burnt 13A fused spur

[ste24]

hi all,
wondering if you could help i have had a 3.5kw storage heater in my flat through the council evry thing seemed ok until i got my electric bill, now my bill has incresed since i have had this installed.
i thought i would check the wiring and spur due to the spur starting to crack were the fuse is, i opened the sput to find the cable had been burning and the fuse had been burning and slight burning to the neturel because the live was sitting on it. now its wired to a seperate DB and wired into a old 15A fuse with 2.5mm cable and my DB is feed of a 63A MCB from my main DB. can any body help and explain why the cables are burning is it due to the load or wrong ampage fuse? any ideas


many thanks.

 

[OwainDIYer]

Probably a bad connection, either between the fuse clips and the fuse, or the screws weren't fully tightened.

It should be connected by a 20A switch with cable outlet, not a 13A FCU.

 

[echoes]

It needs a new connection and all the heat-damaged cable cutting back and re-terminating, which you should get done for free by whomever installed it.

3.5kW @ 230V is 15.2A.

If your supply is actually 240V then it's 15.9A

Too much for an FCU accessory designed for a 13A max load. And if he council did it I bet they used the cheapest one available.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

i have had a 3.5kw storage heater in my flat through the council evry thing seemed ok until i got my electric bill, now my bill has incresed since i have had this installed.

Err...

Yes. Why shouldn't it?

 

[securespark]

Assuming he has used it.

One would not expect an increased electricity bill just because the heater has been installed.

 

[KRB78]

storage heaters are bloody expensive things to have....we had em for nearly 20 years and now have gas rads....hopfully alot cheaper to run.

 

[Spark123]

3.5kW @ 230V is 15.2A.

If your supply is actually 240V then it's 15.9A

Chances are it is 3.5kW @ 240v so will pull around 14.6A @ 240v, it ought to be on it's own 15A or 16A circuit, usually on a board which is only live during off peak hours such as Economy 7.

 

[ste24]

i understand my bill should go up but it is a eco 7 and my bill gone from 55 pm to 115pm something is wrong and thought this may cause it because nothing else has changed just that heater?
3.5kw @240 pulls 15.9A so why use a 13A fused spur and a 15A circuit?

thanks for help also.

 

[flameport]

i understand my bill should go up but it is a eco 7 and my bill gone from 55 pm to 115pm

Obviously the electricity used will increase due to this new heater, however monthly payments increasing could be for several reasons.
Most likely is that in the past, your monthly payments were too low, and they have been increased in order to cover the extra heating usage, plus extra to pay off the debt incurred over the past few months/years.
The fact they were revised when the heater was fitted is probably coincidence, since most suppliers only review payments a couple of times a year.

Economy 7 does not mean economical either - it just means a bit less than the daytime rate.
If you only have 1 heater it might not even be worth having E7, depending on how much electricity is used during the daytime.

The only real evidence will be the actual amount of electricity used, which is why everyone should take meter readings on a regular basis to identify unusual increases before vast expenses are incurred.

3.5kw @240 pulls 15.9A so why use a 13A fused spur and a 15A circuit?

As has already been pointed out, storage heaters should have a 20A switch only, not a fused spur. Yours has been installed incorrectly and NOT in accordance with the manufacturers instructions.

 

[ste24]

thanks for that advice and makes sense but why is my neighbour have the same equipment in her home and she is elderly and spends most the day at home but her bill is around 50 pm. i have looked at my meter no one has tapped off it or anything but my bill is rising and i`m using 45 units per day im sure it should be around 20/25 for a 1 bed flat and i work from 6 till 5.
is there away i can check this my self?

thanks for all advice.

 

[electronicsuk]

thanks for that advice and makes sense but why is my neighbour have the same equipment in her home and she is elderly and spends most the day at home but her bill is around 50 pm. i have looked at my meter no one has tapped off it or anything but my bill is rising and i`m using 45 units per day im sure it should be around 20/25 for a 1 bed flat and i work from 6 till 5.
is there away i can check this my self?

I think a good start would be to check that the heaters aren't being powered during peak rate periods. This will be easy enough to do by leaving one of the heaters switched off for long enough to allow it to cool, then turning it back on during an on-peak period and making sure it doesn't start to heat up until off-peak kicks in.

 

[flameport]

but my bill is rising and i`m using 45 units per day

A single storage heater would use about 24 units per day if set to maximum, and considerably less at lower settings.

That still leaves another 21 units per day used, so other items need to be checked. How is your hot water heated?
With E7, it should be heated overnight only. If powered all day, this will waste huge amounts of electricity.

Other culprits for high energy usage are typically:
- 500w outside 'security' lights which have gone faulty and so are on permanently.
- old fridges/freezers with busted door seals, poor insulation or both.
- Integrated fridges/freezers where the installers haven't left any ventilation at the back
- older televisions and similar electronic equipment left on standby all day

 

[ban-all-sheds]

If it's one of those installations where there are 2 meters, and some circuits which are only live during off-peak times, and a numpty electrician installs a NSH on a regular circuit, what's likely to happen to the bill?

 

[yorkspark]

now its wired to a seperate DB and wired into a old 15A fuse with 2.5mm cable and my DB is feed of a 63A MCB from my main DB.

this would suggest that the new storage heater is connected to the 24hr supply hence the larger electric bill