Storage heaters

[uksparks]

Hi,

Ok so the new meter has been installed and the customer now wants 4 storage heaters, you can see the meter below.

Whats the best way to go about it as theres only one output.

He needs a new consumer unit anyway, do I just put it all in one CU or split it and have it in two CU's

But the timer issue, shall I use a contactor and a time clock inside a separate CU to feed the heaters?

 

[7029 dave]

Trigger for what??

The meter has a built in equivalent of a teleswitch which swaps it from peak rate to off peak rate as appropriate.
The older version of this had a seperate teleswitch which had a pilot wire which switched the meter from peak to off peak rates
The even older version used a timeswitch to switch the rates on the meter.

This is not the same as the system where a second supply is energised and metered seperately during the off peak hours.

One system is E7 the other is true off-peak but I don't know which way round it is.

Pilot wire?, flag wire or tariff wire to be prescience.

 

[uksparks]

I've done storage heaters and economy 7 before but always had a separate meter and teleswitch and just fitted separate boards, but this is a little more bit complicated but not the norm for me.

ill go in Eddies tomorrow and see what I can put together.

 

[davesparks]

I've done storage heaters and economy 7 before but always had a separate meter and teleswitch and just fitted separate boards, but this is a little more bit complicated but not the norm for me.

ill go in Eddies tomorrow and see what I can put together.

Plan what you want to put together, draw up a materials list and take that to eddies. Otherwise they will fob you off with whatever they have in stock or can get hold of easily, you should be specifying what you are going to install.

 

[davesparks]

Pilot wire?, flag wire or tariff wire to be prescience.

Whatever you want to call it my point is why does it need it? that multi rate meter has been installed to provide the two rates of billing, why would the electrician need to go adding a pilot wire and what would he connect the other end to?

 

[stevethesparks]

Im pretty sure the meter shown provides a 2nd cheaper rate of electricity for a 7 hour duration on its one and only output.
Anything drawing current during this period will be at a cheaper rate, hence all is required is a time controlled 2nd CU from the same supply (preferably via a Henley block)

 

[davesparks]

The meter that has been installed simply changes the rate at the appropriate time for the whole supply to the property.
This is good for the consumer because all the power usage off peak is cheap, it is bad for the electrician because he has to set up the timing for off peak, and this is not fixed in many cases.

From the EDF website (if i remember correctly this meter is with the garlic munchers)

if you require your timings please contact our Customer Services team on 0800 056 7777* with your EDF Energy account details. We can then provide you with the off-peak times for your meter, enabling you to use your Economy 7 meter in the most cost effective way.

 

[Richard Burns]

The answer they will probably give is a period of seven hours between 23:00 and 08:00!

But I think the dual rate meters may well have a fixed time printed on them.

Second edit
On a closer look at the rather fuzzy meter in the first post I think the little white label says 00:30 to 07:30.

 

[7029 dave]

Whatever you want to call it my point is why does it need it? that multi rate meter has been installed to provide the two rates of billing, why would the electrician need to go adding a pilot wire and what would he connect the other end to?

No need,for the meter posted up, it s an 4terminal E7, basically designed for single DB's ie no dedicated off peak board.

 

[7029 dave]

To make it more clear, any integral E7 E10 meter does not need an tariff wire only non integral meters, then tariff wire is needed to manually switch rate over.

 

[dingledong]

Well new to me in London you only get off peak for the off peak stuff .only in older properties do you get the whole house going over to off peak

 

[davesparks]

Well new to me in London you only get off peak for the off peak stuff .only in older properties do you get the whole house going over to off peak

London is only a tiny part of the country!

The first case you mention is off-peak and the second is E7

 

[davesparks]

No need,for the meter posted up, it s an 4terminal E7, basically designed for single DB's ie no dedicated off peak board.

Which is what I said originally and yet people still started going on about 5th terminals and pilot wires!

 

[UKMeterman]

I have one of those meters, my E7 is switched by a supplier provided contactor. The contactor coil feed is fed through a semicondutor switch inside the meter. There is a 2nd supply from the cutout and a small fuse holder to provide the contactor supply. I would suggest phoneing the supplier up and ask how much to get a contactor fitted directly controlled from the meter.
These meters can run fast or slow, mine is running slow, this makes for cheap showers...