Economy 7 query

[Graham3232]

I have a block of flats I manage with newish electronic economy 7 meters. There are 2 tails from the meter, one for day and one for night. These feed separate boards with combined neutral. One for lighting and power and one for storage heaters and immersion. The night output is dead during the day and only live around 12am to 7am approx.

1. Was there not a ‘white meter’ or something or a different setup which gave an hours boost mid-afternoon to stop storage heaters and hot water going cold by evening?

2. N-power say to use timers on washers and dryers to make use of cheap rate night electric. Other than wiring a separate socket off the night rate board and switching the appliance on after midnight I can’t see how this works. Or is there a setup where the whole supply switches to cheap rate at night?

Graham.

 

[OwainDIYer]

1. Yes - Economy 10, known by a variety of names (Heatwise, etc) depending on region.

2. On normal Economy 7 the whole supply is charged at cheap rate overnight, so a timer in the ordinary socket will work.

Note the fire risk of running appliances (especially tumble dryers) overnight.

 

[phatboy]

2 tails from the meter would normally be live and neutral.......

You should find that there is a contactor before the heating board, that brings this to life when the heating comes on.

So basically the rate changes, and power is sent to the contactor, energising the second board.

Systems with an afternoon boost are economy 10 or similar. These sometimes offer a cheaper night rate for household appliances, but not always!

 

[Graham3232]

Thanks for the replies. To clarify, there are 3 tails out from the meter, a neutral feeding both boards, a permananet live for general use and a switched live for the night rate. Npower says this is normal but is unable to explain how to use night rate for anything that is not wired to the economy 7 board? Should i wire a socket in the kitchen whith a change over switch to make use of cheap rate electric?

 

[OwainDIYer]

Usually the whole installation is charged at the off-peak rate at the appropriate time. Therefore any socket in the kitchen will be charged at the off-peak rate during the off-peak hours.

It's quite usual to supply the immersion heater(s) from the anytime board using an immersion heater timer to allow for a daytime boost.

 

[mattysupra]

Sorry for joining in the OP's question here. I have a couple myself.

1-So economy 7 turns on at 12am-7am or there abouts?
2- you can fit timer plugs to switch on at say 1am to take use of cheap electric if you DONT have economy 7 ?
3- how does the meter know when on cheap electric rate (night) ?

 

[Lectrician]

It sounds like you have a combined meter/teleswitch. These can be progammed in many ways, but if you are on a true E7 tariff, all your electric should be cheap at night.

To test for sure?

Take a meter reading when you go to bed (Rate 1 and Rate 2), keeping your storage heater board OFF. In the morning, see which rate has incremented (assuming you have some consumption during the night - do your washing!)

 

[SaladFingers]

Note the fire risk of running appliances (especially tumble dryers) overnight.

Do they burst into flames at the whisper of moonlight?

Do they turn into fire breathing dragons come midnight?

Is there something particular that happens to appliances at night?

 

[phatboy]

Note the fire risk of running appliances (especially tumble dryers) overnight.

Do they burst into flames at the whisper of moonlight?

Do they turn into fire breathing dragons come midnight?

Is there something particular that happens to appliances at night?

When you are sleeping, you are far more likely to be overcome by smoke from a fire than when you are awake in your home, as you will take far longer to realise. Pretty simple really......

 

[SaladFingers]

Note the fire risk of running appliances (especially tumble dryers) overnight.

Do they burst into flames at the whisper of moonlight?

Do they turn into fire breathing dragons come midnight?

Is there something particular that happens to appliances at night?

When you are sleeping, you are far more likely to be overcome by smoke from a fire than when you are awake in your home, as you will take far longer to realise. Pretty simple really......

IF there's a fire. What you have written isn't an answer to what's been asked.

It was said that there's a greater fire risk at night. I want to know what changes with the appliance at night to make it more prone to burst into flames than it would during the day.

Is it no longer fit for purpose once the sun sets? Are there magic fire elves waiting to set the place alight?

 

[Lectrician]

And tumble driers are often the cause of house fires, because people don't clean the lint filters out regularly!

 

[phatboy]

IF there's a fire. What you have written isn't an answer to what's been asked.

It was said that there's a greater fire risk at night. I want to know what changes with the appliance at night to make it more prone to burst into flames than it would during the day.

Is it no longer fit for purpose once the sun sets? Are there magic fire elves waiting to set the place alight?

Try to read carefully, that was not the question. I know, for you especially, its all to easy to try and turn everything into a pointless war from behind your keyboard, but this is a serious conversation.

Nobody said there was a greater risk of fire at night, that was an assumption you made. However if there is a fire at night, the risks are higher for the reasons I gave before.

 

[SaladFingers]

IF there's a fire. What you have written isn't an answer to what's been asked.

It was said that there's a greater fire risk at night. I want to know what changes with the appliance at night to make it more prone to burst into flames than it would during the day.

Is it no longer fit for purpose once the sun sets? Are there magic fire elves waiting to set the place alight?

Try to read carefully, that was not the question. I know, for you especially, its all to easy to try and turn everything into a pointless war from behind your keyboard, but this is a serious conversation.

No, you're reading far too much into this. Just because someone wishes to challenge what you say, you can't retort with calling things a keyboard war, that's not the way to win an argument.

Nobody said there was a greater risk of fire at night, that was an assumption you made.

Oh really?

Note the fire risk of running appliances (especially tumble dryers) overnight.