Economy 7 circuit not working after smart meter installation

[mt10]

Hello, I am only a DIYer so would be very grateful for the benefit of your knowledge. A smart meter was recently installed in my flat and since then the Economy 7 storage heaters and immersion element no longer work. I am struggling to understand what has happened. Attached is a photo of the new meter set up. Is it obvious from this that there is no longer an electricity feed to the Economy 7 circuitboard? I believe the 2 grey cables on the right must connect to the Econ 7 circuitboard but I can't see how electricity can be supplied to it as the thinner grey wire connecting this smaller unit to the smart meter on the left looks like it's an earth? Your help would be appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Andy™]

pics of the consumer units too would be good, it does lok like its been wired wrong but need to see where the other side goes to confirm

 

[mt10]

Sorry, I'm not there at the moment but there's a main circuitboard and above it a separate smaller one which just handles the Econ 7 appliances - 3 circuit breakers only. If that helps. The smart meter was installed without access to the flat as I wasn't in so whoever did it may not have known about the separate Econ 7 board.

 

[ProDave]

Rule No 1. "If it Ain't broke, Don't "fix it"

Your system was working perfectly well. So WHY did you agree to have a smart meter installed? Something that is of NO benefit to the customer and in any event the whole smart meter system being installed now is obsolete technology and will all need replacing again in 12 years. A total waste of money vanity project.

 

[mt10]

Actually it was put in without my knowledge by someone living there but that fact wasn't relevant to my question. So rather than trying to help me you have given me a completely useless reply which advances my understanding by precisely zero. Thank you.

 

[Andy™]

replie like that wont get you anywhere.... so really, until you post of pics of the other end to help confirm its wrongm then not much will happen. i think i know what they have done, but lack of information from you

 

[kerching]

On a side note ( is this a rented property? ) can a tenant have the metering changed

 

[ProDave]

What I was saying is it WAS working before the meter swap. So your DNO broke it by insisting on the meter swap, tell your DNO to come back and fix it. At their expense of course.

I still maintain a smart meter has no benefit to the customer, and if you had declined their offer of a smart meter, it would not be broken. This if far from the first time a smart meter swap has stopped the E7 working because it seems they are pretty incompetent at getting such things right.

 

[mt10]

Sorry, replies like ProDave's are offensive and unnecessary. I'm afraid I'm not nearby (yes it's rented, the electricity supplier asked no questions) so I can't get any pics. From memory though the cables into the consumer units come straight in from behind a partition wall, they aren't visible. What do you suspect has happened?

 

[mt10]

ProDave, apologies for my slightly sharp tone. Yes I will insist they come and fix it at their expense and as I said I didn't ask for it to be installed but I would like to be able to tell them what they have done wrong.

 

[revjames]

I'm with Dave on the uselessness of smart meters. I recently moved house and the new property has smart meters. Can't change supplier. the signal locally is insufficent for them to work properly. They are first generation ones and need changing already. I have had offers from my current supplier to update them but I have said the only change I want is back to old ones.

As far as the OP goes, the box on the right of the meter looks like it could be a relay of some sort operated from the SM via the small cable. So the E7 load is only on at night when relay is activated. May just need setting up correctly, possibly could even be done remotely. Let us know how you get on.

 

[NMc]

Difficult to tell from just the picture but it looks like the metering has not been wired correctly. The unit to the right I would suggest is the time switch and it looks like the off peak tails (L&N) have been connected to this. Time switch only need to switch the off peak live. You need to contact the meter installer but get a different person to the one you had.

 

[kerching]

Difficult to tell from just the picture but it looks like the metering has not been wired correctly. The unit to the right I would suggest is the time switch and it looks like the off peak tails (L&N) have been connected to this. Time switch only need to switch the off peak live. You need to contact the meter installer but get a different person to the one you had.

Well,to,me it looks like it's wired correctly. The unit to the right is not a timeclock, it's a contactor. Small cables are are switched feed and neural from SM. two larger are feed and sw feed. Somewhere out of site lower down should be a tails block . I reckon it's set up,wrong , but what do I know being so new to the trade.

Customer rang me last week. His mother has moved into sheltered housing. Previous tenant had OP switched off ( remotely). Now She wants it back on but the cretins at EON "need the SSC number which is written on the meter. This is so the engineer can bring the correct equipment with him"!
What a load of bo!!0cks. He has had best part of a day on hold being passed from cretin to idiot to engineer to moron to technician and back to cretin.
It was switched off remotely, it can be switched on remotely. the ssc for economy 7 with EON is 115 for all areas and is NOT written on the meter no matter what our friend from some remote call centre says

 

[NMc]

Before smart metering E7 consisted of a two rate meter and time switch. The timeswitch would have a live and neutral feed and when switched makes the line contact to the off peak and a link cable changes the meter register from normal to low

Take a closer look at the picture - There are only three wires going to the unit on the right. Two appear to be the off peak consumers tails L&N. Regardless of what the unit on the right is there is no way this is wired correctly

 

[Andy™]

my thoughts too, but i wanted a pic of the rest to confirm, since there could be a connection elsewhere. bit pointless keep going on about it though since more info has been requested which the OP wont provide, yet still expects an answer. suppose ill be a popular as Prodave for this useless comment...

 

[kerching]

Before smart metering E7 consisted of a two rate meter and time switch. The timeswitch would have a live and neutral feed and when switched makes the line contact to the off peak and a link cable changes the meter register from normal to low

Take a closer look at the picture - There are only three wires going to the unit on the right. Two appear to be the off peak consumers tails L&N. Regardless of what the unit on the right is there is no way this is wired correctly

I apologise and bow in deference to your superior eyesight. There is indeed only one control wire going to,the contactor, the other is in the cut out Neutral . However I stand by my statement that the larger cables are L in. And L out they both have brown ID markers on them. ( Bizarrely it could be that the meter monkey has switched the Neutral and the coil gets its feed from the ncoming L which would be wrong anyway )

 

[mt10]

Thank you all so far for your comments although I was hoping for a consensus. Andy, it's not that I won't provide extra pics, it's that I can't a) because I'm not there and b) because there's nowhere there could be a visible connection accessible to the installer - all 4 cables in the meter cupboard go out of sight and out of reach through a partition wall.

 

[sirsparkabit]

Hope this helps

 

[sirsparkabit]

If Tails leaving meter or contactor could not be seen throughout their run to ascertain correct termination to the respective cu's then the meter installer would of had to abort the installation of a smart meter and if not he must be poorly trained or worse !!

 

[Fleeting]

Bit blurry but it looks like a Proteus EHC1 single pole contactor and will only need a single external conductor to switch it. The inner coil is connected internally to the line supply with the neutral being switched externally hence only one wire but as others have said without more info as to where the line supply to the contactor originates from it is not possible to help much further.
https://proteusswitchgear.com/products/100-a-heating-contactor-single-phase/