Anyone know about storage heaters?

iaind

iaind

iaind

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As above really - is anyone here familiar with the intimate parts of storage heaters?

As its getting a bit chilly, I switched the one in the lounge on at a low input (2 out of 6) but the next morning, it was still cold to the touch. I tried turning it up to 4 and the morning after it was barely warm - it had literally just taken the chill off the metal.

Tried it with the input all the way up at 6 for the past few nights - its been fairly hot to the touch in the morning but giving out almost no heat by 7ish in the evening.

Anyone know how I might go about finding and fixing the problem? Was thinking it could be the thermostat or one of the elements...

Ta!
 
That's the reason why I've always hated them myself, though perhaps I've had bad experience, but I've found that by the evening, when you are actually wanting to be snug and warm before bed.. they're cold and lifeless..
 
Output is closed overnight, doesnt make much difference to the heat output if I open it in the evening.

The thermostat doesnt regulate output, it regulates the input, presumably to stop them catching fire or something!

There's 2 more in the flat - a small one in the bathroom and a medium one in the bedroom, both are much more effective than this one - it also worked a lot better last year.

They're not perfect but with no gas my options are pretty limited :(
 
My parents had these and inside they are pretty simple, heating elements and heat storage blocks.

Normally it was elements which went and they can be replace easily and cheaply yourself.
 
iaind said:
Output is closed overnight, doesnt make much difference to the heat output if I open it in the evening.
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It won't if the heat has already gone! I'd suggest just turning the output on lower than you would normally, it's possible that the settings are slightly out of whack compared to the other heaters.
 
iaind said:
Output is closed overnight, doesnt make much difference to the heat output if I open it in the evening.

The thermostat doesnt regulate output, it regulates the input, presumably to stop them catching fire or something!
Click to expand...

Highly unlikely its the thermostat if the heater is getting hot!

iaind said:
There's 2 more in the flat - a small one in the bathroom and a medium one in the bedroom, both are much more effective than this one - it also worked a lot better last year.

They're not perfect but with no gas my options are pretty limited :(
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3 storage heaters??? They must be killing you in bills, we had one in our old flat and it was hellish expensive to run.

Ours were switched off from April to September and when turned back on always seemed to take a couple of days to be fully effective.
 
If you run storage heaters the key thing is to be on a tariff with very cheap night rates - if you are, then they're not too bad really.
 
Makhaira said:
It won't if the heat has already gone! I'd suggest just turning the output on lower than you would normally, it's possible that the settings are slightly out of whack compared to the other heaters.
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Input to max means it's charging as much as it's going to - no output means its letting it out at the slowest possible rate, I'm not sure how changing either will help...

rmuir said:
Highly unlikely its the thermostat if the heater is getting hot!
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Thought as much, I thought it could be slightly "off" so only giving it a partial charge, but I suppose stats tend to either work or not dont they?

So assuming it's one of the elements, how do I figure out which one? Is there likely to be a visual difference - or would a bog standard multimeter be able to measure the resistance?


rmuir said:
3 storage heaters??? They must be killing you in bills, we had one in our old flat and it was hellish expensive to run.

Ours were switched off from April to September and when turned back on always seemed to take a couple of days to be fully effective.
Click to expand...

Yup - it's only a small one bed flat. Used to have 2, but put one in the bathroom in Feb - seeing your breath when sitting on the bog isnt fun :p

The flat's really well insulated though - good quality double glazing, 2 foot thick walls and several layers of loft insulation. The entire bill for low usage last winter was about 70 quid (september/october to march), although that will be higher this year with the new one in the loo.
 
iaind said:
Input to max means it's charging as much as it's going to - no output means its letting it out at the slowest possible rate, I'm not sure how changing either will help...

Thought as much, I thought it could be slightly "off" so only giving it a partial charge, but I suppose stats tend to either work or not dont they?

So assuming it's one of the elements, how do I figure out which one? Is there likely to be a visual difference - or would a bog standard multimeter be able to measure the resistance?
Click to expand...

I would have thought a bogo multimeter would have done the job. But don't quote me on that:)


iaind said:
Yup - it's only a small one bed flat. Used to have 2, but put one in the bathroom in Feb - seeing your breath when sitting on the bog isnt fun :p

The flat's really well insulated though - good quality double glazing, 2 foot thick walls and several layers of loft insulation. The entire bill for low usage last winter was about 70 quid (september/october to march), although that will be higher this year with the new one in the loo.
Click to expand...

Lucky you, we had ONE storage heater for the whole ( 2 bed ) flat we supplemented this with a calor gas heater. The flat cost only slightly less than our current 2 bed bungalow to run and we now have full gas central heating.
 
Was just thinking the resistance would be really high, but most meters go up to thousands of ohms and my schoolboy maths suggests it should be about 73 ohms :)

Will switch it off tonight and hopefully have a poke tomorrow evening once it's cooled down. I'm guessing as its a 2550w heater and the elements are apparently 850w, so I'm guessing there's 3 in there. Only 16 quid a pop though, so hopefully a cheap fix.

Never had a problem with the cost or effectiveness of these, and they're only basic manual control ones with no daytime boost. Last winter when it was really very cold, the flat was cosy up until about 11am when it started to cool down a bit.
 
Our flat wasn't helped by it being drafty and the fact that the flat directly above was rarely occupied meaning, I reckoned anyway, heat was washing away quite easily.

From what little I learned about storage heaters, they are relatively simple beasts so hopefully it will be a fairly easy fix for ya!
 
There's nothing above me but a shedload of insulation, and I get a lot of heat from the flat downstairs too :)

From looking at parts websites, I could probably replace the entire internals for less than a ton so its not going to be expensive - just dont like spending money needlessly. Need to remember where I left my multimeter now!
 
wouldnt it be easier to rip them out and use a few decent oil rads?

the flat iam moving into has a pair and they are going to last as long as it takes me to pick up a hammer.
 
Not sure how that would be any easier, seeing as these worked very well last year (so I know they're capable of heating the flat well) and it's looking like a 15 quid fix :)

I've got a mini oil radiator and fan heater if I ever need something to supplement the storage heaters, but only had to use them once or twice last winter
 
Might be worth changing the insullation pads on the storage heaters while your at it. Makes a big difference.

Before you start playing though i suggest you google the model number as some older storage heaters contain asbestos....you dont want a few lung fulls of that in you.
 
russ9898 said:
Might be worth changing the insullation pads on the storage heaters while your at it. Makes a big difference.

Before you start playing though i suggest you google the model number as some older storage heaters contain asbestos....you dont want a few lung fulls of that in you.
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Mask up and ventilate, even then small amounts of exposure aren't that risky.

Just don't go trying to suck it in :p
 
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