mains isolater

[burntwire]

A new supply has been installed by the Electricity board (after fire damage, new meter etc etc) , there is now a 4 pole isolater, 1=24 hours 2=space heating 3=economy7 4=neutral, will i need 3 seperate fuse boards ? 1 for water, 1 for storage heaters and 1 for standard board ?. i havent seen one of these before !! If so to get boost for water do i need a feed from the 24 hours board ? or am I thinking along the completely wrong lines here ?

 

[Click-Sure]

Does a landlord supply come into this by any chance. I'm working on a block of flats with their own metered domestic supply feeding the general house CU (24hr), their own Eco 7 supply feeding the immersion, and a landlord supply (also Eco 7) that feeds the storage heaters.

The cylinder only has one element, so if it doesn't heat up enough during the night, they're stuffed.
Does your cylinder have one element or 2?

There are 3 seperate boards in the properties I'm working on, but some manufacturers produce boards that accomodate a 24hr and economy 7 supply, but the 3rd supply that feeds your heaters would need to stay seperate.

You could consider a 3 phase & neutral board and feed each phase from each of your 3 supplies, but there could be issues if the heaters are indeed fed from a landlord supply. Its also a bit of an overkill, pricey too!

 

[burntwire]

Thanks for the reply click-sure

Its only a bungalow so theres no landlord supply, The plumber is fitting a cylinder and it only has one element,(maybe i should recommend fitting a two way ) I dont want to fit 3 boards as the elec board have been less than generous with the space they have left me ! i will enquire at wholesalers about a combined board.

If i went down a three phase board route, would you consider this good practice ?

Are the spaceheating and ec7 the same supply ?

 

[Click-Sure]

Can you take a picture of the cupboard which contains your meter, from there I can better advise you. My previous reply went on what you said, plus what I'd encountered on my travels.

A dual element cylinder would be beneficial if you have eco 7 available and also run storage heaters (no gas for you I take it?).

The most effective way will probably be to fit 2 CU's, but you mention that the 'board' I take it you mean the electricity supplier, in which case the cabinet/chipboard belongs to them, and is not for your equipment! (cu's etc)

 

[burntwire]

The plumber has refused to supply a 2 element tank as its already paid for, ive suggested connect the water to 24 hour as that seems to be how it was wired before the fire,

 

[burntwire]

Pictures are on my profile page

 

[JohnD]

you could have posted a link
//www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=129539

Untitled

• burntwire
• 1 Aug 2008
• 1

 

[burntwire]

Thank you john.

My mistake the switch actually reads 1=24 hour 2=water heater 3=space saving 4=neutral

 

[Adam_151]

What tariff are you on, the three feeds are normally used for something called 'total heat, total control' which gives all space and water heating use at a cheaper rate, obviously the space heating supply is only live during certain hours, but the water heating is on all the time, and then you have your normal rate fuseboard which is also live 24/7

(how they stop this system getting abused, and other circuits being attached to the water heating board, I do not know)

Round here they use those isos, but the water heating pole isn't used, because I don't think that tariff is available here, so there is just normal supply and econ 7 connected

 

[JohnD]

If you have night storage heating, then you can use the Economy Overnight supply to feed them. If you haven't then the tariff is probably more expensive than if you try to run e.g. dishwasher and tumble drier at night, so you may as well change to a single-rate tariff.

If you are using night storage heating, then it would be worth you paying the plumber extra for a twin-element immersion heater (they are rather expensive) and have the long element wired to cheap rate. There are dual-rate immersion timers available (I know Horstmann make some) but again they are expensive.

If the immersion heater is being paid for out of an insurance claim, then you are entitled to be provided with the same standard as you had before. if you previously had a dual immersion then you should be getting a new one. take it up with the insurance company. They might just have specified an ordinary single immersion because they didn't know. In my experience, insirance companies try very hard to be fair, and only turn mean if they think the claimant is trying to take advantage (sadly this is very common)

I think it would be best to have a separate CU for each supply you are actually using. Although dual-tariff CUs are available, they are uncommon and expensive, and people are not used to the,m and get confused on making them safe. Ask your electricity supplier what the pricing is for your tariff and make sure it is to your advantage.

p.s. sorry, my mistake, I thought you were the householder