Key Post: Electric storage heater repairs/spares.

Folks,

Have been scouring your posts for info about one of my Creda Supaslim Combi Heaters (Model No. 79358S, Cat. No. TSR18CW) that isn't taking charge overnight. I've opened it up and compared it to the second one in the apartment which is working fine. Nothing of note there.

What I did do though, was swap the Input Thermostat from the dodgy heater with that from the working heater, last night. This morning, we had heat coming from the previously bad heater and none from the good one.
That was the only work I did on them yesterday, so I can only assume that I have a bad switch. Has anyone seen a switch go bad in the past?

I did notice that the contacts on the Input switch do not open when the knob is dialled down. If you gently put some pressure down on the knob it pushes the small rod (which touches one of the contact arms) causing the contacts to open. I set the Input knob to 6 last night and ensured that the contacts were closed, but as I said, no heat this morning. Not sure about the technology used in these switches. Just looks like a bi-metallic strip alright, as one previous contributor suggested. My assumption is that once you have set the knob to the desired input (in our case, due to the cold weather at the moment, we have it at 6), the contacts are closed and you do not need to mess with the setting again - until you decide you do not need a full charge at night, as the weather gets milder. Since there was no heat today, I can only assume that proper contact is not being made OR is there some other reason why it would not work??

Going to clean the contacts and re-install it today and test again tonight.......will let you know how I get on tomorrow.

Anyone else seen this issue in the past? If so, and if it is a case for replacing the Input Thermostat, does anyone know where you might get one?

Your help would be greatly appreciated.
 
In case anyone is interested, we have heat this morning! Cleaned the contacts with a bit of sandpaper yesterday and re-installed into the heater. Last night I set the heaters up to maximum input and this morning the apartment is toasty warm...........particularly good since the place is covered in snow and currently it's falling hard.

Hope this helps others.
 

Very good explanation boomer3. It makes A LOT of sense now. Do you know how I can locate the unit mounted outside? And what would be a 'wrong place'?
 
Hi Redtaz,

Did you manage to find the spare thermostat - if so, please can you tell where from. I have similar issues that you have experienced with your storage heater.
 


Hi ts2252,

Never found a replacement I'm afraid, all I did was above........fortunately, that worked for me.

Good luck with it.
 
Thank god someone knows what im talking about. I live in a 3 bed apartment with huge ESB bills and am frezzzzing cold! I have been onto the ESB and the management company for the past 2 years about this and not 1 person knows what im talking about. I finally got access to my meter and found that my night time meter was not switching on till sometime during the night and the devireg 710-2 does not switch over till around 4am. Would this be the reason for my high ESB bills do you know??? please help
 
Hi all,

I moved into a new apt as well, took me ages to figure out what the Devi Reg does but I managed thanx to boomer3. Thanx boomer.

Now that this is sorted I thought I would try out the storage heaters see if they are working ok. There is two in the gaff one of them has two switches next to it. One switch turns on anytime so I thought that would be the switch for the peak times.

I left that one off and switched on the other one that wouldn't come on thinking that it will probably work after midnight when the off-peak rate kicks in. Switch did not come on at midnight. Checked again at 2:00am before I went to bed, the switch light was still not on. Woke up this morning...Heaters cold as ice.

I am wondering, am I not gettind night rate here, is that possible? Checked the meter downstairs, has a night and a day indication alright. Or is it that the heater is not wired properly? Or is it something different altogether? What would I need to do to check?

I am worried it's gonna be something dead simple and if I call an electrician he'll charge me a full call-out for something I could have done myself!
 
Hi All,
I have combined storage/convection heaters (Dimplex XMC724N), and just recently got a dual meter so the storage heater part should work. However, they're not coming on. Not an immediate problem but needless to say I would like to get them working before winter. A devi reg 710-2 is controlling my storage heaters and as I understand it, the heaters aren't coming on because the outside temperature is too high. However, the little light on the day side of the devireg is flashing rapidly red and green, while the light on the night side is flashing on and off red. Is this OK?

Also, an earlier post indicated I could get an instruction manual for the devireg if I google it. All I can find on google is a devireg 710, which is different and seems to refer to underfloor heating. I've e-mailed devireg UK buit no response so far. devireg ireland seems to have closed down. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
Hi There,

I have a Creda TSR18CW storage heater and need help figuring out how to use it - having read previous posts I kinda think it's either broken or I'm just not using it correctly.

