Buzzing Consumer Unit?

[1shortcircuit]

I was asked to pop over to my Mother-in-laws SALON (Not Saloon ) this morning to investigate a fault that seems to have occured since a powercut last Friday.

For some reason, the storage heaters are no longer working. There was no seal or stickers on the meter before the timer, the digital meter was showing power with a green light. To confirm this I undid the screw holding the cover and probed the terminals and proved 230V power. Happy with that I refitted cover.

Now due to this being off peak supply I was limited to what I could check on the consumer side. There were 3 breakers each supply an individual heater and all three are no longer working.

I have taken a meter reading and the Mother-in-law is going to check the reading again in the morning to see if the power kicked in between the 12am-7am period like it's supposed to.

Anyone able to pass on a little advice regarding these types of installations please?


Oh yes, ha ha nearly forgot. Buzzing Consumer Unit.

Nothing to do with the heating, this CU powered pretty much the entire salon. As soon as I arrived and located it I was distracted by the most annoying buzz I have heard since entering the trade. It sounded completely abnormal! Anyway, the chap who carried out the installation is a friend of the family I married into, fully qualified, in the trade for years, great reputation albeit a little on the more expensive side according to most but still very helpful and kind enough to help introduce me to the world of Electrics. I gave him a quick call to ask him about this buzzing and he said it's something that he's seen on numerous occasions???

I mentioned that I would remove the cover and check over the terminations and he said "yeah that's what I would do too"

Whilst halfway through doing the above the buzz had ceased Result. Still a little concerned that I was told that this is quite common so I thought I would put it to you guys as I wouldn't be happy if this occured with an installation that I worked on.

Regards

1SC

 

[Specialist]

Hi Matey: With the storage Heaters i'd do the same as you first off to be honest, see if they actually kick in tonight.

Buzzing boards can be a menace & they're not that uncommon, have seen it caused by loose connections a few times. Other things that i've had causing buzzing MCB's are: Combi ovens, Dishwashers & Cheap Chinese washing machines. Very often when it's caused by an appliance on a Ring a simple cure can be just to swap the Breaker for another 32A from the same board. With Dishwashers causing it, it's often only at 1 particular part of the Cycle. With Combi ovens it's usually continual while the oven's cooking.

 

[1shortcircuit]

Hi Matey: With the storage Heaters i'd do the same as you first off to be honest, see if they actually kick in tonight.

Ah that makes me feel a little happier

It's also nice to hear someone else say that the buzzing isn't uncommon. Bizarre though, noises like that really annoy me. Even slight buzzing noises that can be heard from dimmer switches or the stoooooopid whistle/whine that can often be heard coming from the Sky Plus Box


:thumbsup

 

[Specialist]

Glad it's not only me that those things drive crazy lol, you say anything like what's that noise & people look at you stupid.

 

[1shortcircuit]

Glad it's not only me that those things drive crazy lol, you say anything like what's that noise & people look at you stupid.

Sloppy chops drives me so mad I could fight people lol

Constant Sniffing instead of going blowing nose.

Slurping drinks!

Anything like the above makes my blood genuinely boil lol

 

[Specialist]

That's why I never go to my sisters for Dinner lol. Her old man's great but you don't want to sitting anywhere near him at meal time.uke:

 

[Guest123]

Oh yes, ha ha nearly forgot. Buzzing Consumer Unit.


1SC

Wasn't full of type Bee's was it?????........thats twice I've used that one today......I'll get me coat....again!!!

 

[SirKit Breaker]

I suffer with wax in my ears, so there isnt many noises that annoy me unless i have had the buggers syringed out.

Cheers.........Howard

 

[cbw]

Howard nearly made the same comment as me.....as I get older I cannot hear lots of whines etc......

 

[Goody]

Isn't it the manufacturer's intention to make it buzz to warn the occupants of it's presence, LOL!

 

[topquark]

Howard nearly made the same comment as me.....as I get older I cannot hear lots of whines etc......

Hehe, that has it's uses mate

 

[1shortcircuit]

I was asked to pop over to my Mother-in-laws SALON (Not Saloon ) this morning to investigate a fault that seems to have occured since a powercut last Friday.

For some reason, the storage heaters are no longer working. There was no seal or stickers on the meter before the timer, the digital meter was showing power with a green light. To confirm this I undid the screw holding the cover and probed the terminals and proved 230V power. Happy with that I refitted cover.

Now due to this being off peak supply I was limited to what I could check on the consumer side. There were 3 breakers each supply an individual heater and all three are no longer working.

I have taken a meter reading and the Mother-in-law is going to check the reading again in the morning to see if the power kicked in between the 12am-7am period like it's supposed to.

Anyone able to pass on a little advice regarding these types of installations please?

UPDATE

Turns out that my Father-In-Law knew someone who works for British Gas and they agreed to pop out and take a look. Reset the timer and even showed my Mother-in-law the light coming on at the FCU for each storage heater. Meter has been moving BUT... Still no heat in the property???

I can see me having to pop in during the 12-7 to prove power is or isn't getting to the heaters???

Anyone have any further thoughts regarding this matter please?

Kind Regards

1SC

 

[Richard]

It's not a DNO Radiotele switch that operates the off peak supply by any chance is it? I'v been too two calls outs recently with same circumstance, which turned out to be that the switch hadn't operated as it should.

Rich

 

[1shortcircuit]

It's not a DNO Radiotele switch that operates the off peak supply by any chance is it? I'v been too two calls outs recently with same circumstance, which turned out to be that the switch hadn't operated as it should.

Rich

Thanks for your reply Richard.

I'm not familiar with these systems at all unfortunately. I haven't even worked on a Domestic installation that has used this setup YET. I only agreed to pop by the salon as it was suspected that it may have been something simple.

I just had to perform a Google search to find out what a DNO Radio Tele switch was

 

[Richard]

Radio teleswitch - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

So far as i'm aware, the DNO send out a radio signal to control it. I'v not seen many of them in 6 years, but it's food for thought!