Another huge ESB bill!
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aircobra19
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I thought that can't be right myself.
G
Guest127
Guest
you can install a small immersion heater. I think it's called a Willis heater but in this house its nicknamed the 'Willy heater' . it sits below the main immersion and it's very very fast to heat a sinkful of water. its also very very sore on electricity, however if you only need a sinkful its brilliant. just remember to turn it off. we have a seperate switch for it with a large red led indicator on it.
no benefit to the poster unfortunately but I posted before and its still holds true. changed my central heating system to a pressure one from gravity feed and never looked back. hardly need the immersion now at all. still using the same amount of oil but my esb bills are still cheaper than 3 years ago. I appreciate there are other factors (kids coming and going, warmer weather etc) but I reckon I have made back the inital cost - around €1100 in savings over the 3/4 years.
no benefit to the poster unfortunately but I posted before and its still holds true. changed my central heating system to a pressure one from gravity feed and never looked back. hardly need the immersion now at all. still using the same amount of oil but my esb bills are still cheaper than 3 years ago. I appreciate there are other factors (kids coming and going, warmer weather etc) but I reckon I have made back the inital cost - around €1100 in savings over the 3/4 years.
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rkray
Guest
According to a friend of mine at the ESB, the chances of the meter being broken are pretty low. Unfortunately it is far more likely to be due to some recent change in behaviour.
Recently we acquired an Electrisave monitor (www.electrisave.ie) which we have found to be wonderful in identifying when we have left something on (e.g. an immersion). When we first installed it a few months ago, we found that some member of our very forgetful family had almost always left something big switched on and the reading was regularily running at over 50 cents per hour.
Now that we have the information, we can instantly do something to switch it off.
Ronnie Kav
Recently we acquired an Electrisave monitor (www.electrisave.ie) which we have found to be wonderful in identifying when we have left something on (e.g. an immersion). When we first installed it a few months ago, we found that some member of our very forgetful family had almost always left something big switched on and the reading was regularily running at over 50 cents per hour.
Now that we have the information, we can instantly do something to switch it off.
Ronnie Kav
FintanPhelan
Registered User
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What you can do as a quick check is turn everything off except fridge maybe and see how fast the meter is going, if it's going fast you have a problem, if it's going slow turn stuff back on one at a time and see what makes a big difference.
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Ross_K
Guest
On the subject of the Electrisave meter and saving money in general, the link you provide lists the cost from the supplier in Limerick as €115. The same item can be bought on ebay for £59 (€87-ish) including postage to Ireland...
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JacquesD'Lad
Guest
I have read with interest the above posts, which have a great deal of relevance to me, as follows:
1. I have extraordinarily high ESB bills. My first bill when I moved into the house 3 years ago was Eu564; I am now expecting another one for Eu430.
2.I had a Grasslin QE7 immersion heater which blew up and started a mini-fire 2 nights ago. Luckily the circuit breaker operated and prevented further damage. GE have already replaced the immersion; they are replacing all these sold in the last few years. But I'm not sure this is to blame for the cost - maybe? I certainly hope the bills plummet now.
I have whole-house electric heating. 3 no combi storage heaters on the ground floor (2no. 3.4kW, the other is 1.7kW), and the rest being electric panel heaters. I actually did turn off all the appliances one-by-one until finding which one was eating the electricity. It turns out that the storage heaters are to blame. The meter wheel spins around at an extremely fast rate when only the storage heaters/boosters are on, and at a rate whereby the ESB bill is in accordance. I agree with KalEI that the electric heating is going to consume a lot, but I still can't believe it should be this much! Storage heating is mean't to be economical isn't it? Thrifty01, what size are your storage heaters? Are they combi? ie. is there a fan heater combined in the same unit? I would be interested to compare heating costs.
Thanks in advance for all help and advice submitted.
1. I have extraordinarily high ESB bills. My first bill when I moved into the house 3 years ago was Eu564; I am now expecting another one for Eu430.
2.I had a Grasslin QE7 immersion heater which blew up and started a mini-fire 2 nights ago. Luckily the circuit breaker operated and prevented further damage. GE have already replaced the immersion; they are replacing all these sold in the last few years. But I'm not sure this is to blame for the cost - maybe? I certainly hope the bills plummet now.
I have whole-house electric heating. 3 no combi storage heaters on the ground floor (2no. 3.4kW, the other is 1.7kW), and the rest being electric panel heaters. I actually did turn off all the appliances one-by-one until finding which one was eating the electricity. It turns out that the storage heaters are to blame. The meter wheel spins around at an extremely fast rate when only the storage heaters/boosters are on, and at a rate whereby the ESB bill is in accordance. I agree with KalEI that the electric heating is going to consume a lot, but I still can't believe it should be this much! Storage heating is mean't to be economical isn't it? Thrifty01, what size are your storage heaters? Are they combi? ie. is there a fan heater combined in the same unit? I would be interested to compare heating costs.
Thanks in advance for all help and advice submitted.
