arizona98tj
Gold Member
Yesterday, we just finished the installation of our 2nd electric storage heater. This one went into my wife's new 520 sq ft sewing studio....aka, her she shed.
As wired, the heater runs on off-peak power. When "charging" and using both heating elements, it draws 7.5 KW. The heat generated by the elements is stored in 400 pounds of brick that takes up the majority of the heater's internal space. An onboard controller determines the speed of the blower fan so as to push room air through the bricks and out into the room in order to maintain the desired temperature. An outside temp sensor keeps the controller updated to help it more efficiently determine how much "heat charge" it may need to store during the next cycle. I'm sure the control algorithm is more complex than that but that's basically how it works.
Our electric co-op has two periods each day wherein the storage heater can be charged as needed via the onboard controller. There is also a special relay that is tied into the regular breaker panel. This relay receives control info from the load management center at the co-op which is how the off-peak power is made available. The relay uses a low voltage control circuit tied into the storage heater's controller to complete the control loop.
So last night was the first night of use and the first time after being installed that off-peak power was available. When I got up this morning, a quick trip to the sewing studio showed everything working perfectly. The 2nd photo shows "P 64" which means the off-peak power is not available and the ambient room temp is 64 degrees. The 3rd photo shows "O-31" which means the outside temp was -31F. The 1st photo shows the storage heater as installed in the studio. The 4th photo is of the sewing studio. The 5th photo shows the 400 pounds of bricks before they were installed in the heater.
We'll be putting in a new wood stove in a week or two. When my wife is working in the studio, she'll light a fire in the woodstove. The intended purpose for the storage heater is to maintain a constant temp in the building so that her sewing machines and other items don't experience the winter temp swings that northern Minnesota would otherwise cause.
We have another one of these storage heaters in our 1000 sq ft ICF basement. It keeps the basement very comfortable without really trying all that hard.
During the heating season, we don't pay sales tax on off-peak power and it is about 60% of the cost of normal power. As such, the off-peak rate is it is reasonable and not subject to the fluctuations seen by some that use propane. The co-op has already announced our 2022 electric rates which are the same as the 2021 rates.
We also have a wood stove in the house which we use for heating the main floor. We also have an air-source heat pump, a 15KW plenum heater, and a propane furnace all tied together. We had these installed when we built our house a few years ago. I hope to be cutting firewood for at least another 10 years or more.
A nicety we enjoy that isn't directly related to the storage heater is that should there be a problem or breakdown with the heater, a call to the co-op results in their tech doing the labor for free and we pay for parts if it is out of warranty. That is also true for our other electric heating systems.
So that is the story behind our storage heaters. Anyone else using them?
As wired, the heater runs on off-peak power. When "charging" and using both heating elements, it draws 7.5 KW. The heat generated by the elements is stored in 400 pounds of brick that takes up the majority of the heater's internal space. An onboard controller determines the speed of the blower fan so as to push room air through the bricks and out into the room in order to maintain the desired temperature. An outside temp sensor keeps the controller updated to help it more efficiently determine how much "heat charge" it may need to store during the next cycle. I'm sure the control algorithm is more complex than that but that's basically how it works.
Our electric co-op has two periods each day wherein the storage heater can be charged as needed via the onboard controller. There is also a special relay that is tied into the regular breaker panel. This relay receives control info from the load management center at the co-op which is how the off-peak power is made available. The relay uses a low voltage control circuit tied into the storage heater's controller to complete the control loop.
So last night was the first night of use and the first time after being installed that off-peak power was available. When I got up this morning, a quick trip to the sewing studio showed everything working perfectly. The 2nd photo shows "P 64" which means the off-peak power is not available and the ambient room temp is 64 degrees. The 3rd photo shows "O-31" which means the outside temp was -31F. The 1st photo shows the storage heater as installed in the studio. The 4th photo is of the sewing studio. The 5th photo shows the 400 pounds of bricks before they were installed in the heater.
We'll be putting in a new wood stove in a week or two. When my wife is working in the studio, she'll light a fire in the woodstove. The intended purpose for the storage heater is to maintain a constant temp in the building so that her sewing machines and other items don't experience the winter temp swings that northern Minnesota would otherwise cause.
We have another one of these storage heaters in our 1000 sq ft ICF basement. It keeps the basement very comfortable without really trying all that hard.
During the heating season, we don't pay sales tax on off-peak power and it is about 60% of the cost of normal power. As such, the off-peak rate is it is reasonable and not subject to the fluctuations seen by some that use propane. The co-op has already announced our 2022 electric rates which are the same as the 2021 rates.
We also have a wood stove in the house which we use for heating the main floor. We also have an air-source heat pump, a 15KW plenum heater, and a propane furnace all tied together. We had these installed when we built our house a few years ago. I hope to be cutting firewood for at least another 10 years or more.
A nicety we enjoy that isn't directly related to the storage heater is that should there be a problem or breakdown with the heater, a call to the co-op results in their tech doing the labor for free and we pay for parts if it is out of warranty. That is also true for our other electric heating systems.
So that is the story behind our storage heaters. Anyone else using them?