I have 2 switches on the wall beside the heater (neither of which have LED lights). One of theses switches activates the fan heater so that I have instant heat, so I am assuming that the other one activates the storage heating setting??? Additionally I have the input and output dials on the top of the heater.

However I also have an IMIT TA3 thermostat mounted on the wall (not really sure if this is anything to do with the heater - and if so what temp should it be at?).

I also have that DeviReg thingy in my fuse box with the day and night settings -4 -2 0 +2 +4. The 2 dials are set at the 0 setting. However, the green light on the day setting is on constantly while a little red light flashes on the night one...this is the case all day long - green one never turns off and red is constantly flashing. Does this mean it's broken, is this my problem?

Anyway, having read through previous posts I turned the switch on at the wall (the one that doesnt give instant heat) and turned the input dial to 4 and left the output one at 2. Input one clicks at 4 and has the tiniest bit of resistance, while the output one moves freely with no clicks or any hint that it could be attached to something. Left this on all night in the hope that when i woke up this morning I might have some heat...unfortunately the place was still freezing.

Am I doing something wrong? Is my storage heater broken or is it something completely different?

Any help or advice is greatly appreciated as the place is freezing and I can't seem to figure out what's wrong with the thing.

Cheers
 
johnnyboy, I'm in a rush now but will get back to you tomorrow. You're on the right track but the flashing red light on the Devi will go on solid red when it is charging the heater. There is usually a temp sensor mounted outside somewhere and connected to the devi too.
 
Thanks Jetblue,

I've tried again tonight by putting both input and output to max settings and turned up the thermostat on the wall so hopefully it might do something tonight...wont get my hopes up though.

I'll let ya know if it works
 
Hi JohnnyBoy83/Jetblue,

Sorry to butt in here. I'm looking for some advice too with my storage heating, it's a similar problem (I think).

The storage heaters have been working properly for the past 8 years but this autumn when I turned them on again they hadn't been heating up/charging up until last weekend. From reading above this could be to do with the external temp probe. However it seems that they're heating up during the day now?!

There is minimal heat coming out in the morning and the red-light on the wall switch beside the heater is not on in the morning. (For the past 8 years that red-light at the wall switch used to be on in the morning when I got up ~6:30am).

Now there is plenty of heat coming out in the evening and last Sunday I noticed that the red-light at the wall switch was illuminated at 1 o'clock in the day. At the time I checked the Devi and the 'Day' light was red too (it's normally green). So I suspect that the heaters are charging during the day rather than the night.

Is this possible? How could I check this? I recently changed to Bord Gais supply, could this be the reason? I'm going to keep a note of the reading from the meter to see if there's a large amount of power consumed during the day (when the only appliance turned on is the fridge).

Any advice is greatly appreciated.
 
Hi spwiz, at least your heater IS working! So your problem is easily diagnosed and fixed.
There is a timeclock which controls the hours that the storage heating can charge up! If you live in a private house this clock will be beside your meter in the cabinet, if an apartment block then usually all the meters and timeclock are together. Usually placed in an enclosure in a common hallway however I have seen them hidden in a plantroom too.
Note: if you live in an apt with dualtariff metering and your timeclock time settings are wrong you are probably paying nightrate prices for day units and vice versa.
Anyway these timeclocks are the property of the Esb(as are the meters) and are sealed with a lead seal. Ring them and they will come out and correct the time or probably replace the clock, they do go faulty.

Apologies if i'm a little incoherent this morning, flu I think.
 
hey Jestblue and spwizard,

I HAVE HEAT!!!
I have absolutely no idea what i did differently to the previous night but there was heat coming out of the heater this morning.

I think there could be a connection problem with the input switch coz i pressed down on this really hard and heard a little click when I was turning it...similar to the click I was getting on the output switch when I was turning it.

My only question now is - do I need to turn off the switch at the wall during the day, or do I leave it on?

If I leave the switch on will the heater keep storing heat and thus give me a huge bill coz I'm into using day units - or does it know only to store at night time??? Or do I leave the switch on and simply turn down the input switch and turn up the output one?

Sorry, I'm a complete retard when it comes to this whole storage heating thing...the next place is defo gonna be gas heating - so much easier to understand.
 
Lads,

Here's a post I have copied from another site. It explains the Devireg 710-2 operation very clearly, I think.

