Storage Heater Question

FARGO · 3 Dec 2016 at 11:00

I currently have storage heaters - one has day and night switches at the wall and the other just has the one wall switch.

To heat them over night I set the input controls to maximum and the output controls to low/medium to release the heat in the evening. When I wake up, I turn the input controls all the way to down to the lowest setting.

Silly question time - do the wall switches have to be turned on at the wall for the storage heaters to 'release' the heat in the evening?

Even though the input controls are set back to low in the morning, I'm worried that I'll get charged more than I need to by having the day switches turned on at the wall, even though the input controls are set to low.

ZG002 · 3 Dec 2016 at 11:27

Depends on the heater, but all the ones I've worked on, the output control just mechanically opens a flap. They are pretty simple things. So I can't see the issue turning them off once "charged" on the night with heat.

FARGO · 3 Dec 2016 at 12:07

Thanks for the reply! I can't hear anything 'moving' when I move the output control but you could well be right.

ZG002 · 3 Dec 2016 at 12:34

Loads of different types, but storage heaters store heat in bricks over night. There's no real way to stop that heat from releasing, they try to control it with a vent flap to give it an escape route.

That's how the ones I've worked on are set up. Loads of different types of heaters though, like oil heaters.