.
I know in my situation both switches have lights / fuses.
Best way to figure out which is which is to turn on one - does the switch on the side of the heater for convector light up? then obviously that's the convector switch! Or, if you start feeling heat pretty much right away that's the convector switch...

Other than that I couldn't tell you without seeing it.

Lucyx · 15-01-2010 1:13am

ok thats fantastic, thanks so much for your help !!

I'm just hoping my bills won't be outrageous !!

belmulletman · 15-01-2010 1:20am

Lucyx wrote: »

ok thats fantastic, thanks so much for your help !!

I'm just hoping my bills won't be outrageous !!

Storage heaters do cost a bit to run in storage heater mode, but there's not much that can be done about it. To ease the blow, I switched to Airtricity and went for their Budget Plan. That way you pay a fixed amount each month. It works out through out the year, so while it might cost more in electricity during the winter, it costs less during the summer (i.e. while with the ESB your winter bill would say be 100euro a month, your summer bill would only be 50 cause you're not using the heating! Hope that makes sense)
It also helps with managing my out going costs as I know exactly how much my electricity will cost each month regardless of the heaters being on or not.
Definitely worth looking into and real easy to switch over as well, not like move a phone line, you don't loose service!

Lucyx · 15-01-2010 1:45am

excellent, thanks for info. I'll definitely check that out

scubasteve · 15-01-2010 6:54pm

Hi. just moved into a new place with storgage heaters.
My storage heater has two switches on the wall as described. it also has two dials on the actual heater itself.

The output button seems to only control the booster heater.
I turned the input button to 4 last night and when i got up this morning it was warm.
Should I turn off the input during the day?
Is having the input on during the day using day time electricity? or do storage heater have some sort of internal timer and only use night time electricity?

belmulletman · 15-01-2010 7:23pm

scubasteve wrote: »

Hi. just moved into a new place with storgage heaters.
My storage heater has two switches on the wall as described. it also has two dials on the actual heater itself.

The output button seems to only control the booster heater.
I turned the input button to 4 last night and when i got up this morning it was warm.
Should I turn off the input during the day?
Is having the input on during the day using day time electricity? or do storage heater have some sort of internal timer and only use night time electricity?

The button you speak of controls, as mentioned in detail above, the convector mode - i.e. instant heat.
The 2 DIALS are, again as described above, the Input Dial on the heater controls how much heat the heater stores, the output, well, controls the heat it outputs - not very well mind you, all the output does is move a flap. I very rarely move the output from 1 as heat comes out anyways!
You don't touch the input dial once you've found what works for you (although might want to reduce it in spring as you don't need as much heat stored and find that turning on the convector mode is fine in the evenings for a little bit). the heater won't "charge" during the day, it'll give out the heat that it built up over the night time through out the day.
The heaters themselves don't have a "timer", it's controlled by the ESB and works with your Electricity meter.

So, to summarize, 2 switches on the wall - 1 for Convector and the other for the storage heater (there's no standard to say which is which, should be easy enough to figure out).
There should be 2 dials on the top of the heater, usually under a flap, that control how much heat is stored over night (input) and how heat is let out during the day (output) - the output dial moves a flap that exposes more of the bricks used to store the heat, so doesn't have a huge impact.

There should be a switch and another dial on the SIDE of the heater. This is for the convector heater mode, so Instant heat. Swithc turns it on and dial sets the temp. Once the room is at the temp, it won't keep heating, it'll heat again once the room dips a bit.

Hope that helps.
T.

Penny1624 · 15-01-2010 7:40pm

I wish I saw this post two months ago. I have just gotten an ESB bill of 400 euro in a one bedroom flat where I only ever have two heaters on. Estate agent told me that the storage heater needed to be on all the time but never said only one of the switches had to be on. I have never been so angry in my life and I really can't afford this:mad:

Lucyx · 16-01-2010 12:09am

Penny1624 wrote: »

I wish I saw this post two months ago. I have just gotten an ESB bill of 400 euro in a one bedroom flat where I only ever have two heaters on. Estate agent told me that the storage heater needed to be on all the time but never said only one of the switches had to be on. I have never been so angry in my life and I really can't afford this:mad:

I'm so sorry that happened Penny. So you had your storage heaters on but the two switches on instead of just one??

I think storage heaters must be rubbish. I woke up early this morning (7am) and went into my sitting room and it was really warm which is no good to me since i wasn't even in there !! I'm terrified that my bills are gonna be huge and I'm wondering would i be better off with the plug in heaters.

otwb · 16-01-2010 3:22pm

Thats the problem with storage heaters - they heat up overnight at cheap electricity rates and then release heat all day so the room is being heated evene when no-one is at home. Only option is to turn off the main heater and use the boost/convestion option when you are in the room - not sure how much this costs though.

