economy7

mildmanneredjanitor · 11 Mar 2004

It's my birthday today, I am, er... a year, older!!!

I am possibly fitting economy 7 to a flat and will also be connecting the immersion to this.

However, it would be benificial to be able to switch this on during the day to boost the hot water if necessary.

Are there switches on the market? DPDT? in order to do this? Or is it infact not allowed? Suppose it could bridge the two circuits?

Just wondered whether anyone here has done this.

Personally, I hate e7, but there you go!

Customer (father-in-law) is also considering halogen heaters as an alternative, any thoughts???

Ta

Big_Spark · 11 Mar 2004

Econ7 is a pile of poo.

Considering the way bills are calculated today, you don't really save a great deal when balanced against the inconvenience of problems like tou face.

There are ways around it, depending on your tank, you could fit a second heater circuit powered from the normal consumer unit...that is if you have the split units, if you have the dual tarif rate meter then there is no problem at all as the meter simply uses two different sets of dials for recording usage, and you can still use all your circuits as normal.

As for the Halogen heaters....fire risk springs to mind straight away, but then all electric heating is rubbish anyway.

breezer · 11 Mar 2004

mildmanneredjanitor said:
It's my birthday today, I am, er... a year, older!!!

(burp) cheers, mildmanneredjanitor

Indigo · 11 Mar 2004

If a man is alone in the woods and there is no woman to here him, is he still wrong?

You are wrong already! It should be hear not here, so the answer is obviously yes! or is it "could be"?

securespark · 11 Mar 2004

If you must, there are E7 controllers with boost facility on market:

Horstmann Electronic 7 & E7 Quartz

See tlc-direct.co.uk and look for part numbers HO ELEC 7 and HO E7Q

mildmanneredjanitor · 11 Mar 2004

Cheers Breezer!

Thank you Indigo, are you a woman, perchance???

I have ammended my signature accordingly!

Cheers, securespark, only trouble with using something like that is that little old ladies have trouble understanding such technologies

Could a two way switch work??? Com to +immersion L1 to E7 Live and L2 to daytime Live...

The negative circuit would be shared though...

Can't see that I am the first to do this.

Grateful for any feedback

securespark · 11 Mar 2004

To the contrary, mon ami, I see these units most in sheltered housing for the elderly where gas is not installed.

ban-all-sheds · 11 Mar 2004

No no no, and a thousand times no.

mildmanneredjanitor said:
Could a two way switch work??? Com to +immersion L1 to E7 Live and L2 to daytime Live...

You are describing a light switch, which will not be able to switch the load that storage and immersion heaters represent.

The negative circuit would be shared though...

It's not negative, it's neutral. Without wishing to prompt the "I came here for help and advice and all I got was discouragement and abuse" complaint, how much do you know about electricity, and electrical installations?

But in any event, you must not share the neutral as you describe - this is a Very Bad ThingTM.

Can't see that I am the first to do this.

Grateful for any feedback

You can get 2/3 pole changeover switches rated at 32 or 63A, similar to this:

I would suggest having an electrician wire it up for you. Or check with your electricity supplier to see if there are alternative peak/off-peak schemes that you could go onto that would avoid the need for a switch.

Or just fit a second immersion heater with the thermostat set lower than the off-peak one.

il78 · 11 Mar 2004

Change-over switches seem to be haunting me.......

ban-all-sheds · 11 Mar 2004

Your post about the MEM isolator made me smile - I'm just wondering what to do with this:

that I bought in case it came in useful. I know I looked at the photos but somehow the reality of how big it is didn't strike home until I got it.

But at £12 it seemed too good to miss....

Maybe I'll remove the gubbins inside and keep beer in it in my office...

securespark · 11 Mar 2004

in that case, make blo*dy sure it is lockable

il78 · 11 Mar 2004

PMSL.......

Thats the thing......its huge, I could of hid the generator in it........

I'll put it down to experience

(by the way £12 a bargain, the one I got was around £180 from Eyre & Elliston)

mildmanneredjanitor · 12 Mar 2004

Thank you for your pedantic and patronising comments!

This forum is fantastic for providing answers to problems that only skilled tradesman have the knowledge and experience to answer. Domestic wiring isn't rocket science, but I didn't know the solution to this particular problem.

I guess that negative is used to explain DC circuits and neutral for AC?

As for the switch, yes light switch, and no I wouldn't use a standard 5 amp - 2Kw/230=8.7amps. Not sure if these were available tho?...

BTW, the "Can't see that I am the first to do this." quote wasn't referring to sharing the neutral. I was in fact referring to installing a method of daytime usage.

I have since punished myself for this unforgivable ambiguity on my part and promise never to do it again!

The changeover switch is perfect for my needs, thank you, simple and cost effective.

diynot

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economy7

Big_Spark

breezer

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