What are storage heaters?

Storage heaters are a wall-mounted electrical heating appliance. They work by drawing electricity over the course of a few hours at night, and storing it as heat in a ‘bank’ of clay or ceramic bricks to use the following day. The advantage is that they can consume electricity at night – when it’s cheap – and then give out the heat many hours later.

Why have my storage heaters started to come on and off at the wrong times?

Unless you have individual timers on your radiators it sounds like your night rate meter timing could be askew. Try checking the main and night rate meters to see if the time looks correct on them. If not call ESB Networks.

If you had both dials set at the highest setting overnight, how early would the heater run out of heat the next morning?

If you leave both dials at max then you will have maximum heat in the early part of the day with a lot less heat for the evening. The storage heater may not go completely cold in the evening but you might need some further boost in the evening.

Do storage heaters also heat hot water?

Hot water in the cylinder has no connection to your storage heating. The two systems are independent. An electrical immersion, or multiple immersion heaters in the hot water cylinder are used to heat your hot water.

Are storage heaters fitted in bedrooms?

The bedroom panels are electric heaters with timers. You set the time clock to heat when you want heat. If used on-peak, it'll be charged at full peak rate.

Are panel heaters more efficient than storage heaters?

Electric space heating is almost 100% efficient as almost all purchased energy is converted to heat, this applies to storage heaters, convector heaters, oil filled radiators and most portable electric heaters. When storage heaters are set up correctly, and because they use cheap night rate electricity, the running cost per kW of heat is much cheaper than direct electric heaters. Modern storage heaters have full controllability over the time and temperature settings for the room and provide the same room comfort levels as direct electric heaters.

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