economy 7 water heater constantly heating water...

[tan8856]

Hi. Ive just bought a flat with economy 7. There are 2 switches linked to the hot water cylinder, one switches on the immersion immediate heat and one switches on the economy 7 storage heat. However, at 4pm when i switched on either of those switches i can hear the cylinder being heated up.
Is there any reason for this other than it being wired up wrong? The flat had a new fusebox installed a few months before i bought it. Maybe he has not wired the economy water into the economy circuit?
Thanks

 

[LawnMower]

A lot of the economy 7 consumer units and fittings I have come accross (heating, immersions etc) only become live at night. The other switch is the daytime over ride. Normally their are 2 consumer units or a split load board for economy 7.
The best thing to do is ring your electricity provider and ask them what tariff you are on, once you have this information it will be easier to sort out.

 

[John D v2.0]

Yes it's wired wrong or the clock is wrong on the meter. Is it the same if you try at midnight? 8am? Or maybe he hasn't fitted a second consumer unit for the off peak. Do you have storage heaters or anything else that works only during off peak? Are there two consumer units?

 

[EFLImpudence]

Does your immersion switch have a timer on it?

 

[JohnD]

please photograph your meter, your consumer unit, your immersion heater switch, and the various wires and cables around and between them.

This will reduce the amount of inspired guesswork needed.

 

[Taylortwocities]

please photograph your meter, your consumer unit, your immersion heater switch, and the various wires and cables around and between them.

This will reduce the amount of inspired guesswork needed.

Whssign

• Taylortwocities
• 16 Jul 2016

What he said

 

[tan8856]

Yes it's wired wrong or the clock is wrong on the meter. Is it the same if you try at midnight? 8am? Or maybe he hasn't fitted a second consumer unit for the off peak. Do you have storage heaters or anything else that works only during off peak? Are there two consumer units?

Hi, yes there are two new consumer units one with sockets, lights, instant hot water. Another with the other hot water and one each for the two storage heaters in the flat. Meter is at correct time. Thanks.

 

[tan8856]

 

[tan8856]

Bottom one is supposed to be night time switch. But as I say or comes on when I switch it on now during the day.

 

[Taylortwocities]

please photograph your meterS, your consumer unitS, ......

This will reduce the amount of inspired guesswork needed.

 

[tan8856]

View attachment 128211

 

[JohnD]

I wonder if the time setting is correct in your teleswitch? you can probably page through the displays with the black button. There may be instructions on the SSE website or if you phone them. The label suggests you are in Southern England or Scotland, varying with age.

Are you actually on an economy 7 type tariff?

One of the cables should be the off peak supply, probably the right hand one on the meter which is (wrongly?) on the right in the switch. The labelling on the switch is now wrong.. It looks like the meter is designed with a 25A offpeak, and somebody has removed the 25A MCB or fuseholder and replaced it with a switch.

It's very bad practice to have single-pole main switches with one that can turn off the neutral. It suggests an amateur installation. a 3P or a 3PN switch is readily available with the switches ganged together. Possibly I am misled by the cable colours, which might be wrong.

It looks like the right-hand CU ought to be the off-peak one, and if the teleswitch is working AND the wiring is correct, your off peak circuits should be "off" during peak times.

Its curious that you have a switch on the lower immersion element but not the top one. The top one should be off unless you need a peak-price boost.

 

[JohnW2]

It's very bad practice to have single-pole main switches with one that can turn off the neutral. It suggests an amateur installation. a 3P or a 3PN switch is readily available with the switches ganged together.

Whilst I don't disagree with that statement, I'm somewhat struggling to see how it relates to the OP's photos. Which switch do you think can "turn off the neutral"?

Kind Regards, John

 

[JohnD]

I thought I could see a black cable going to the right-hand switch, and it could be the neutral beside the two line cables.

Maybe, maybe not.

Most meters have terminals like 1,2,3,4
where 1 and 2 are supply, 3 and 4 are load
so I expected OP (red) to be offpeak load.
and "4" to be standard rate live load.

perhaps I am misled by the colours.

 

[JohnW2]

I thought I could see a black cable going to the right-hand switch, and it could be the neutral beside the two line cables. Maybe, maybe not.

The photo is not brilliant, but the three switches appear to be labelled "Storage Heaters", "Water Heater" and "Main Supply", or something like that.

Kind Regards, John