Can someone tell me how to get the best out my storage heaters?

[UnluckyCoil]

This is my second winter in my rented house.
We have damp in our bedroom and I know the lack of heat isn’t helping. We use the log burner which makes downstairs lovely and warm but not upstairs.
We have 2 (!) storage heaters for the whole house, both downstairs. I am considering turning on the one in the hallway so the heat travels upstairs.
I hate them! They cost a fortune and and by the time we get home from work all the heats run out on them.
They’re old so don’t have a timer on them, just an input and output.
Can someone more experienced tell me if I’m missing something?

@UnluckyCoil Not sure if you got this sorted? Mine are the same. Are yours Dimplex? You need to turn the input dial as high as possible in the evening (making sure that the output dial is on number 1), they heat up overnight, then turn the output dial to maximum in the evening to let the heat out

You need the cheaper overnight electricity deal to make them cost effective. A timer helps - they come in when the electricity is cheaper - they then let the heat out over the day.

overnight we have the overnight charge set at 3 or 4 and the room temperature set at zero then when we come home from work we turn the room temperature up high to ensure the place is being heated and that means we are using the heat that has been stored during the night. You just need to remember to turn the room temperature back down before you go to bed to save the heat for the next day.

it’s expensive but works well to heat the place, we only use the storage heaters downstairs though we do have heaters in the bedrooms but we don’t use them.

They are controlled by the meter so don't have a timer you can adjust. They come on with the cheap electricity.

I'm afraid the old ones are rubbish. We bought a stand alone tower fan heater and it's heats the room up really quickly, much better than the storage heater. We can also move it around the house depending on which room we are using. It works out better than using the cheap night rate, especially if you mainly need heat in the evening.

They are the worst, OP. They never provide heat in the evening when you need it. You need a secondary source of heat like an oil filled radiator.

They aren't great, but if you have no gas or oil, you don't have a lot of choice.

Basically they are like a brick which heats up at night. So before you go to bed, turn the input up as high as you can, and the output as low as possible so the heat stays in the brick. In the evening, open the output to let the heat out, remembering to shut it down before you go to bed and the charging up starts again.

My ancient father is next door to me now, which is heated solely by electric storage heaters. Yesterday the outside temperature never got above 0; inside his cottage it was 18 degrees so he had a blanket over him when he was watching TV. It is all open-plan downstairs but there are 2 heaters. There is one in his bedroom which he keeps on low as he doesn't like being too hot in bed (contrary!) None upstairs in your house seems really odd. I think an oil-filled radiator may help.