Engr. Dr. Muhammad Nawaz Iqbal
Storage heaters are often made of concrete walls, water containers, clay bricks, or other ceramic material (grog). Additionally, there are unique substances like feolite. This substance functions as a heat-storage medium. The material has electrical heating elements that may be turned on to heat the storage medium and so store energy. Storage heaters are typically used with a two-tariff electricity meter, which records separately the electricity consumed during the off-peak period so that it can be billed at a lesser rate. The residence needs to be on a particular power tariff in order to benefit from the cheaper prices. When utilized with such a particular tariff, storage heaters are typically only cost-effective in comparison to other heating methods.
Storage heaters typically feature two controls: a charge control that determines how much heat is stored and a draught control (often referred to as “output”) that determines how quickly heat is released. When a user sets the intended room temperature on a thermostat, these controls may work manually or automatically. In order to boost heat output, storage heaters may additionally include an electric heater that makes use of heat pumps or resistance heaters. Such additional heating, if resistance heating, is costly because it takes place during a period of day with a high tariff.
While storage heaters are frequently still more expensive than comparable gas or oil-fired heating systems, they are less expensive than utilizing the same amount of energy for heating at standard daily rates. The house is cold at night and in the early morning hours because users of gas central heating and some other systems frequently switch the heating off as a cost-saving measure. However, because night storage heaters are on at night, the house is still warm during those hours. Homes can be built in locations without natural gas distribution lines by using storage heaters, which eliminates the need for increased daytime electrical heating costs for the homeowners.
Storage heaters often need two power circuits, one for electricity used at peak times and one for electricity used at off-peak times, as well as two power switches, which are turned off during the summer months when heat is not needed. In other months, the off-peak switch can be left on always; the on-peak switch is only activated when there is not enough energy conserved during off-peak hours. The settings on the storage heater unit allow you to change the quantity of heat that is stored. Since the on-peak is a component of another circuit, it typically has a fuse. Since it has a dedicated circuit, the off-peak will only be a switch. Some installations can only be turned on during off-peak hours and require electricity.
An automatic output switch with a mechanical control is another feature of many storage heaters. In this scenario, in the event that the manual result switch isn’t set to least expedite, the damper will consequently close (as though the result switch had been set to least), and the damper will then re-open after a time delay; this time delay is measured by the gradual drop in the heater’s core temperature, and is thus longer if the core temperature started higher due to more charge. The position of the output switch can also influence the delay. Storage heaters have lower peak loads and are less expensive to operate than other types of electric heating. Instantaneous electric heating devices like immersion water heaters, which produce significant loads for brief periods of time, are the sources of the highest peak loads, even though they may use less electricity overall. High-efficiency ground source heat pumps are preferred even though they consume power throughout the day since they can use up to 66% less electricity than storage heaters to heat by recovering heat from the ground. Similar efficiency gains are provided by air source heat pumps, which are typically simpler and less expensive to install for residential use.
