DIY Doctor UK DIY Forums

Hi,
I'm having issues with my bedroom radiator. It's been like this for the past year however now its starting to get cold I've decided I really need to do something about it! The problem is that it is terrible at heating the room up - it gets really hot for an hour and then decreases in temp. This is only possible once a day too I may add. Landlords are completely useless when I ask them how to operate it and I can't find any model number on the side either meaning I can't find help myself. The attached photo shows the controls. The lights do not work and the dials are useless, i.e. I do not know what they are pointing at! I turn the radiator on and off using by unplugging it...All of my other radiators are powered using Economy 7 so I tried it with this one too by switching it onto timer mode and turning the dial every 24h but that it didn't work either..

https://s1076.photobucket.com/user/Alan ... sort=3&o=0

Any help will be greatly appreciated!

Thank you

Economy 7 is a tariff not a system, and the system has evolved over the years, it started with a white meter and its own fuse board and the power to the heaters was switched on I think 11 pm to 6 am but not sure of times, and the heater controls were how much heat into the unit, and flaps to control the heat out.

As time went on, people wanted to use the off peak to do there washing with, so instead of the supplier switching the power on and off, it was left to the user to do the switching, some had a link on the radiator that took the time signal other it was up to the user to set the time.

With the latter system there was also a new tariff called Economy 10 where you got a boost through the day, and also the user could if required use a boost when not on the cheap rate.

Since I use oil central heating, and before that gas, I am not fully conversant in all the in and outs of the system, however getting the times wrong could run up a large bill, I would guess your electric bill says when the cheap electric starts and stops, and you need to set the clock to match those times.

However since the systems alter supplier to supplier and home to home, I can't be 100% sure how yours works, if there is a separate fuse box then likely you can't use power outside the cheap rate hours, but if all through one fuse box or consumer unit then it may be possible to use peak rate power.

Economy 7 did have a huge saving over a standard supply, but some suppliers today have very little difference between the peak and off peak charge, so many of the old heaters have been ripped out, specially where home occupants are not there during the day.

You may be better if this post is in electrics section, Economy 7 is not really central heating, each unit is independent, there were years ago some council houses where the heat store was central with fans to select when you wanted the heat, and also some where a water heat store used, but it had to be built into the house when it was built so rare, the single radiator can't really be called central heating.

Hi,

Thank you for your replies but I think you may have misunderstood my problem..

I am fully aware of how Economy 7 works as my other storage heaters work using this system. My enquiry relates in how this radiator/storage heater works..

I presume its a radiator because when its on the 'hands' mode and plugged in, it produces heat fairly quickly but not for long. I am also unsure what number the dial is on as there is no way of telling. I was wondering if there was a more efficient way of using this radiator, i.e using the timer but again, I am baffled by the dial for it