Hi i have recently moved into a 1 bed flat, i have spoken to the landlord and his electrician and i am wondering if anyone on here can make sense of what they said cos it seems a bit of an odd electricity set up they have, i am on an E7 tarrif with Eon, the landlord said that only the bottom element in the water tank is linked to this tarif, there is no timer for it either so does this mean if i want cheap hot water im going to have to wake up in the middle on the night to turn it on at the mains switch?? The top element is a booster which is not linked to economy 7. As for the storage heaters, they are on a timer set to come on between 3.30am and 7.30am, the timer is a Grasslin Ecosave (if this helps anyone), these storage heaters are not connected to the economy 7 tariff either (i thought all storage heaters would be?) Does this make sense to anyone? It seems like an odd set up to me and apparantly the electrician said the fuse box does not allow for the storage heaters and both water elements to be connected to E7, any help would be much appreciated, thanks.
Help with immersion/storage heating, electrics
- Thread starter jay8bc
- Start date
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It sounds like it is the whole installation that switches to the lower tariff between those hours. The time clock switches the heaters in when the lower rate is in effect.
A timeclock is needed to switch the main element on the immersion between these hours also.
Do you only have one consumer unit to which the heaters and immersion are connected to ?
A timeclock is needed to switch the main element on the immersion between these hours also.
Do you only have one consumer unit to which the heaters and immersion are connected to ?
Hi thanks for the reply, there is only one fusebox in the flat and only one meter outside, which shows 2 different readings, i assume for day and night, does that make sense?
That would confirm that the whole installation switches over to low-rate . You need a timeswitch for the immersion heater main element to switch it on between those hours so you don't have to manually do it.
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Hi so what you are saying is i need a timer for the hot water tank? If i set that timer to come on between 5.00am and 7.00am would the water stay hot for the rest of the day? Also do i leave the switches on the wall for the storage heaters on all the time? And once i have a timer for the water tank i would leave the switch for the bottom element on all the time too? Thanks
Yes, for the bottom element.
1) Don't know. Depends how cold the water was, how good the cylinder insulation is and how much you use during the day.
2) Whenever you have it on make sure it's during the off-peak hours.
Yes - they are on timers. If you have any power cuts etc make sure you reset them.
Yes.
You can get timers with a boost function designed for dual heaters like yours - the timer controls the bottom element, and the boost runs the top one for a set period of time (good makes give you a choice of how long you want the top element to run).
K
kai
Invest in a Horstmann E7 Series timer, they are made specifically for controlling off-peak water heating, and cost around GBP Fifty to buy.
They come on automatically at night, and have a boost knob for daytime hot water top ups.
They come on automatically at night, and have a boost knob for daytime hot water top ups.
At work we have the E7 loads (storage heaters) switched by a contactor controlled by the meter - or rather the radio switch that controls the tariff. I'm guessing from the description that this switch has been used to control the lower immersion heater.
It might be a little more work, but adding a contactor would allow multiple loads to be switched by the same clock as the meter - thus removing any problems keeping two clocks in sync, and particularly dealing with the indeterminate changeover if remote switching is involved. Each load is simply routed through one pole of the contactor - allowing 3 or 4 loads to be switched. The contactor coil circuit comes from a 6A MCB (dedicated in our setup, though I see no reason it couldn't come off a lighting circuit), and through the meter/timeswitch contact, to the contactor coil.
If an override is needed, then a suitably rates switch could be wired across the appropriate contactor contact. However, there is an upper immersion heater so the lower one shouldn't need to be used during the day, and I doubt if storage heaters would heat up quickly enough for an override to be useful. Most of the heaters in our office have a separate boost element (effectively an electric convector heater in the same casing but fed from a different supply).
Our contactors are in a separate (DIN rail) enclosure above the DB, it shouldn't be a problem to fit a small enclosure alongside the CU. The biggest problem I could see in a domestic situation might be the noise. They can often emit a considerable amount of 50Hz buzz - selection of a device specifically designed to be quiet may be a good idea.
It might be a little more work, but adding a contactor would allow multiple loads to be switched by the same clock as the meter - thus removing any problems keeping two clocks in sync, and particularly dealing with the indeterminate changeover if remote switching is involved. Each load is simply routed through one pole of the contactor - allowing 3 or 4 loads to be switched. The contactor coil circuit comes from a 6A MCB (dedicated in our setup, though I see no reason it couldn't come off a lighting circuit), and through the meter/timeswitch contact, to the contactor coil.
If an override is needed, then a suitably rates switch could be wired across the appropriate contactor contact. However, there is an upper immersion heater so the lower one shouldn't need to be used during the day, and I doubt if storage heaters would heat up quickly enough for an override to be useful. Most of the heaters in our office have a separate boost element (effectively an electric convector heater in the same casing but fed from a different supply).
Our contactors are in a separate (DIN rail) enclosure above the DB, it shouldn't be a problem to fit a small enclosure alongside the CU. The biggest problem I could see in a domestic situation might be the noise. They can often emit a considerable amount of 50Hz buzz - selection of a device specifically designed to be quiet may be a good idea.
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