Economy 7 Problem

[ABEE]

I have economy 7 (or whtever its called these days) - it powers the storage heater anbd also heats the water during the night. There is an override that I can use to heat the water in the day from the nomal supply

The storage heaters have stopped working and It appears that the water is not being heated from the white meter as it is not registering any electricity used. The water can still be heated from the normal supply.

Where should I start- if I get an eletrician will he be able to do anything as its all off peak and the clock that apperas to control it is sealed, or should I calll in the electricity supplier who owns the meter. Im trying to not end up with a bill for calling soemone in who cant do anything to fix it.

Thanks

[Roger Mills]

Does the clock display the time and, if so, is it working and correct?

Have you checked all relevant fuses and/or circuit breakers?

[ABEE]

Ive checked the fuses and the circuit breakers and that seems ok.

by the clock do you mean the dial that is sealed with a glass cover. Is that what sets the timer for the E7 electricty. Should that dial move round?.

[Owain]

Yes, it should be showing the correct time. If it's stuck at off then you won't get any off-peak heating. Or even worse all your electricity will be charged at peak rate.

Owain

[John]

Aren't most now radio operated and don't have a clock? Has reception in the area changed?

[Colin Wilson]

Is the changeover via a contactor ?

[Dave Liquorice]

Ours is mechanical and bust in that the clock only runs when there is power. I'm not sure when our "off peak" period is ATM...

There is no "changeover" just a set of contacts that close for the off peak period to feed power to the CU for the storage heaters. The meter will be signaled to use the other rate. All power used during the off peak period is charged at the lower rate not just that fed to the heaters.

[Colin Wilson]

Not all suppliers provide load switching facilities though, hence the question.

Sure, the meter might flip to low rate, but that doesn't mean any load switching to bring the heating in at the correct time is working as it should.

[Dave Liquorice]

Hum, if the load switching isn't "sealed" how do they stop people switching it on when it shouldn't be and possibly also switching the meter into "night rate"?

Agreed the load switching may have failed but that is almost certainly, IMHO, going to be the suppliers equipment and problem not that of the consumer.

To help the OP we really need more info, a picture of the meter(s) and clocks etc would help a great deal.

[cynic]

It could be a failure of the suppliers equipment but it could also be a burnout of a connection around your off-peak consumer unit main switch/terminals. Have you tried operating the main switch on your off-peak consumer unit? Does it "feel" ok? Are you competent to remove the lid of the same unit to inspect the ends of the meter tails? (During the daytime when the off-peak supply is OFF) If there is no apparent problem with your gear then it sounds likely that the problem lies in the suppliers equipment

[RobertL]

In the good old days, the mechanical ones had a spring so they kept going across power cuts. You used to be able 'get lucky' with a very long powercut and end up with cheap electricity in the day.

R

[Neil J. Harris]

I know it sounds silly, but has the consumer unit for the off-peak been turned off, and not turned back on again, sometimes the lever is up for on and sometimes it is up for off, it depends on the age and manufacturer of the consumer unit. I would imagine that if the off-peak consumer unit was turned on and off during the off-peak period it, would cause the lights to dim because of the increased load.

[ABEE]

The On /off switch seems Ok. The House is unocciped for periods of time so teh power is turned off ( to comply with insurance stuff). I dont think its to do with turing it off as I have done this for the last 8 years and have had no problems.