RTS turn off

[morqthana]

A late friend of mine, had a home in the middle of 12 acres of woodland, and he said he was not growing enough wood for his needs,

And even if he was, did he have the facilities to store and dry enough?

I keep the thick stuff for the BBQ,

Do you just burn it, or make charcoal?

 

[SUNRAY]

The central storage system, was a very sensible solution, but near impossible to add to an existing building. A large heated lump, helps to retain itself to retain heat, and the insulation can be much more effective. Much easier to control the release of the heat.

The distributed storage heaters, fail on both counts - size, and quite thin insulation, and so the all the heat escapes, during the day, wastefully - whether heat wanted or not. I once had a flat, heated by storage radiators - I would be out at work all day, when it was warm in the flat, and arrive home when the warmth was exhausted.

The current HHR NSH's are much better than the old ones, several years ago my rental property main NSH failed and it was rusty (a previous tenant dried washing on them which had been cleaned and resprayed but coming through again) in the lounge I replaced both NSHs (I think 3 and 2KW or there abouts) initially with a single 3.3KW with the expectation I'd have to add a second but my tenant reckoned it was vastly better than the performance of the two with heat right through the day and evening.

In the bedroom I replaced the 2KW NSH with a panel heater at tenants suggestion as they only wanted heat for short periods and they say overall their usage has dropped enough to notice.

They both work from home a fair amount so do use heat through the day.

 

[ericmark]

And even if he was, did he have the facilities to store and dry enough?

Yes,

he had a bay a year, and considered it took 5 years to dry it.

 

[fixitflav]

If anybody's still interested, my meter is still recording day and night use, so the RTS hasn't been switched off round here.

 

[SUNRAY]

The funny thing is a friend had what sounded like an urgent sounding phone call to have their E7 meter replaced and it was done on 21-24 July (he says 21st, she says 24th??) Meter fitter has left the RTS in place switching the heaters, however had to move stuff around to make space for the larger meter cocked-up where the Henly block is and linked the feed from the 2nd terminal of the CO rather than the metered lead. Leaving instructions that they need to get an electrician in to reconfigure their heating CU wiring.

 

[ericmark]

The funny thing is

Not really very funny, but I was watching on my own meter change, and he did not know the CT coil had to be the correct way around. He does now. But it does seem the guys are not electricians and have rather limited training, had I been doing the job, I would have been rather worried when the central heating fired up in the middle of changing the meter, I know it was because it is powered from an UPS system, but he didn't know that.

If anybody's still interested, my meter is still recording day and night use, so the RTS hasn't been switched off round here.

It has been reported that the turn-off has been delayed, and will be section by section, not sure how that will work, one would have thought it is either transmitting or not transmitting.

But anyone who has commented on this thread likely knows what to do if the storage heaters stop working, and stopping in the middle of summer, means people have time to sort out any problems before it gets cold. As times goes by, and winter gets closer, the time to correct faults gets less.

The last thing anyone wants is for, in the middle of winter, that the storage heaters stop working in some OAP's house. This time of year, to find the DHW has gone cold is annoying, but it alerts one there is a problem. Losing the storage heaters in the winter could cause death.

 

[bernardgreen]

It has been reported that the turn-off has been delayed, and will be section by section, not sure how that will work, one would have thought it is either transmitting or not transmitting.

From a fading memory

RTS transmits packets of data. Each packet is an identity and a command. The teleswitch receivers have an identity and will only react to messages with that identity.

All the teleswitches in a section would have the same identity.

 

[ericmark]

But why, if transmitter still running, would anyone want to turn off sections? It needs to happen in the Summer, by September it is getting too late, those who write on this forum can likely find a way around the problem, but I think about my parents, and what they would do if the heating failed to work.

I would think it would take a day for them to complain, and then they need to find someone who can fix it, clearly I would be the first option, but failing that, they would get out yellow pages, which is likely well out of date, not seen a copy in years, they never really got into using internet.

So realistically, it could take a few days before they found someone to fix it. And if there were a lot of people who have lost heating, then likely take longer.

