Night storage heaters

Hi ​@DorothyG 

Thanks for coming onto the forum to ask the question. I'm not a storage heater expert but I'm guessing the very high temperatures we've had recently have meant that the heaters decided that the room was warm enough not to come on before now. Modern storage heaters will only come on to meet a room temperature demand. I think the old ones just came on anyway which is what you might have been expecting.

My suggestion is to assume that the heaters are fine and to monitor the situation as we get into the cooler days of September and October. By then we should have had at least a few cold days to get them to come on properly. If not come back on here with any follow up observations or questions and we will be very happy to talk this through again.

Peter

Er, hot weather, er, in the north of Scotland??

​@DorothyG  hi, can you say what type of storage heaters as in modern up to date ones or routine dimplex storage heaters, I have older model dimplex ones but can assure you if they were on max overnight they would be too hot to touch but am sure they need at least 24 hours to heat up in the first instance after a summer switch off,  it may also depend on what energy tariff you are on as well for the amount of charge through the night (off peak ) hope this helps, am in Scotland too, mine will probably be going on in a couple of weeks

yes they are old Dimplex ones. Must be warmer where you are! I’ve run out of logs for the fire…

​@DorothyG You didn't mention what tariff you are on but it should be one that gives you off peak rates through the night like THTC, Economy 7 or better Economy 10 that gives you off peak heating blocks through the day and overnight otherwise these heaters would be unaffordable. It probably would take a full 24 hours to build up so for tonight make sure that your output dial is turned right down to minimum and your input dial is turned to the maximum. If they're still only warm in the morning you'll probably need an electrician to check them. These heaters are fitted with elements inside and just like any other appliances they conk out after a while and need replaced ( easily sourced from Amazon) My large heaters have 3 elements but when 1 goes the heat drops and the heaters don't feel warm enough. I am sure an electrician can test them to see if there's power going through. Hope this helps

Am in North East Scotland 

Hi thanks very much! Will try turning the output to minimum.

The purpose of the output is to release heat if needed,  so that if your heaters are charged fully and hot to touch the heat stored inside can be released via the output dial if the room gets cooler, it should always be returned to the minimum position while the heaters are charging to build up the stored heat again.

Thanks Janie - turned output on this morning and they are giving off a little bit of heat. Will keep trying!

​@DorothyG That's better then but I should add if your heaters had charged up fully overnight I don't think you should have had to use the output button first thing, that's a reserve top up for in between charging times, wouldn't go amiss to get them checked over by an electrician before the cold weather really kicks in.