"the white box on the outside of your apartment is the temperature sensor for your storage heating. It tells the thermostat on your fuse board the outside air temperature and then the thermostat adjusts the amount of charge taken in. The Devireg™ 710-2 is used to regulate accumulating heating systems (Storage Heaters) where low-tariff rate electricity is available.
The Devireg 710-2 is an energy saving device for storage heaters that offers the user a completely automated system, whereby the controller makes adjustments automatically to the amount of charge taken in. This is done by way of an outdoor temperature sensor.

The 710-2 anticipates how much of a charge is to take in, by taking readings from the outside sensor, this charge is then automatically taken in by the stat at its most cost efficient time.

Note: The low tariff times in Ireland are

In winter time the charge is from 11.00pm to 8.00am
In summer time the charge is from 12.00am to 9.00 am

Eg. It’s November (Winter time)

The outside temperature is +2oC; the Devireg 710-2 estimates that a 70% charge is needed in order to hit the desired temp for the next day, this works out at a 4hr and 50min charge. The 710-2 then decides to “Back Charge” this required time. So it begins to charge at 3.10am and switches off at 8.00am, this relates in to a saving of 30% for that night."

Thanks Eoin!

Johnnyboy,

Your storage heater will only charge up when the Esb timeclock allows it to do so, the timeclock will call in the cheap rate electricity so even if your heater was charging during day hours it would be doing so using cheap units.

I would only turn the isolating switch off during the summer months when you don't want any heat
I would turn up the input switch to the max, the Devireg is limiting the charge time anyway.
I would switch the output switch to 0 or 1 when going to bed and turn it up high when I get back to the house after work and I need the most heat. Keeping the output low during the day should retain the most heat in the heater till you need it most, in the evening.
 
Thanks Jetblue for explaining how the system works, it's a lot more complex that I first thought but you've made it clear.

I've been keeping an eye on the meter readings and charge-up times. It appears that the heaters are indeed charging during the day but still at the night rate. This has pro's and con's (i.e. nice and toasty in the evening Vs not too warm in the morning). I can live with it, in fact getting it 'fixed' could lead to the rooms being cooler in the evening as the 'charge/heat dissipates during the day. Swings and roundabouts really. Do you know if the ESB charge to fix this?
 
Hi Sp,
If the lead seal is intact on the timeclock then the esb have no grounds for any arguements, it's just a faulty timeclock! If the seal is broken/missing then the system may have been tampered with. Saying that, I've never known them to hassle anyone unless they have evidence ie: that they have been calling regularly to monitor the settings.
They don't charge any fee to call out and replace the clock, it's in their interest to do it, as you've worked out!
As regard the pros and cons, are you living in an apt or house? In apts the water may be heated by an immersion, this immersion is controlled by a timeclock in the apt which is set to bring on the immersion during the off peak hours. ie: Water might start to heat at 6.30 am to give you hot water for a morning shower. However you may now be paying "dayunit" prices for this heated water. This is especially applicable during summer months when you are using water and not space heating.
You need to have a good look at a years previous bills to assess which way you're better off!
Also, in apt blocks there is usually only one esb timeclock for all the apts, so all your neighbours are in the exact same boat.

On a rant, as an ex esb employee, it always shocks me how negligent meter readers are when it comes to checking seals and timeclock settings.
 
Hi Jetblue (& storage heater users),

Just an update on my storage heater timer encounter. I checked the seal and it hadn't been tampered with and the 'timer' continued to turn on in the afternoon/evenings (but still apparently using night-units).

Today though the heaters didn't charge and I've noticed a burning/melting plastic smell in the hall. The switch for 'Storage Heating' has tripped and there's a fair bit of deformed plastic around it, so much so that the screw-in fuse holder beside it has moved a bit. I'm in an apartment block, only 9 years old, so the wiring etc should be fine. I'll call an electrician and get this looked at.

Could the erratic timings of the heaters been a warning sign?
 
YES, CALL A GOOD SPARK STRAIGHT AWAY!!

Any indication of heat or burning smell from a fuse/mcb board is BAD! and must be investigated thoroughly IMMEDIATLY!

I'ts rarely seems popular to advise someone on AAM or and other Boards websites to call in a professional to do a job rather than tackling it diy and saving money.
However where Electricity is concerned all professionals know that SAFETY is by far the most important element of any electrical job.
In other trades such as plumbing, carpentry etc the consequences of a bad job may be costly and inconvenient but they are rarely fatal. In electrical work they may be.
 
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