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Modern Eco-Storage Heaters are Not Fit for Purpose. Discuss.

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Case 1. Heater provided with no operating instructions in box.


Case 2. Heater could not be programmed. Reason: it was factory set in "Eco-mode" where programming was not possible.


Case 3. Too complicated with layers of programming needed. The A4 sized instructions are many pages long covering many settings and day options.


Case 4. A recent heater seen has a very small window screen where the writing is about 1mm tall and is very difficult to read when programming it.


Case 5. They are too complicated and not easy to use. Over engineered and liable to failure due to complicated P.C.B.s inside. Perhaps that is the plan. If you can't easily use them they save energy as one of my customers found out after spending many hours over the phone speaking with the maker's tech. dept. The heater is now cold and has stopped working.


Z.
  • Former Community Member
    0 Former Community Member
    7317a2a463bb719789b8618c5d250f56-original-large-qm100-quantum-with-control-left-angle-solus.jpg

    These Dimplex Quantom's are easy enough to use



  • 0
    It does have features that take a bit of finding, but most people won’t need to.
  • 0
    "The 500W kettle (to "save" energy), is the perfect example of scientific stupidity over useability! "


    Well said that man !
  • 0
    Does anyone have a link to credible information that the EU Commission and/or Parliament ever proposed limiting kettles to 500W? Ignoring Daily Mail type headlines, all I can find is that kettles were on the Ecodesign list of products scheduled to be examined to see if there was scope regulating their design for better energy efficiency.
  • 0
    Maybe the manufacturers need to take into account the age of the installer/user more when designing products. I remember 10 years ago every time the clocks changed I would get asked by all my neighbours to change the time on their boiler timeclock. It wasn't because they were complicated, I could do it without the instructions on most, it was because people were too lazy to actually read the instructions for themselves. Is it a case that these products are too complicated for us, or that we are opening the box expecting a dial and 2 switches, then already deciding the product is rubbish and overly complicated because we have to read the instructions?
  • 0
    ebee:

    "The 500W kettle (to "save" energy), is the perfect example of scientific stupidity over useability! "


    Well said that man !


    I have not seen 500 W kettles in shops but I have seen plenty in hotels. I think the idea is to avoid a huge demand on the system at certain times, especially early morning, when numerous residents switch them on at the same time to make their cuppa. Nothing to do with energy saving, really - not that hotels are interested in that. Look at those rotary toasters on the breakfast buffet, toasting nothing most of the time. Or those car park lights blazing in broad daylight. I could go on . . .


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    wallywombat:

    Does anyone have a link to credible information that the EU Commission and/or Parliament ever proposed limiting kettles to 500W? Ignoring Daily Mail type headlines, all I can find is that kettles were on the Ecodesign list of products scheduled to be examined to see if there was scope regulating their design for better energy efficiency.


    You wont find it - the recommendation that is nearest is  the ecodesign study (here) Still not law by the way, just a labelling system.

    If you make a kettle that is 500W you will struggle to meet the A rating requirement, unless you lag it well, as efficiency is correctly tested by looking at electrical energy in divided by energy in the hot water out.

    Unsurprisingly the faster you boil the easier it is to meet this requirement.

    Very early in the consultation process there was a proposal document that implied that kettles should use 20% less electricity year on year, but then some engineering minded Germans got involved and that quickly got dropped in favour of restrictions  on designs that have a standby 'keep hot' feature, and the overall efficiency in terms of the fraction of the heat leaving through the sides. It seems that the Daily Torygraph got hold of the early proposal , and still does not realise it has been dropped.

    Limitations on the efficiency of motors in vacuum cleaners and hair dryers are genuine, but then there is a good reason for those.

    Mike.


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