The electric / storage heaters are broken or aren't working properly

Please note you should never attempt to undertake any electrical repairs yourself; this includes any alterations to electrical fixtures and fittings e.g., replacing a socket, switch, light fitting or altering any wiring.

Our self-help information is intended to help you get your power back on where there is an easy fix, diagnose an electrical issue, or isolate a potentially dangerous area.

I’m on an Economy 7 heating system

If you’re on an Economy 7 heating system, power is only supplied to heaters between 12am (midnight) and 7am approximately. This means storage heaters mustbe left turned on overnight for them to work and provide heat.

Check the fuse board to see if anything has tripped. The electric heaters will be labelled on the fuse board and the switch will be in the down position if tripped.

Watch our video on how to check your fuse board.

Check your controls and switches are all on and programmed correctly on their heaters.

All storage heaters are fed separately from Economy 7 so there will only be rare occasions where all the heaters are not working. Remember, you should have an electric fire as a secondary form of heat.

The heaters aren’t coming on when I want them to or none of the heaters are working.

If there is an issue with the times that the heaters are coming on this is likely to be a problem with the timer on your meter, which could also affect your immersion heater and your hot water supply. If none of the heaters are working initially follow the advice above to check if any fuses have tripped. If nothing has tripped this suggests there is a problem with the power supply or meter equipment. You need to contact your energy provider to sort this problem out. Futures is not legally allowed to touch meter equipment.

The heater is hanging off the wall

If it's safe to do so, turn off the heater switch and then go to the fuse board and turn off the heaters circuit at the switch. Circuits are labelled on the fuse board.

Make sure you, your family and your pets keep clear of the area around the affected heater until an operative can attend to make the situation safe for you.

My storage heater isn’t working properly

Storage heaters work on a cheaper tariff electricity (Economy 7/Heatwise). Economy 7 is only on between midnight and 7am approximately, this means storage heaters must be left on overnight for them to work and provide heat.

The most efficient way to set up a storage heater is to set the output as low as possible (for example 1 out of 6) and adjust the input to meet your own needs, usually around 4/5 out of 6, this will ensure the storage heater will be as hot as it can be for as long as possible.

The two dials are:

• Output, which controls how quickly heat is released. The higher this is set the quicker the heat will be used up.
• Input, which is how hot the heater will get overnight. The higher the number this is set to the hotter the heater will get.

Watch our video here.

All storage heaters are fed separately so there will only be rare occasions where all heaters are not working. Remember, you should have an electric fire as a secondary form of heat. If there is an issue with the times that the heaters are coming on, it's likely to be a problem with the timer on your meter. This could also affect your immersion heater and your hot water supply. You will need to contact your energy provider to sort this problem out. Futures are not legally allowed to touch meter equipment.

My quantum storage heater isn’t working properly

How do I know it’s a quantum heater?

These look like a conventional storage heater, but you can tell you have a Quantum by the difference in controls – there will only be one thermostat alongside an LCD display in the top right-hand corner and two cables feeding the heater.

How do they work?

The bricks inside the heaters are warmed up on economy 7 during the hours of 1am to 7am.

The heaters change back to a pre-set temperature of 21 degrees every time they come back on following an off period as set on its timer. If it is 21 degrees in the property already, the heater will stay off and will only come on if you put them on. You will need to turn the dial up, increasing the temperature if you want the heater to come on above 21 degrees. You need to do this every day if this temperature is not high enough for you. For example, if you turned the heater up to 25 degrees today, it would stay set until it’s due to go off at the end of its timed period. In the morning, when it comes back on it will have changed back to 21 degrees, so you need to turn it up again if higher temperature is required.

If the heater won’t work because it has detected windows or doors open it could be that you have turned this option on in the settings. This is deactivated by us when the heater is fitted to avoid this happening, and will need deactivating again, which can be done from the options menu.

Quantum heaters remain cool to the touch on top and blow warm air out of the bottom when on. This is in direct contrast to old-style storage heaters, which get very warm on top.

How do I set and adjust the room temperature?

Turn the selector dial to the left to lower the heat and to the right to increase the heat. The screen will go blue when the temperature is turned down and red when the temperature is turned up.

Are there any other instructions to help?

There are some useful self-help guides online. Try to follow these first before reporting a repair as it might be something you can fix yourself without needing anyone to attend.

For Dimplex quantum series heaters watch our video.

When will the heating come on?

There are two pre-set programmers that the heater will usually be set to when it was fitted:

Home all day - the heating will come on to the set temperature between these times throughout the day.

06:30am - 09:30am, 11:00am - 01:00pm, 03:00pm - 05:00pm and 06:00 - 10:00pm

Out all day - the heating will come on to the set temperature between these times throughout the day.

06:00am - 08:30am and 05:00pm - 10:00pm

To choose one of these programmes use the menu button then turn the selector dial until the timer mode is highlighted, then press the selector switch once to choose the desired programme. These programmes can be adjusted following the full user instructions.

All storage heaters are fed separately so there will only be rare occasions where all heaters are not working. Remember, you should have an electric fire as a secondary form of heat. If there is an issue with the times that the heaters are coming on this, it's likely to be a problem with the timer on your meter, this could also affect your immersion heater and your hot water supply. You will need to contact your energy provider to sort this problem out. Futures are not legally allowed to touch meter equipment.

How do I report a repair?

You can report a repair to us at anytime, anywhere using My Account or contact us via Live Chat. Let us know when reporting that you’ve followed the advice and what you’ve tried to get it working, this helps us to assess what to do next to get the right person for the job.