Storage heaters charge up overnight and release heat during the day. Thermal heating bricks in the storage heater body warm up between midnight and 8:00 am when electricity is available at cheaper rates. As air circulates through your home throughout the day, it passes through your storage heaters and is heated up by the bricks. Convected heat circulates naturally throughout your home, providing comfortable ambient temperatures.
The level of charge input and heat output can be adjusted to suit the heating needs of your home. If the weather is going to be cold, setting maximum charge will keep your heating going for longer. On warmer days you can save money by charging your heaters less and releasing heat at a low level throughout the day.
Storage heaters appeared throughout the UK in the 1970s as an economical heating solution designed to exploit new night time electricity tariffs. The accelerated growth of the electrical industry which, within a few decades, had seen the use of electric appliances become commonplace throughout British homes, required an extensive network of large power stations to meet the ever-growing demand for electricity. These power stations effectively met day time demand but could not be efficiently 'switched off' at night when electricity was not being used. This resulted in a surplus of wasted energy created throughout the night.
The Economy 7 tariff was established as an incentive for consumers to use this surplus energy, offering cheaper rates on electricity used throughout the night – typically between midnight and 8:00 am. Storage heaters were designed to make the most of these tariffs by using power only between these hours, charging up overnight and releasing heat during the day. This effectively allowed homeowners to heat their homes using only cheaper night-time electricity. For a long time, storage heating was one of the most economical heating solutions on the market.
Our range of modern storage heaters bring this time-honoured heating method into the 21st century with a range of performance enhancing features. Innovations such as automatic charge regulators improve the energy efficiency of our storage heaters by ensuring you don’t waste energy charging a storage heater which has already reached full charge. Built-in convection heaters tackle the unpredictability of British weather by providing an alternative heat source which can be used to top-up the heat on unexpectedly chilly evenings. All our storage heaters can be fitted quickly and cheaply by a professional electrician so there’s none of the expense and time-consuming installation of extending pipework as per a central heating system.
The development of efficient new alternatives to storage heaters may mean that, today, storage heaters may no longer be your most economical heating choice. The contemporary electric radiators we sell at Storage Heaters Direct are so efficient that even whilst using standard day time electricity they may be cheaper to run than storage heaters. This is because the design of storage heaters is unavoidably inefficient. Despite improvements in the materials used to store warmth, storage heaters inevitably give off some amount of heat from the moment they start charging. The limited controllability of storage heaters not only reduces their efficiency – it can leave you in the lurch when the weather is not what you expected. Having to charge up your storage heater the night before forces you to predict or guess the heating levels you’ll need tomorrow. If the day is colder than you expected, you may run out of heat and have to top up with an on-demand heater using day time electricity – which is charged at a higher rate if you’re on an Economy 7 tariff. If the weather is unexpectedly warm you’ll have wasted energy over-charging your heaters, and your home will be hotter than you’d choose.
In our experience, we have found that storage heaters are only the most economical way to heat your home if you need constant heat through the day and night – for instance if you are retired or you work from home. Alternatively, you may find that storage heaters meet your needs in one room but not another; many of our customers choose to install a storage heater in their living room, for a constant low level of heat, and an electric radiator in the bedroom so they can keep cool at night. However, most people who currently use storage heaters could save money by updating to our energy efficient electric radiators. Offering all the controllability that storage heaters lack, our electric radiators come equipped with 24/7 programmers and individual thermostats fitted on the body of each heater. This allows you to schedule and regulate the temperature in every room in your house and ensures you don’t waste power by heating when it’s not required. Our electric radiators allow you to cut down your power usage to a fraction of what you may previously have been using so you’ll save money even whilst using a standard electricity tariff.