Rcd tripping with no switch on after smart meter installarion

[Desikeera]

Hi

I am.from uk
I had a gas top up meter and a electric smart meter installation

Thought to ask my energy supplier to fit me a gas smart meter aswell

Their enginner came and said we will have to install the electric meter aswell so they will combine the smart thing on the display

But after installing the new smart meters

My rcd been tripping time to time even with all switch down on the main board

It did trip 2 times while he was here - but then worked absolutly fine he did open the unit and check and tighten all connectio

In last 5 hourd have tripped 2 times
Can anybody advise?
Strange because i already had an electric smart meter installation and never had this issue so why now?
Thanks
Can anybody advise me?

 

[Pretty Mouth]

Unfortunatly this tripis not working for me its still tripping ?

But sorry i just read properly, i have attached foil underneath as you advised, but just saw you said cardboard wrapped in tinfoil? Is it necessary to have cardboard with foil?
Because clearly only foil not working for me

I'm sorry to hear this didn't work for you. The idea of the cardboard was just to give it some rigidity.

Maybe try 2 or 3 layers of foil, and this time try shielding the smart meter rather than the consumer unit? like in the picture:

 

[freddo]

I can't assist with the issue, (though you could have the consumer unit replaced, an expensive solution!) but I'm going to point out the screw missing from the earth terminal as no one else has mentioned it yet and I can't stop looking at it.

 

[Gavin John Hyde]

I have had a customer contact me last year with a similar issue, Split load board tripping after Morris fitted smart meters. 1 RCD was awful on the ramp test and put that down to age and just bad luck as it hadnt been operated for ages until meter guy turned off all loads and switches etc.. the other rcd had just a few sockets, and lights on it...
Disconnected all loads overnight and it still tripped... by chance he had found online the thoughts that it could be the meter causing an inbalance in the rcd... He actually set up a camera on record to show when it tripped, time and the meter.. sounds crazy but the tripping coincided with a series of flashes on the smart meter... I thought he was a bit bonkers at first but there is clearly something amiss with the proximity of rcds and smart meters. we created a barrier using a small piece of metal and it actually prevented further tripping... much like keys in a foil pouch - a faraday cage... not sure if his meter still sent out the readings mind!

I upgraded his board for him as part of an ev charger install and now his board is metal there has been no tripping, albeit he now has rcbos...

 

[brianmoooore]

There are three reasons why a RCD might switch itself off.
1) It's doing its job, working as it should and responding to an imbalance in the live conductors.
2) The RCD is faulty, and needs replacing.
3) It's being affected by a newly installed "smart" meter, mounted very close to it.

Have 1 and 2 been definitely excluded as the cause? We know there's a condemned shower connected to it. Is this definitely DP isolated when the tripping occurs?
If 1 and 2 have been excluded as the cause, then maybe the camera is the way to go. It would show a correlation that the energy supplier would struggle to dismiss.

 

[Mikegh]

I have had a customer contact me last year with a similar issue, Split load board tripping after Morris fitted smart meters. 1 RCD was awful on the ramp test and put that down to age and just bad luck as it hadnt been operated for ages until meter guy turned off all loads and switches etc.. the other rcd had just a few sockets, and lights on it...
Disconnected all loads overnight and it still tripped... by chance he had found online the thoughts that it could be the meter causing an inbalance in the rcd... He actually set up a camera on record to show when it tripped, time and the meter.. sounds crazy but the tripping coincided with a series of flashes on the smart meter... I thought he was a bit bonkers at first but there is clearly something amiss with the proximity of rcds and smart meters. we created a barrier using a small piece of metal and it actually prevented further tripping... much like keys in a foil pouch - a faraday cage... not sure if his meter still sent out the readings mind!

I upgraded his board for him as part of an ev charger install and now his board is metal there has been no tripping, albeit he now has rcbos...

Solid evidence there re: the smart meters and RCD trips

 

[Desikeera]

Right here i am to give an update to my problem

As i said earlier the foil trick didnt work for me
So the tripoing never stopped
Called Eon to show them i am really not happy the way things are going after paying an electrician over 200£
Called them twice the same day
First after explaining all the history i was woth a lady for 1hour, the call dropped she never called back!
2nd attempt same story after explaning my problem, got lucky to have a nice lad , he contacted the onfield emergency team, and confirmed someone should be coming to check the installation

Cant tell you guys how much i relief i got when thr engineer as soon as he entered and saw the electric meter installed by their colleague, and him saying : your rcd setup is not compatible with this type of meter why they did install that? Offcourse its going to trip!

