How To Turn On A Heater

Gas fires and wall heaters are common in colder regions.  They usually involve a pilot light to ignite the gas.  You should know how to turn gas heaters on correctly so gas doesn’t escape and heater parts don’t get damaged. 

gas heater

We will give you a step-by-step guide to safely turn on a gas wall heater and also how to use an electric storage heater correctly to save energy costs.

How To Turn On A Gas Heater

Step 1

gas heater control knob

Fully press down the control knob which is at the OFF position

Step 2

Turn and hold down the control to the ON position or to the position number indicated (e.g. ‘1’) for at least 10 seconds.

Step 3

You will hear a loud clicking sound as you turn the dial and this starts the ignition process. On heaters with a separate ignition button, press this while holding the control dial down.

Step 4

Continue to hold the control knob down for at least 5 seconds more while the heater has ignited.

Step 5

Release the control and adjust to your desired heat settings.

Step 6

If the heater fails to ignite on the first attempt, turn the control back to the OFF position and wait for at least 15 seconds before attempting to reignite the heater.

How To Use An Electric Storage Heater

Electric storage heaters make use of a special rate tariff which charges a low price for electricity used at night.  But the electricity price during the day is usually much higher.  Storage heaters charge up heat at night at the low rate and release it during the day. 

This is how they should be used:

Step 1

Keep the storage heater switched on at the outlet throughout the cold season so you make use of the cheaper electricity night rate.

Step 2

storage heater controls

Find the Input and Output controls, usually on the top of the heater next to each other.

Step 3

Put the Input control onto maximum setting at night if it’s going to be cold the next day.  This will fully charge the heater up. The next morning turn it back down to low.

Step 4

Put the Output or Boost function on high during the cold days to heat the room up.  Turn it down to low before going to bed so the heater gets charged properly on low rate electricity.