Electricity usage was 6kwh now 46kwh per day

[johno12345]

i turned the main switch off and the Ampy Metering 5235A continued to flash 5 times a minute, my clamp on ammeter showing 0 amps

You mention that you have several CUs.

3, one at the meter, and two in the loft

It's great that you have a main switch that isolates the entire installation

Except that it obviously doesn't.

oh, it definitely does

I don't know where you are putting your clamp, it should be on the meter tails.

thats where its going

A true main switch should isolate the tails that come out of the meter before they go into any CU or Henley blocks. Does yours? You may have to pull off some of that boxing-in. It will be worth it.

Some Main Switches

View media item 820
View media item 819

the supply goes

cutout
¦
meter
¦
main consumer unit
¦ ¦
sub d/b1 sub db/2


the isolator is in the main consumer unit, this has two breakers in it supplying the two sub boards.

 

[johno12345]

45at 14p =£6.30p a day £189 a month £2268

if you have ruled out a problem on your side then i would urgently get on to your provider
but double check your side fully first

yes, thats exactly what the bills are now showing.

it cant be the installation because nothing has changed between normal consumption and the high consumption, its so basic to follow and is all new 5 years ago

 

[JohnD]

I don't know where you are putting your clamp, it should be on the meter tails.

thats where its going

I should of course have said "one of the meter tails, preferably the red/brown one

but you probably know about that.

How about some photos?

http://www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=129539

 

[johno12345]

I don't know where you are putting your clamp, it should be on the meter tails.

thats where its going

I should of course have said "one of the meter tails, preferably the red/brown one

but you probably know about that.

How about some photos?

http://www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=129539[/QUOTE]

yes, its on only one tail at a time

its not very clear due to the boxing in, but at the top, you can see the 4 way consumer unit

 

[securespark]

we checked it tonight three hours apart, first reading 41978 then 41988

over the last 39 days, it averages at 45 per day actual readings

Was that with all CU's switched off?

 

[securespark]

OK. You have one pair of tails into the meter.

How many CU's does that feed?

 

[johno12345]

the tails exit the meter and go to the 4 way consumer unit above, this then feeds two consumer units in the loft

I haevnt had the main switch off for a substantial amount of time, but long enough to see the reading on the display go up, and the led flash at a fairly constant 5 flashes per second.

in the last two hours, its gone up another 10 units, again with about 1.5a load

there are no henley blocks or anything at all anywhere on the system

 

[JohnD]

can you feel anything warm?

lets have a look at that first CU, with the cover off if you can do that safely.

When you turn off the first CU, do the others go dead?

 

[johno12345]

nothing is warm, and yes, when i turn this consumer unit off, the other two are dead, they are fed from two breakers in this consumer unit.

I cant really get the cover off it now without taking the cupboard down

what do you want to know about in the first consumer unit? I can remember exactly what goes where in it

 

[JohnD]

I wanted to look at the connections and cables.

What happens when you put the clamp on the Earth bonds?

With the money it's costing you, you can afford to take the boxing off.

Edit

It's the same one you mentioned http://www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=112124&start=0 here, isn't it?

 

[johno12345]

nothing reading on the earth at all

same reading on phase and neutral both in and out of the meter

the 35mm tails go into the top of the isolator in the consumer unit, then two 16mm DI single connects one to each breaker, one for each remote CU, and two 16mm DI singles to the neutral bar, again, one for each remote CU then two 16mm earths to the earth bar, for the remote CU

as you can see, its a tns installation, and the earth tested ok last year, this earth also connects to the earth bar in the CU above

 

[johno12345]

it is that one, but obviously a new meter and cutout and no timeswitch

 

[johno12345]

its on 42018 now!

 

[Inky Pete]

the base load for the house is around 1.5a rising to 2.5a with the air conditioning running.

Only 1A for your air conditioning?????

Even a smallish portable unit will use about a kilowatt - that's four and half amps right there.

An extra 40 or so kWh per day suggests something is drawing just under 2kW constantly. Did you have the air-con last year? and did you use it in the same way?

 

[johno12345]

yeah, the air con has been in for years, it definitely only goes up about 1a when its running, maybe because its an inverter system