"Royal Chauffage" radiateur d'inertie, from Mr. Bricolage

[Ian]

Does anybody have one of these, and know how it works?

I bought it to help dry the house out after a long period of being empty. It only has one control, a knob with settings from 1 to 10. The instruction booklet says (according to my french) that setting it to 1 "maintains the temperature at 0 - 7 degrees", while 10 maintains it at 30 degrees. I assumed that, set to 10, it would store most heat.

The idea was to switch it on overnight and store up lots of heat, which it would then release the next

day. However, while it seems to be hot in the mornings, as soon as I unplug it (I need the limited electricity during the day for a fan heater), it goes cold.

Where am I going wrong? Does it need day-time electricity as well?

Thanks

[AnOther]

I don't now the specific appliance but in broad terms if it's storage heater then it will weigh a ton because it will be full of fire bricks which are what retain the heat, if it isn't heavy then it isn't a storage heater and therefore will of course lose it's heat very quickly after being turned off.

Your knob sounds like it is a simple thermostat and I don't understand why you would assume it "stored most heat" on the strength of that ?

[Nick Trollope]

It is an "inertia" heater, not a storage radiator. It is filled with oil and is designed to even out the on-off cycling of the thermostat by storing a little energy. A storage radiator, as ernie says, is filled with bricks which cool slowly.

Any electric heater is as close to 100% efficient as it is possible to be. Put 100W in, get 100W of heat out. It is just a matter of how fast the heat is released - these are joules - Watts x Seconds....

[Ian]

[quote user="ErnieY"]

I don't now the specific appliance but in broad terms if it's storage heater then it will weigh a ton because it will be full of fire bricks which are what retain the heat, if it isn't heavy then it isn't a storage heater and therefore will of course lose it's heat very quickly after being turned off.

Your knob sounds like it is a simple thermostat and I don't understand why you would assume it "stored most heat" on the strength of that ?

[/quote]

Ernie, my understanding of storage heaters is that you control the

output in two ways. Firstly, in advance by managing the electricity

supplied and thus the total heat stored, then secondly after it's hot,

by adjusting the insulation, opening baffles etc. Mine being cheap (comparatively), it doesn't have the second set of controls, so the only thing the dial can affect is the input?

According to the manufacturer, it is an "electric heater with this unique ceramic brick which stores the heat for an extended and even distribution". Having said all that, while heavy it doesn't weigh a ton. Maybe it's just a glorified (and over-priced) convector?

[Ian]

[quote user="Nick Trollope"]It is an "inertia" heater, not a storage radiator. It is filled with oil and is designed to even out the on-off cycling of the thermostat by storing a little energy. A storage radiator, as ernie says, is filled with bricks which cool slowly.

Any electric heater is as close to 100% efficient as it is possible to be. Put 100W in, get 100W of heat out. It is just a matter of how fast the heat is released - these are joules - Watts x Seconds....

[/quote]

So, it is a glorified convector? Drat! I could have got an oil-filled radiator for much less, that would do much the same.

Oh well, the wood-burning stove gets commissioned next week, so it's history after that!

Thanks

[AnOther]

OK, so a ton was a bit of an exaggeration now that ceramics have largely taken over from old style heavy bricks.

ROYAL CHAUFFAGE have a web site so you may be able to check out your particular heater there.