Smart meter installations breaking boilers?

[endecotp]

Interesting piece in the Guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2020/nov/23/smart-meter-wrecked-our-boiler-but-eon-wont-pay

Apparently a boiler failed to restart after a smart meter installation (both gas and electricity meters). PCB needed replacement. I would probably dismiss it as a coincidence, but the interesting thing is that this is apparently a common problem:

But there are so many cases of boilers not restarting after a smart meter installation I’ve decided that it’s not worth the risk.​

Reading the comments, one poster mentions insulation resistance tests which seems plausible.

Any thoughts anyone?

 

[flameport]

Total tripe. The mention of a 'power surge' when the meter was changed destroys any credibility in that article.

Appliances can fail at any time, however for things which are powered on 24/7, failure is most likely when they are switched off for a period, mainly because components like capacitors will degrade over time, but being warm/hot with the thing switched on are good enough to keep it working. When power is removed for an hour or four, the whole lot cools and those components are then inadequate to allow it to function normally. Some components may only be used in the startup process (particularly with power supplies), so the fault that was there all along only shows up when it's switched off.

Sky boxes, cable receivers and modems are also examples of where things mysteriously fail after being switched off.

The fact it was a smart meter changes nothing - the same fail would have occurred with any meter change, or any other power failure.

Meter installers don't do any tests on the installation, and certainly don't use insulation resistance testers. At best, it will be a plug in device to confirm polarity is correct at a convenient socket.

 

[endecotp]

I tend to agree.

If there are X million smart meters being installed per week, how many boiler failures would that result in? And how many letters to newspapers? It is interesting that the regulator seemed to feel it was not coincidence, I wonder if they know something?

 

[SUNRAY]

Total tripe. The mention of a 'power surge' when the meter was changed destroys any credibility in that article.

Appliances can fail at any time, however for things which are powered on 24/7, failure is most likely when they are switched off for a period, mainly because components like capacitors will degrade over time, but being warm/hot with the thing switched on are good enough to keep it working. When power is removed for an hour or four, the whole lot cools and those components are then inadequate to allow it to function normally. Some components may only be used in the startup process (particularly with power supplies), so the fault that was there all along only shows up when it's switched off.

Sky boxes, cable receivers and modems are also examples of where things mysteriously fail after being switched off.

The fact it was a smart meter changes nothing - the same fail would have occurred with any meter change, or any other power failure.

Meter installers don't do any tests on the installation, and certainly don't use insulation resistance testers. At best, it will be a plug in device to confirm polarity is correct at a convenient socket.

my pace sat receiver never restarted but the tip I was given was apply 12V on the LNB feed and sure enough it was enough to start it. Eventually I purchased a 'repair kit' which was mostly a bag of caps.

 

[JohnW2]

Any thoughts anyone?

As has been said, it sounds like total 'tripe', based solely on a (presumably extremely small) number of 'co-incidences'. Let's face it, with so many millions of smart meters being installed, it is inevitable that, by chance/co-incidence, a good few failures of electrical things will occur just after a meter installation.

Reading the comments, one poster mentions insulation resistance tests which seems plausible.

Injudicious use of IR testing certainly has the potential to damage almost anything electronic. However, I suspect that many of the people installing smart meters don't even know what IR testing is, let alone are equipped to do it 'Meter changers' generally just 'change meters', and do nothing else.

Kind Regards, John

 

[AndyPRK]

I think I heard dirt in the gas pipe after a meter change, caused problems for boilers

 

[JohnW2]

I think I heard dirt in the gas pipe after a meter change, caused problems for boilers

Ah, I was thinking of electricity smart meters. If anything is done which disturbs the gas pipework, there is obviously the possibility of that affecting the functioning of a boiler - but not electrical faults in the boiler, such as were mentioned.

Kind Regards, John

 

[polesapart]

I disagee with the consensus above.

There are some boilers with flakey circuit boards which don't like being powered down.
Examples include certain Vaillant models manufactured between 2000 and 2010 and the infamous Ideal Isar with original (black) circuit board.

It shouldn't happen and it's a design fault.

I'm referring to removal of permanent LNE, not boiler switched live which obviously switches several or many times a day.

So to me the story is plausible.

It's bothersome to service technicians (gas bods) where you isolate the boiler electrically to work on it safely but worry that by doing so you're potentially killing the PCB, or getting blamed for for its demise! "You touched it last.."

 

[JohnW2]

I disagee with the consensus above. There are some boilers with flakey circuit boards which don't like being powered down.

That may be true, but they are at least as likely to get 'powered down' by a power cut, or when an electrician is working on the electrical installation (or a gas person is working on the boiler) as when someone is fitting a smart meter - so I don't see any sensible reason for pointing a finger at the smart meter (or its installation), per se.

Kind Regards, John

 

[ericmark]

My father-in-law had a smart meter fitted and it did result in the boiler failing, it was summer, so did not realise to begine with, but the reason was very plain, the installer had not relit the pilot flame.

Which was a big deal with a 90 year old leaving him without hot water, but it did not damage the boiler as such.

 

[Old Salt]

I used to work for a major utility working with field engineers who all carried a card, in a number of languages, asking customers to turn off and unplug sensitive equipment prior to a meter change. I haven't read the article but I wouldn’t dismiss it out of hand.

 

[JohnW2]

My father-in-law had a smart meter fitted and it did result in the boiler failing, it was summer, so did not realise to begine with, but the reason was very plain, the installer had not relit the pilot flame.

Fair enough, but that will not have required a "PCB replacement"! Indeed, if (like mine) your FIL's boiler had a #pilot flame', I presume that it didn't have a 'PCB' either!

Kind Regards, John

 

[AndyPRK]

Poles apart. Do you know what fails on the valiant pcb ?
Is it capacitors ?