Dimplex Electric Storage Heater
What is storage heating?
Dimplex storage heaters take advantage of (lower) electrical rates to provide higher comfort heating at approximately 50% of the cost of traditional electric baseboard heating.
Dimplex does this by producing the heat energy during less-expensive off-peak rate periods at night to heat a highly insulated core, storing enough energy for the coldest days. The energy is released to the room by a thermostatically controlled fan to keep the room warm and comfortable.
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| 1- Specially developed magnetite energy storage core |
| 2- Off-peak heating elements |
| 3- Microtherm insulation |
| 4- Charge controller |
| 5- Air circulation path |
| 6- Rear wall brackets |
| 7- Manual charge adjuster (not used in automatic mode) |
| 8- Optional room thermostat (instead of a wall thermostat) |
| 9- Vermiculite insulation |
| 10- Low wattage circulating fan |
| 11- Optional auxiliary heating element |
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Cost savings through time-of-use electrical rates.
Time-Of-Use (TOU) or Time-of-Day (TOD) rates are electrical rates available from some utilities that change hourly and seasonally based on the actual cost of producing electricity during that period. Nova Scotia Power offers these voluntarily and Ontario is committed to going to TOU province-wide in 2010.
Ontario’s rate structure has a winter and summer variation:
The Winter Weekdays
Energy prices peak twice—in the early morning and in the evening—mainly due to commercial and residential heating demand, plus increased lighting and appliance use.
Weekends and Statutory Holidays
Demand and electricity prices are lower on weekends and statutory holidays—as well as overnight—so these periods are all off-peak, during both Summer and Winter.
The Winter TOU electricity rate for Ontario customers is:
Off-peak: 4.2 cents/kWh
Mid-Peak: 7.6 cents/kWh
Peak: 9.1 cents/kWh
Click here to learn more about Nova Scotia Power’s Time of Day (TOD) Energy Charges.
In Nova Scotia, the peak rates are only charged from December to February making storage heating an excellent tool for homeowners to save money.
December, January, February – Weekdays (68 days)
Since storage heaters are designed to charge only during less-expensive off-peak periods, they use energy at less than half the cost of electric baseboard heaters running during the peak periods. Please note that under TOU rates, all weekend hours are at the less-expensive off-peak rate.
More information on Ontario’s plans can be found on The Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO)’s website, click here to learn more.
Benefits of Dimplex Electric Storage Heaters.
- provides higher comfort by combining radiant heating that directly heats objects and people in the room with a thermostatically controlled forced convection heater
- produces less pollution and fewer greenhouse gases by using off-peak energy (hydro, nuclear, wind) that is typically cleaner than peak generation sources (coal, natural gas)
- easier to retrofit to existing baseboard heated homes because there is no need to add duct work or a new central furnace
- uses the same power lines that are connected to your home, so there is no need to pay to bring natural gas lines to your home and pay another monthly service charge to another supplier
What’s a Smart Meter and how is off-peak electricity measured?
To measure this accurately, Ontario has committed to installing smart meters on every home in the province by the end of 2010 and Nova Scotia Power installs one on all customers that meet their TOD rate requirements. Smart meters will record your total electricity consumption hour by hour. For more information, visit Smart Meter Ontario’s website.
Is storage heating for new housing or can you retrofit these to homes with electric baseboard heating?
Storage heating can be used in new housing or retrofit applications including apartments keeping in mind that because a storage heater generates the day’s heating requirement during the eight hour off-peak period, it will have larger elements than a typical baseboard heater.
This impacts the home’s electrical supply in two ways:
- An electrician needs to ensure that the home’s electrical service has the required capacity for the larger off-peak draw.
- In many retrofit applications, the existing baseboard wiring may be too small and larger capacity wiring may need to be pulled.
To limit the impact of both issues, an accurate heat loss (done by an electrician) is critical to accurately size the storage heater and not oversize the system for a cost-efficient installation.
How does the storage heater know how much energy to charge?
Dimplex’s TOU Charge Control Panel automatically charges the heaters based on the outside temperature and can be adjusted by the user to meet their own personal needs. The TOU Charge Control Panel can also control an electric water heater to charge only during the off-peak period and up to 4 other electrical loads to increase the household’s savings.
The TOU Charge Control Panel is connected to the Smart Meter to ensure that it is synchronized and charges only during the off-peak period. It also uses an outdoor sensor to estimate the charge required to keep the homeowner warm and not overcharge during the spring and fall.
Other ways to save!
The more appliances that you run during the off-peak period, the more you will save:
- Hot Water Heater storage tanks can be automatically controlled using the Dimplex TOD Charge Control Panel to be full at 7am and can then be drawn on throughout the day.
- Dishwashers that come with timers make it easier to run during off-peak periods.
- Clothes washers and driers can take advantage of the full off-peak periods on the weekends or weekday mid-peak.
How do I get more technical information?
Please contact:
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