Can I remove this time switch (meter)?

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HappyHippyDad

HappyHippyDad

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Hello all..

I have just been to look at a job involving fitting a replacement consumer unit.

I can't remember having to remove one of these time switches before and I just wanted to learn a bit more about it's function so I can decide if I can remove it.

As you can see from the picture there are lots of meter tails everywhere and I plan to remove the Wylex 100ma RCD, time switch and old fuse box, replacing the lot with an RCBO board.

The lady does not need a dual tariff as there are no night storage heaters and she has no plans to try and utilise a cheaper off peak tariff.

Can I just remove the time switch? Is it's only function to let the meter know when it's moved between day/night rate?

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Its only a time switch...the control wire can be terminated safely without accessing the meter. If the customer is on a peak only tariff then there is no issue removing it.
What time did you take the pic 18:00-19:00 or is that clock really out ?;)
 
Sparksfly said:
Its only a time switch...the control wire can be terminated safely without accessing the meter. If the customer is on a peak only tariff then there is no issue removing it.
What time did you take the pic 18:00-19:00 or is that clock really out ?;)
Click to expand...
Thanks Sparksfly.
Good spot! I was there this morning around 9am :)
If they were still on a dual tariff, what would happen if it was removed? They would still be able to use power at night and the meter would still register this.

My question above is basically due to a lack of understanding about what the time switch actually does?
 
Ah Interesting...
Yes still power 24-7 the only thing that could change is her electricity bill.
If she is on a dual tariff (check her bills) then she is getting cheap electricity during part of the day simply by having a clock that is out. If that is the case then her leccy bill will rise a bit as she should be on (Normal) Peak rate all day. If she is already on peak rate tariff 24-7 then no change to her Bill and your work will have no adverse affect.

(Boring Background)
The time switch is to change the meter rate from NORMAL to LOW. This would originally switch an Off-Peak consumer unit (Economy 7) on say 00:00 - 07:00. So this E7 consumer unit would be dead until those times. When switched on they would energise the storage heater circuits to generate heat, at night, and switch off during peak time...keeping the coal fired power stations turning over and cheaper rate to the customer.
 
Sparksfly said:
Ah Interesting...
Yes still power 24-7 the only thing that could change is her electricity bill.
If she is on a dual tariff (check her bills) then she is getting cheap electricity during part of the day simply by having a clock that is out. If that is the case then her leccy bill will rise a bit as she should be on (Normal) Peak rate all day. If she is already on peak rate tariff 24-7 then no change to her Bill and your work will have no adverse affect.

(Boring Background)
The time switch is to change the meter rate from NORMAL to LOW. This would originally switch an Off-Peak consumer unit (Economy 7) on say 00:00 - 07:00. So this E7 consumer unit would be dead until those times. When switched on they would energise the storage heater circuits to generate heat, at night, and switch off during peak time...keeping the coal fired power stations turning over and cheaper rate to the customer.
Click to expand...
Thankyou for that through answer. I kind of expected to see another CU for NSH's but there is no sign of one. Also, no sign of any actual NSH's. Also, no left over double pole switches or FCU,s hiding anywhere.
Perhaps someone has just done a thorough job of removing them.

Back when these units were installed, were they used solely for NSH's, or did some people have a dual tariff simply to have cheap electricity at night?
 
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No problem HappyHippyDad
I have replaced the NSH FCU's/switches with single sockets... no waste of circuits... I think you could call it "sustainability"....with little money involved:ninja:
 
Get the Energy supplier to swap it for a single rate meter, which will probably be a smart meter, that will get rid of the timeswitch then you can tidy it all up and do the CU swap.
 
Agree with whats been said above. If the customer is already on a single rate tarrif which I doubt as they are probably still providing 2 readings then get them to contact their supplier and they will arrange for a new single rate meter to be installed.

If the clock is removed the dual rate meter will default to daytime and will charge all electricity at peak rates.

It may still work out cheaper than being on the dual rate as the Peak charge on E7 is usually somewhat higher than the normal rate, however as the time clock is so far out there may as already been said be an increase.

This is why they used the LW time signal in a lot of places, to keep the change over in sync. But as that is now being shutdown there is currently a massive crisis regarding replacing these type of units, but that's another story.
 
Sparksfly said:
...keeping the coal fired power stations turning over and cheaper rate to the customer.
Click to expand...
It wasn't just the coal fired power stations, Trawsfynydd nuclear power station in Wales fed it's overnight production into the local pump storage power station at Ffestiniog when it was operating

The big problem is the size of the generator sets if they are stopped they take time to run up due to the weight of the rotor causing the shaft to bend I was told many many years ago that it can take 2 - 3 days to slowly bring a power station genset up to speed to get the shaft balanced again
 
UNG said:
The big problem is the size of the generator sets if they are stopped they take time to run up due to the weight of the rotor causing the shaft to bend I was told many many years ago that it can take 2 - 3 days to slowly bring a power station genset up to speed to get the shaft balanced again
Click to expand...
Decades ago, when I briefly worked in a (coal-fired) power station, the generating sets were equipped with "barring gear" (I think that was the name) that turned the shafts round (slowly) when the generating sets were not running, to prevent bending of the shafts.
 
Its part of the metering equipment, so should only be removed by the energy provider. Get the customer to call up and get it replaced to single rate, is she still on dual rate or on single rate.? Some providers just add the readings together on 24hr (general domestic) . When I worked for SSE we provided single rate meters for 24hr and 2 rate for E7 no confusion that way.
 

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