Tishtash wrote:

"Ian Stirling" wrote in message
...
tishtash wrote:
Hi,

I have these very old fashioned radio controlled heaters which turn on at
a
certain time and store heat and diepsnse it slowly through the day and
they
are absolutely rubbish!

What I was wondering is there perhaps a way to bypass the radio
controlled
part to turn them on whenever I want to ?

I assume you are referring to economy 7 heaters.
You do know that the 'instant' heat will be more expensive, perhaps by a
factor of 3?


I'm not entirely sure what they are called to be honest. Would you be kind
enough to explain the the difference in factors ?

Basically it gets quite cold and I have bought some other heaters to help
warm the room up as the radio controlled hearters don't heat so great but if
I can get them to come on at command it would be of help I think

Ok - _if_ you are on ecomomy 7 electricity - your bill from your current
supplier will show this, or the meter cupboard will have two readouts.

At night (1AM-8AM?) you pay around a third of the price for electricity
during the day - this is more or less competitive with gas, in some
parts of the country it can actually be cheaper.

The heaters - when operating properly - they may not be - heat up an
internal load of firebricks or something to well over boiling during
this time, and then slowly release it - usually on a timer, over the
day.
There may be a timeswitch on the heater itself, which controls when the
damper - which seals the bricks from the room air - turns off.

The damper needs to be in the position to let the air circulate freely,
or nothing much will happen - and very little heat wil get out.