Del2005 · 16-01-2010 3:46pm

I recently had a sparks out to my place due to heating issues caused by a Sat dish install pinching my wires. I've 2 storage heaters, 1 has the convector heater. The main storage heater I have runs at ~14Amps and it's convector runs at ~8Amps and the small one at ~6Amps (I've the correct readings at home and can update later if needed)

The main storage heater I have I've seen in several other apartments so I assume it's fairly standard. What you need to do is work out if it's cheaper to run the convector for a few hours for instant heat when you need it or use the storage heater to provide heat when you aren't home.

Penny1624 · 18-01-2010 12:19am

Since my last post I switched off the convector part of the heater and I haven't been at home to feel any heat from it at all. I am not sure if it's normal that it lets out absolutely no heat at night. I know it supposedly stores up the heat at this time but should it not still be a little bit warm at that time? My flat is now like Antarctica. I can't put up with this for much longer:(

belmulletman · 18-01-2010 12:52am

Penny1624 wrote: »

Since my last post I switched off the convector part of the heater and I haven't been at home to feel any heat from it at all. I am not sure if it's normal that it lets out absolutely no heat at night. I know it supposedly stores up the heat at this time but should it not still be a little bit warm at that time? My flat is now like Antarctica. I can't put up with this for much longer:(

Hi Penny... I'm a little confused.
Soo. You had the convector part on previously right?
You have you the 2 switches on your wall? and you've turned off only the convector one, the other is on.
The input dial on the top of the heater is set to 6 (for example) - output dial shouldn't matter. Night time electricity kicks in at about 11pm so from about 11.30 - 12.00 (midnight) you should feel some sort of heat.
Can you describe all the various settings on the particular heater in question.
Thanks,
T.

Penny1624 · 18-01-2010 1:25am

Basically everything is set exactly as you described and there is no heat at all coming out of it.:mad:

belmulletman · 18-01-2010 1:33am

The only other thing I can think of relates to the fuse board.
Assuming you know where the fuse board is for your apartment, go and look at it.
You should see 2 smalls dials numbers from -4 to +4 and one marked Day and the other Night.
The "Day" dial should also go to "const"... turn it to that... (leave the night one at 0, that's what i've mine set to - NOTE: If i turn my "Day" Dial to 0, the heating goes off!)
See if that works. After that, you may want to talk to landlord / lady or if it's your place, get an electrician in!
I had one in to mine when I bought to explain this, so hopefully this will help.
Let me know if that works... you should hear a "Click / Clack" when it turns on... and you'll hear that at 8am and 11pm as the fuse board sends the signal to the heaters to turn on!

belmulletman · 19-01-2010 12:02am

Any Update on this?

belmulletman · 25-01-2010 3:52pm

Penny1624 wrote: »

Basically everything is set exactly as you described and there is no heat at all coming out of it.:mad:

Hi Penny1624.
Did checking the fuse board have any luck for you?

Des58 · 31-03-2022 12:48pm

Hi,

I have just had a new Creda radiator installed by my landlord,Model TSRE 150 with 2 switches on the wall.

Should the 2nd switch nearest the radiator come on when my economy7 timer comes on?

It doesnt come on untill economy7 has been on for an hour.

Where am i going wrong?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

XVII · 31-03-2022 1:04pm

I might be wrong but I think it's 11pm - 7am during winter time and midnight to 8am during summer time.

Did you wait until the midnight to check it?

Des58 · 31-03-2022 1:51pm

Scubasteve,

We had storage radiators and in bedroom input was 1 and a half and out put 1 and a half just to keep the chill off.

Hallway radiator off altogether as we used to leave living room door slightly ajar and this kept the chill away from the hall.

Living room radiator was always set on 3 and a half input,1 output.Kept these settings all through the winter only altering them to lower input on milder days.

If you can manage without bedroom and hallway heat,turn them off completely!

Would knock a lump off your bill too.

Des58 · 31-03-2022 7:35pm

Please advise,

Should the switch on the right light up whem my economy7 timer comes on?

Its a new Creda storage radiator with 2 wall switches.

Thank you for any advice.

Del2005 · 31-03-2022 8:14pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118860685#Comment_118860685

Check you're fuse box. On my system there's an option to turn the storage heating on earlier or later than night rate kicks in. There's a little dial beside the circuit breakers for the storage heating which have +/- times on them, make sure they are set to zero offset.

Des58 · 31-03-2022 10:51pm

Thank you Del,

Will check that!

Storage Heater with Two Switches

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