On which meter - night or day? Normally the boost simple opens a vent to release more heat stored in the storage heater bricks and, as such, does not use any electricity at the time (they are heated up at night on the night rate). Are you sure that the boost is not a convection heater running off peak rate units? What make and model are the storage heaters? Are you sure that your storage heaters and immersion are actually running off night rate units and not peak units.
J
JacquesD'Lad
Guest
Yes, I mean by the boost the convection heater. Apologies. Both the convector (as I recall) and the storage heater (definitely) run off the night rate meter. This is borne out in the actual bill reading, which lists the night rate (and massive cost), and by simply checking the night meter in operation - I checked this at night, after 11.30pm. The bill would have been even more outlandish if the peak rate was operable. They are Credo combi storage heaters. I understand Credo is no longer producing same (nor even in business?)
There is definitely something wrong with your storage heaters I think. I have 2 storage heaters, one combi. 1 is on most days, the other is only on very cold nights. They definitely run off the night rate. 1 panel heater on for a hour or so at night. I do use the convector on the combi a good bit.My highest bill has been €150. Yours is deffo too high!!
But you originally said "no combi storage heaters" which I assumed meant storage only with no combined convection. Which is it?
The convection heater built into a storage heater will run off whatever meter is active - this means the night meter between 2300-0800 winter and 0000-0900 summer (or something like that) or the day/peak rate meter if switched on any other time. You really want to minimise the use of the convection heaters if at all possible by adjusting the storage heating so that it supplies the bulk if not all of the background heating required. If you use the convection heater part of the storage heaters and/or the panel heaters on peak rate then that will certainly rack up the costs. If your night rate billing is high then are you sure that the storage heater thermostats are adjusted so that they are not using too much electricity; your immersion is only coming on c. 0400-0800 or 0500-0900 and its thermostat is correct etc. It certainly sounds like something is wrong. Unless it's simply a case of the heating system being insufficient for the living space and thus burning units at a crazy rate or something?
You really need to analyse things more systematically to identify where and when the units are being used.
J
JacquesD'Lad
Guest
They are combi storage heaters. I meant '3 no.' combi as in 3 'number'! Sorry, excuse my jargon-speak...
I think it has to be something like this. So is it the thermostat that regulates the electrical consumption, assuming all else is satisfactory? I have the input/output dials set for maximum efficiency, but even if not, the bill shouldn't be this high. The rooms in question are quite small and don't need an excessive amount of heat.
There should be a master thermostat which, along with the input dial, regulates the charging overnight. You might need to check that the night meter is kicking in at the correct time just in case your storage heaters are somehow charging on peak rate units. There should also be room themostats which control how the storage heater boost output (NOT the convection heater part) operates. The convection heaters should have their own built-in thermostats which control the duty cycle while switched on.
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JacquesD'Lad
Guest
I rarely use the convector, yet my bill is much higher than that!
What is the size (kW) of your storage heater? That makes a massive difference. You can find out by way of the dimensions. The dimensions for a 3.4kW are approx. 1100mm wide x 750mm high. A 1.7kW is only half that width, something like 550mm. Whereas a 2.5kW is square, same height/width.
[broken link removed]
That is incorrect. The dimensions of a storage heater have no bearing on the kW rating. What matters are the specifications of the specific make and model used. I'll check ours again later and point you at my 10 year summary spreadsheet (which may be linked earlier but needs to be updated) in case that is of any use to you in terms of gauging indicative costs.
Update: here you go. I think our two heaters have two 750W storage elements each so are 1.5kW rated.
J
JacquesD'Lad
Guest
The website reference I gave earlier appears to equate the size with the electrical load. See the following: [broken link removed]
Is the master thermostat you speak of located within the heater itself? The electrician who was out today replacing the immersion had a look at the fuse board and said there is a stat (devi-stat?) in the fuseboard amongst the breakers for the storage heaters, which I am told is very unusual. Is this a master thermostat?
If the night meter is not kicking in at the correct time, isn't the ESB responsible for that? the night-time meter wheel certainly operates at the correct time, but is the meter-wheel to be believed?
Not sure what you mean but in general the kW rating and the physical size of a storage heater are not directly related. What matters is the rating of the element(s) inside. You could have a large heater with a lower kW rating that a smaller one. And you were answering another poster without any obvious indication that they necessarily had the same make of storage heater as you.
I was referring to the master storage heating thermostat which is often in the hall and which controls overnight charging of the heaters. Then each room with a storage heater will have its own thermostat for the storage heater boost. The heater itself may then contain a thermostat controlling the convection part. ESB have information about common storage heater setups using these thermostats.
Maybe he was referring to a thermostat and maybe this is where your master night charging thermostat lives. I don't know.
Yes. But you need to see if this is the case.
Normally but maybe you should get the ESB out to check your meters in case there is some fault? Your bill seems crazy to me.
By the way - checked this evening and our storage heaters actually have 2 x 850W elements so are 1.7kW rated overall.
I've updated that spreadsheet (ignore the glitches such as if the € symbol does not display).