Hoping to de-modernise flat heating system.

But not in a flat, even below the 4th floor.

They may have been put in with the original build, which was early to mid seventies. There were 3 and with any luck there will be 3 again, since a can't think of a preferable arrangement.

Alan submitted this idea :

The difference between peak and off-peak charges as gradually reduced too, so off-peak heating might not produce the saving it once did.

Hope the 'removers' hoovered up any asbestos dust that may have been disturbed during removal.

Would that be a click at supplier HQ, or yet another rewire here?

Bejasus, killers in the carpets! Thank the lord I'm 72, so maybe old age will get me before the asbestos, climate and air pollution do.

Why?

I nver found any asbestos in my storage heaters. Just heavy blocks and a little bit of rockwool

Do flats not have air around them?

How many fuse boxes/CUs have you got?

How many are there? Is the flat warm enough for you? Have been in it for a winter yet?

Previous owner hadn't a clue and fell for the "economical" and "low running costs" sales points. Both true as such, the things takes bugger all power so is going to be "economical" and have "low running costs" at the expense of not having a warm place to live.

Need to sort out how things are now connected up and look at what your bills say regarding tarrif. The supply wiring for the storeage heaters would almost certainly have been individual circuits from a seperate consumer unit. The supply to which would have been switched on/off under control of the time switch that also controlled which register the meter used to record consumption.

It may have been re-wired to a permenant supply. Or not depending on how stupid the person doing the chnage of heaters was.

Should be possible. Modern "high heat retention" storeage heaters are much better than the old, barely insulated, pile of bricks. But they don't come cheap and need a second, permenant, supply.

This second supply could be from a nearby ring via switched connection unit provided that any given ring doesn't have more than a couple of heaters on it. This supply not only keeps the electroncs powered but is also used for "boost" heating if required.

ARW has suggested a workaround with the existing heater supplies wired to permenant mains and suitable, individual, timeswitches fitted at each heater to "fake" the E7 period switched supply. That'll work but you need to make sure that the timeswitches and tarrif clock are set for the same "on" period and don't drift for any reason (clock accuracy, power cuts...).

Wonder if there are any "one to many" remote mains switches of suitable switching capacity available? Preferably using the mains wiring for signalling. X10?

Probably not.

Yes, but they tend to be leasehold and getting the freeholders permission for something that might cause a nuisance to the other flat owners is not easy.

How extremely informative you are today. Why not?

It's a flat, probably leasehold, so you don't 'own' the outer wall. The freeholder is responsible for that.

And a bit of thread drift...

Wow Dave, that looks a lot of useful info. It'll take me a while to work my way through it. Big thanks.

The tone of your original post suggested they would not work, not that they might not be allowed

Thanks for all the info Owain. Here's what I've managed to glean so far, including a bill from the electrician.