The meters are read, one would hope, by meter readers, who could observe which homes still have tele-switches, so should be easy enough to know who still has them, I can see how someone who has changed supplier may be missed, but by now there should not be anyone left with tele-switches, so what when wrong?

 

[SUNRAY]

...But it does seem the guys are not electricians and have rather limited training...

I have been told by one that he has not been trained on fitting isolators.

 

[JohnD]

Turning it off in sections allows them time to deal with all the things that go wrong for the customers on that section before doing it to the next lot.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

The meters are read, one would hope, by meter readers, who could observe which homes still have tele-switches, so should be easy enough to know who still has them, I can see how someone who has changed supplier may be missed, but by now there should not be anyone left with tele-switches, so what when wrong?

Many complain, that meter readers are a rare sight these days, not as in the old days when they appeared regularly every few months. Many now complaining that the bills are estimated for months, years. In addition, the modern meter readers, are not as skilled as they used to be.

 

[JohnD]

When I worked for an electricity company in Ipswich, one of the older guys fantasised about taking early retirement and signing up as a contract meter reader. He pictured himself in a peaked cap, riding a bicycle, with a satchel over his shoulder.

Those days have gone.

 

[ericmark]

I now have a smart meter, so no meter reader required, but until fitted we would see them on a regular basis, about once every 3 months. They would at first knock on the door, but they got to know where the meter was it was left open, so would just go down and read it.

We got a smart meter as they would not pay for export without one, but the advert says they mean more accurate bills, with less estimation, there is some, as idea is we over pay in summer so bills not so high in winter, and with no solar our bill was around £140 a month, but with an account balance of £535.50 we would not likely to have to pay anything for 5 months, so clearly it is not in practice giving us more accurate billing, it is way out. And only been with this supplier since May this year. The first 6 weeks, the bill was less than £5, I would expect if we did not charge battery with off-peak, December would cost around £83 as we use around 12 kWh per day, and December is the worst month for solar at around 95 kWh so at 30.17p/kWh that's around £83, but the battery will be charged at 8.5p/kWh and used until down to 10%, so more like £50 for December, plus standing charge that makes it £70 for December, so paying £77.80 a month is well over the top. So all the advert says seems to be wrong, so why is the ASA letting the government get away with it, it is so clear no one of her age will be gardening at night, what a daft thing to say.

As to riding a bike to make meter readings, in Ipswich may be, quite flat, but here in mid-wales, we do have a few hills, I can't get up many of them even with an e-bike, so not really an option. But notice the farmers who need to get in and out of their vehicles a lot, use quads, so meter reader on a quad? Nearly called it a quad bike, but can't be a bike with 4 wheels.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

We got a smart meter as they would not pay for export without one, but the advert says they mean more accurate bills, with less estimation, there is some, as idea is we over pay in summer so bills not so high in winter,

They allow a bit extra, to account for energy costs increasing, over the period they average. If you decide the 'extra', is accumulating too much, you can adjust it, and/or ask for a refund I've done both, only takes a second. Paying the annual anticipated bill/12 each month, helps spread the high winter costs/makes budgeting easier. It's just one option for paying, if you would prefer, you can have your supplier move you to paying the actual consumption bills for each month, as they occur.

Octopus, accurately knows my precise consumption, every few seconds. I get a precise bill showing cost and consumption, once per month, without fail. That compares well to the many estimated bills, one after the other, then an often large adjustment, when the meter was at last read, back in the dumb meter days.

I think you protest too much!

So all the advert says seems to be wrong, so why is the ASA letting the government get away with it, it is so clear no one of her age will be gardening at night, what a daft thing to say.

It's meant as a joke, Eric, I'm sure no one believes anyone would be gardening in the middle of the night, nor that Einstein would appear in such an ad..

 

[morqthana]

I suppose if you wanted to p... your neighbours off you could fit lights to your lawnmower and use it in the middle of the night, and when challenged say that you thought the government was encouraging people to do that....