Dual consumer unit (Day and Night) - can they be joined?

[mick1011]

Hello, Just bought an old house that has an Eco metre (dual tariff electricity), however the off peak hours are 6pm to 6am! (as displayed on the sealed mechanical timer unit).

There are two separate CU's. One supplying all the house electric, and the other to just old storage heaters. The Storage heater CU only seems to receive power off peak.

I want to keep the original metre, but rewire it so the whole house can benefit from the night time tariff - but im not sure if this is technically possible....?

Please let me know thoughts....

Thanks

 

[ETAF]

the whole house should also have the night rate - not just the storage heaters - at least that is how it is at a friend of mine with the same setup

you sure the house meter - does not have 2 tarrifs
she was on a EC7 tarrif - so maybe thats the difference
I used to take the meter reading and the storage day was always 0 , until recently , when that meter was included in day , as she went for a fischer heating replacing all storage heaters

maybe photos of meters

 

[Murdochcat]

Take readings of both sets of numbers over a couple of weeks and do the sums

Most E7 rates are cheaper at night and more expensive during the day

 

[Taylortwocities]

IIRC the cheap rate (E7 etc) connections can be presented in two ways:

1. The rates for the whole house change at certain times, so its cheaper for everything at night. From your description, you dont have this system.
2. Your system= Where there is a central timer. Ther installation is split in two and there are two consumer units (fuseboards). There's an off peak board that only gets electric when it's cheap rate and this feeds items such as storage radiators, an off-peak immersion, etc.

Would like to see a photo of the meter, the time clock and the consumer units to be certain.

I want to keep the original metre, but rewire it so the whole house can benefit from the night time tariff - but im not sure if this is technically possible....?

Probably not, as it stands. Or non of the sockets an lightys will work during the daytime!
If storage rads are your only heat source then you may want to keep that system, or you'll need to look at changing them all to panel heaters and run them off the 24-hour supply. Or install a nice new heating system, radiators, boiler (heat pump? haha)

 

[ericmark]

When Economy 7 came out you had a white meter for off peak and black for 24/7 supply, I was unaware any of these still existed, the tariffs were not always beneficial, as you pay more that standard for peak power and less for off peak, so you need to do some sums.

The old system had two immersion heaters one at bottom of tank set to a higher temperature to one at top, so under normal use the top one would never switch on.

Some tariffs are now unavailable to new customers, so once moved you can't return to how it was. And the over night supply can be good for EV charging points and the like.

I have three supplies, grid, solar, and battery, so clearly they can be combined, but unlikely it would be worth the effort, as once a new meter is fitted they will likely be merged anyway. The problem is your heaters likely have no way to switch on with the time signal, so you would need all new heaters.

Back to maths, what new heaters will cost, and if better moving to a heat pump? As some one retried I live in the house 24/7 so storage heaters may work for me, but where out most of the day, the storage heater is still heating the house when empty. There is no this is the best way, it depends on your life style and how well the house is insulated.

 

[Taylortwocities]

it depends on your life style and how well the house is insulated.

Just bought an old house

That doesn't bode well for a heat pump installation than....

 

[JohnW2]

.... The problem is your heaters likely have no way to switch on with the time signal, so you would need all new heaters.

A time switch, maybe plus a 'contactor', would surely be a lot simpler/cheaper than "all new heaters", wouldn't it?

Kind Regards, John