using 1000kwh electric a month!!

it was his immersion was set to 80 degrees c and has now lowered it to around 60.

get on uswitch and change providers night rate should not be higher than peak
 
Glaucus said:
This isn't Kist a cost issue, you should not be using 1000kwh a month regardless of what you're paying.

Sounds like everything is on full power all night, and thus chewing through the electric.
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like i said i last night i left on things like i would do except turned off the immersion heater completely and it cut the usage down by 17kwh
my day rate use is between 6/7 kwh depending if i have oven and hob on.

so my issue is the storage heaters and immersion heaters.
but the 2 storage heaters, plus fridge and any other thing left in standby used 8KwH
so with that and the 6KwH during the day i am very happy with 14/15KwH per day which is about £50 a month, some jump from £115 but that was like i said with immersion/water heater completely off.

im not trying to be a skint flint etc and realise i need hot water, but dont want to waste money on something i dont use all the time, so i need to find an happy medium where i can have hot water if need be but only paying around £80 a month, thus saving me £420 a year
 
Take a 24 hr meter reading. Use the immersion as you do now and then the next day keep it on constant. It not actually on constant but it will keep the water around the set temp all the time.
 
mattyg said:
SO does that mean my system is twice as effecient as the OP's as he is using 2x 3KWH and all things being equal I will only use 2.3
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It all depends on the level of insulation the tank/cylinder has and how much water it holds as they will all have different energy loss ratings, my 210l cylinder losses 1.89kw/24h.
 
Your storage heaters should only use electric during the Economy 7 night period. However, sometimes they are not wired up correctly and will try and charge at any time.

Have you tried turning all storage heaters to max charge (input) during the day and seeing if the meter starts spinning at light speed, because they are wired incorrectly?
 
^ the storage heaters are working correctly, they have a led light switch next to them and come about 12/1am that light then comes on
Also during the past few days, my day rate of electricity as been between 6&7kwh

With the previous night reading of 8kwh with no water heater on, i put water heater on last night set for 45mins and storage heaters left the same as night before and my usage for last night went up to 14kwh

So in that 45minute period of water heating, it used 6kwh!
 
I used to leave immersion heater on 24/7 when I lived in flat. The tank didn't feel very warm to touch so I assume it was quite efficient. That said, I turned down the thermostat so it was only hand-hot. I'm not sure I buy the legionella argument. Our water is treated with chlorine so I don't know how that would be a problem.
 
When you say leave it on all the time do you mean powered on or the timer was set to permanently on?
If so surely the electric would be through the roof?
 
Because economy7 is only ~33% of the price of daytime rate, we have the emersion heater set to use the last 2 hours of e7 and we try to use it for the washing machine too, using the rinse\hold option to drain and spin the next day.
 
shatpank81 said:
When you say leave it on all the time do you mean powered on or the timer was set to permanently on?
If so surely the electric would be through the roof?
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Yes powered on. The heating element is on a thermosat so it heats the water to a set temperature. After a bath etc there will be a spike in energy use as the tank refills with cold water and the element will turn on, but once it has done that it only has to come on intermittently to account for any heat loss throughout the day. When you have an efficient tank, this probably isn't that often.

The energy loss will be a function of the thermal insulation on your tank and the temperature differential between the water in the tank and the air outside. How hot does your tank feel when it is 'on'? If it's hot to touch then you are probably losing a lot of heat through it.

Even though ours had hot water in 24/7, it felt barely warm to touch. This is good because it's a sign that very little heat is escaping. However, as I said before our water temperature was quite low, probably between 45 and 60 degrees C. Therefore the temp differential is quite low to begin with.
 
well mine is powered on, but only set to come on at 4am for 45minutes currently.
but im wondering do i leave it on permanently (no timer) for 1 bowl of washing up a night and possibly 1 bath a week?

as for the water heater, even when on its cool to touch, when its warming up so am i right in assuming its insulated ok?
i also had the water switched off for like 30 hours and filled the bowl up with hot water no issue.

also just found out electricity wise, i was on a basic electric plan not a proper economy 7 plan, so they have amended that, so at least the night rate cost will near enough half now!
 
well last night i turned my storage heaters input to 6 (maximum) on both heaters, had them on 4 recently and had water set to 45mins.
used 25 kWh last night, so that means on take off the 6 kWh the water heater was taking to heat for 45mins, that means the 2 heaters take 19kWh surely that isnt right? or is it?

edit: just checked and the model number according to creda, uses 11.8kWh to charge up but have some energy saving mode built in but times that by 2 lol what a joke!

i wouldnt mind but come 8pm im froze in here, might turn them down a notch and get me a cheap 700w oil heater to take the chill off
 
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shatpank81 said:
well last night i turned my storage heaters input to 6 (maximum) on both heaters, had them on 4 recently and had water set to 45mins.
used 25 kWh last night, so that means on take off the 6 kWh the water heater was taking to heat for 45mins, that means the 2 heaters take 19kWh surely that isnt right? or is it?

edit: just checked and the model number according to creda, uses 11.8kWh to charge up but have some energy saving mode built in but times that by 2 lol what a joke!

i wouldnt mind but come 8pm im froze in here, might turn them down a notch and get me a cheap 700w oil heater to take the chill off
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That's the problem I've always thought about storage heaters. They may work ok if you want to use the heat in the morning, as it's only a few hours after they've heated up, but they're not going to last for the whole day, and keep everything warm for the >12 hours they're needed for.

As you suggested, you're best off just getting an oil radiator to heat the room up you stay in most (or get a couple if you move between a few rooms)
 
shatpank81 said:
edit: just checked and the model number according to creda, uses 11.8kWh to charge up but have some energy saving mode built in but times that by 2 lol what a joke!
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Aye, but when your eco7 kicks in think of them as 4kwh.

Now fiddle a bit, turn them down.. do you need both on?

Then, where are you losing the stored heat to? Obviously the house but why is the house not retaining the heat?
 
Bit late with a reply, but I'm in a 2 bed all electric flat with storage heaters on economy 10 which was weird trial they did in the 90's and basically the same as 7, I average about 800quid a year so 60 quid a month for the winter is about right

Regarding the immersions just run the bottom one at night the top one is just for a quick boost if you run out of hot water
 
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