Please advise: I am freezing in my home-does anyone know how these heaters work?

[piddocktrumperiness]

I have been in my flat for a couple of years and tried the heaters a couple of times- switching them on as when I needed. There is undercroft parking below me which means my flat is probably colder than most- that and that I have wooden floors. I found that the wall heaters used alot of electric and did not heat the room well. So I stopped using them altogether and bought 2 oil radiators and a dehumidifier- switching the oil radiators on for 30 mins to 1hr a day if needed.

My electric bill has gone up despite the usage of most things going down. I practically live under my duvet as it is so cold and stay at work as long as I can. I passed by a neighbour earlier this week and she said she has these heaters on all throughout the winter, at a low setting like 3. I can't get my head around how that is better but have been nagged by other family to just give it a go as it is better than being cold.

So in desperation and being fed up of seeing my breath in the morning yesterday I went for it and kept the heaters in the main room, my bedroom and my son's on at a 2 and am crossing fingers. I am terrified of what the energy company will do with my DD but I just am lost for ideas.It's still cold here, and there is only a marginal difference.

Does anyone here have these heaters in their homes? Please advise me how to use them effectively and efficiently

I had heaters that blew out warm air a bit like that over 20 years ago, they were on economy 7 so used to wake up to a boiling house. They were not exactly the same though.

You need to find out the KW of your oil filled radiator. Quick look shows they are ususlly between 68 and 85 pence per hour to run. Unfortunately heating on for 30 mins to and hour is just not going to be enough at all in this very cold weather Plus your wooden floors and having that underground car park make your flat much colder than most buildings. You need rugs on the floor, someone suggested cardboard boxes flattened on another thread on wooden floors.

Can you get carpet fitted and then rugs on top of the carpet.
Thermal curtains make a massive difference too, use blankets held on with safety pins on the window side if you can’t afford thermal.

They are E7 heaters and are not like normal heaters.

They have heat retaining bricks in them that heat up overnight when energy is cheaper (energy input) Then they release it through the day (output) they don't give heat when you turn them them on. You have to plan in advance.

In cold weather the input need to be max. This means the bricks will be hottest in the morning snd release heat slow through out the day and night.

Adjust the output accordingly, low in the morning (as it hottest) then as the brick cool down in the day increase the output until max in the evening.

I never found them that good though and opted for the oil filled radiators instead. Also the halogen heaters but they are really bright.

Yes, they are night storage heaters and can work well. When you have the settings right, you should have constant heat. If you can't find the instructions, you may need to Google to get the best out of the settings.

Yes, @mincepiepie is right. Storage heaters have a definite knack to them.

Basically they are full of clay with a heating element. The clay blocks warm up overnight when electricity is less expensive. Overnight you should have the output vents closed.

Then during the day when you want heat, you open the vents gradually and allow the heat into the rooms.

Turn output off again before you go to bed.

But they aren't the most efficient form of heating and are more suited to households with a fixed routine.

Get rugs down. And oil filled radiators are the best

If OP is living in bed to avoid her bills increasing why on earth do you think her spending money on fitting carpet in a rented flat is the best solution?

Wouldn't you need to be on a specific price plan to get the cheaper electric for storage heaters at nighttime? If you aren't on the correct plan, they would cost a fortune? I might be wrong about this.

Storage heaters, I have the same I Googled how to use them, problem solved

They are storage heaters, they are the cheapest way to heat an all electric home but you need to check that you are on an economy 7 or economy 10 tariff or a similar legacy tariff like heatwise.

The heaters "charge up" during the cheap rate electric period and give off heat slowly throughout the day.

Unless they are very modern they aren't automatic so you will need to adjust them manually.

You can't just turn them on for an hour at a time as they won't charge unless the cheap rate electricity is running, and they need a full charge.

You normally have an input control which controls how much they charge. Try setting it at half to begin with (normally that's number 4 or 5).

You then have an output control this controls how quickly the stored heat is given out. So when you go out or go to bed turn it right down to the lowest setting, you will still get some warmth like that but not much. Then turn the output up when you want the room to warm up.

You need to experiment a bit, if you find they run out of heat before bedtime you need to either turn the input up or keep the output lower for longer.

Ask your neighbour who has the same ones what settings she uses to start with.

Using these should be cheaper than your oil filled radiator as they use cheap rate electricity, but check your tariff.

Remember that you can also save money by using other appliances during cheap rate so try to time water heating, washing, showers and charging devices for your cheap rate period.

Yes, energy is only cheaper at night if you're on the right tariff.

What do you mean they aren't the most efficient form of heating? All electric heaters are 100% efficient.

They aren't the most adjustable but they are the cheapest way to heat an all electric property.

People often struggle because they are undersized for the property so they can't store enough heat to keep the house warm in the evening but even then they can be useful for keeping the chill off so that any supplemental heating is used more sparingly.

If you have an economy 7 type meter and wiring but a standard non-economy tariff then storage heaters would cost the same as normal panel heaters or oil filled radiators turned on for 7 hours.

If you still have an economy meter then your electricity company can switch you to a suitable tariff.

More worrying is if the meter has been changed to a standard type it can mess with the wiring meaning storage heaters don't work properly or at all.

Many people are saying that they are NSH's but I remain unconvinced. The design (Inc controls), thinness and fact they are wall hung makes me think they are panel heaters which work off the normal supply.
Any chance of quoting a manufacturer & model type please?

The don't look like storage heaters to me. Storage heaters are much bigger and are so heavy, they have feet that rest on the floor. Yours are wall mounted.
Storage heaters normally just have input and output controls.
Yours seem to have a night and day temperature setting.

You need to find out the make and model of them and find the instructions. It should have a sticker on the side/bottom/back.
To have a look at the back you'll probably have to lift them vertically slightly and then tip the top away from the wall.

Creda is the manufacturer. I'm off to Google...

I agree with pp they’re not storage heaters, we used to have them in an old flat and they were massive.

That’s a panel heater, looks like the brand is Creda. If you Google you should be able to find the manual op (or post the make/number here and I’ll see if I can find it for you).

This page might be helpful op: www.credaheating.co.uk/manuals-and-guides

Creda New Era Panel heater has the same settings.

Download the instructions here...
www.credaheating.co.uk/product/eph1250-125kw-newera-electronic-panel-heater

These are old economy 7 brick filled heaters. Had them in the first flat i bought in 1996. Not seen them for decades, slight nostalgia for an ex boyfriend now seeing them! Anyway, i digress... principle being, you heat them overnight ( when cheaper) then they slow release heat all day. Never did. I bought small oil filled radiators at that
time and, put them on a timer, much better. These heaters are fairly useless and weigh a ton when ton when you remove them.

Looks like you have to manually switch them from day mode to night mode as they have no timer, which seems like a right faff.
You might be better off with an oil filled heater with a timer on.

(And these are 100% NOT storage heaters, so don't worry about economy 7 tariffs)

@BluTangClan mine in the 90's were wall mounted and not floor standing , storage heating. Very heavy when i had them replaced for thin oil panel heating. Note of caution... replacing with oil panel heating will mess up your elec billing you will no longer be on eco 7!

I don't ever remember being cold in my first purchased economy 7 flat all those yrs ago... then again , i did have a rather gorgeous boyfriend at the time.

Bloody hell - I have learnt something from this thread. Never knew that storage heaters were called so because they 'stored' heat!

OP hope it all works out for you.