He even called his manager, who drove down half hour, they took pictures of the work done by the previous engineer, they replaced both meter gas and electric, the simple credit meters without the smart thing

And since then no tripping!
So anyone coming on this post, if you have a rce setup Mem 2000 dont look anywhere else its going to trip and dont get a smart meter or change your setup

Wanted to thanks everyone who joined, replied helped
In the end i am with a bill of 300£ now jjst ordered a new electric shower and will have someone to come down to install aswell more ££££

 

[Mikegh]

RCD not compatible with the meter lol

Sounds like a screwup on their part

 

[Desikeera]

RCD not compatible with the meter lol

Sounds like a screwup on their part

Yeah the manager who came, himself told me, its been a nightmare for some time now with the smart meter, as everyone have different kind of setup, the smart meter till date had so many update done internally, still they getting complaints of incompatibility

He was saying in the future it should be resolved so i could choose again to be on a smart meter
I said no thanks i am fine this way ?

 

[timhoward]

Very glad to hear it’s sorted. An unfortunate journey but at least the power will now stay on.

 

[Pretty Mouth]

Right here i am to give an update to my problem

As i said earlier the foil trick didnt work for me
So the tripoing never stopped
Called Eon to show them i am really not happy the way things are going after paying an electrician over 200£
Called them twice the same day
First after explaining all the history i was woth a lady for 1hour, the call dropped she never called back!
2nd attempt same story after explaning my problem, got lucky to have a nice lad , he contacted the onfield emergency team, and confirmed someone should be coming to check the installation

Cant tell you guys how much i relief i got when thr engineer as soon as he entered and saw the electric meter installed by their colleague, and him saying : your rdc setup is not compatible with this type of meter why they did install that? Offcourse its going to trip!

He even called his manager, who drove down half hour, they took pictures of the work done by the previous engineer, they replaced both meter gas and electric, the simple credit meters without the smart thing

And since then no tripping!
So anyone coming on this post, if you have a rce setup Mem 2000 dont look anywhere else its going to trip and dont get a smart meter or change your setup

Wanted to thanks everyone who joined, replied helped
In the end i am with a bill of 300£ now jjst ordered a new electric shower and will have someone to come down to install aswell more ££££

Thanks for the update on this, it's always interesting to hear how it turns out, and good to hear you got it fixed.

 

[Gavin John Hyde]

Well if its not compatible submit a complaint asking for your money to be re-imbursed.
Also contact the money team at Dailymail.. they love a good story bashing the electric companies and smart meters especially... albeit they did swap it out but it shouldnt have been fitted to begin with itseems.

 

[nicebutdim]

Well if its not compatible submit a complaint asking for your money to be re-imbursed.
Also contact the money team at Dailymail.. they love a good story bashing the electric companies and smart meters especially... albeit they did swap it out but it shouldnt have been fitted to begin with itseems.

Quite reasonable to expect reimbursment for losses incurred as a result of their error.

 

[brianmoooore]

I've fitted dozens and dozens of MEM 2000 RCDs and CUs before I retired .Fortunately I never answer my work 'phone any more.

 

[pc1966]

RCD not compatible with the meter lol

Sounds like a screwup on their part

It is a more general screw-up of the whole system.

Electronics post 1996 should be in line with the EMC directive that covered both the generation of radio frequency interference and electromagnetic susceptibility. However, many standards had susceptibility limits that could easily be exceeded by a mobile phone at very close range on the assumption that nobody would be doing that other than a rare situation.

For example here:

EN 61000‒6‒2:2005

www.rfemcdevelopment.eu

If you take 3V/m in the 1.8GHz mobile band that is around the equivalent of a 0.5W transmitter at a distance of 1.3m (assuming omni antenna, etc, etc), doing the same at 900MHz for old style mobile phone modems comes out at 38cm.

Then smart meters came along and put such a mobile phone modem only tens of centimetres away!

Of course had the smart meter program been properly planned/managed such issues and guidance to avoid it would be in place, but then we have the gov push to "get something done" and companies incentivised to do so and the meter installers just do it and ignore the results as they have another meter or three to do in that day.

 

[snowhead]

Given the reaction by the first visitor then it would appear that the Meter fitting companies and or the Energy suppliers know about the specific problem with MEM RCds and possibly other issues not known to the forum.

The unanswerable questions are why is it not on a sign in big red letters on the call centre wall for when people complain.
And why is not on page 1 of the meter installers check list.