I’m trying to help my sister with some Economy 7 and storage heater problems. Please forgive any wrong terminology’s and my lack of understanding how the E7 circuit should work.
Her flat is approximately 15 years old. In each of the block of flats there is a room with all the meters. There are 3 meters in total for each flat (E7, standard and total).
A few nights ago, she called me to say she had no heating from the storage heater. She checked the fuse and this appeared to have blown and was very blackened, so we presumed this must be the fault. As it was badly burnt I called around with a new fused socket and went to fit this. Whilst checking the wiring I realised there was no 240v supply to the socket. Note, there is only 1 feed to this socket/storage heater.
Question 1, shouldn’t there always be a 240v feed to this socket as how else will the heat settings be registered / changed when the dials are turned. I’m presuming there must be a small motor inside which opens the flaps etc to let out more heat?
At this point I asked if the hot water was working to which she replied, now you mention it…..! We then checked the tank and this was cold. Looking in the consumer unit, I can see one main electrical supply into the unit. There are separate MCB’s for the storage heater and for the immersion. Both of these have a connection to a 4 pole contactor which didn’t appear to have any voltage showing on the opposite side, apart from the one “switching circuit” wire?
Anyway, time went by and it was now approaching 10pm. I switched back on the main switch, and noticed a few loud bangs coming from the contactor!
Question 2, does the contactor get a feed from somewhere that the E7 tariff is now on and it is this that then switches the supply on to the storage heater and immersion?
Question 3, if this is correct perhaps this explains why I had no supply earlier on at the socket, although 10pm does seem a little early for the tariff to switch in….. or do these contactor’s get stuck, and maybe it was this that prevented the 240v feed going to both the storage heater and immersion?
So, at the moment it’s all working again, but I still don’t understand fully why and what’s gone on?
Question 4, If my presumption that the contactor is part of the control circuit of the storage heater and immersion then this points to an intermittent fault with this, as how else can both the storage heater and immersion both have gone off. Maybe the fault with this, or the socket fuse blowing are linked? If this is correct, then with this particular set up there’s no way to override the settings and ask for more heat until the E7 tariff switches back in.
Question 5, if I’m wrong in my assumption this would then mean that when the input dial is turned up when off to bed, then regardless of whether or not the E7 tariff is on, it will start heating up?
I’ve a few photos of the setup if this helps which I can post up / email if needed.
Many, many thanks for any assistance or guidance you can give me, and I’m sorry for going on….. I’m not sure if I’ve confused myself even more just writing this all down!!
Paul
Her flat is approximately 15 years old. In each of the block of flats there is a room with all the meters. There are 3 meters in total for each flat (E7, standard and total).
A few nights ago, she called me to say she had no heating from the storage heater. She checked the fuse and this appeared to have blown and was very blackened, so we presumed this must be the fault. As it was badly burnt I called around with a new fused socket and went to fit this. Whilst checking the wiring I realised there was no 240v supply to the socket. Note, there is only 1 feed to this socket/storage heater.
Question 1, shouldn’t there always be a 240v feed to this socket as how else will the heat settings be registered / changed when the dials are turned. I’m presuming there must be a small motor inside which opens the flaps etc to let out more heat?
At this point I asked if the hot water was working to which she replied, now you mention it…..! We then checked the tank and this was cold. Looking in the consumer unit, I can see one main electrical supply into the unit. There are separate MCB’s for the storage heater and for the immersion. Both of these have a connection to a 4 pole contactor which didn’t appear to have any voltage showing on the opposite side, apart from the one “switching circuit” wire?
Anyway, time went by and it was now approaching 10pm. I switched back on the main switch, and noticed a few loud bangs coming from the contactor!
Question 2, does the contactor get a feed from somewhere that the E7 tariff is now on and it is this that then switches the supply on to the storage heater and immersion?
Question 3, if this is correct perhaps this explains why I had no supply earlier on at the socket, although 10pm does seem a little early for the tariff to switch in….. or do these contactor’s get stuck, and maybe it was this that prevented the 240v feed going to both the storage heater and immersion?
So, at the moment it’s all working again, but I still don’t understand fully why and what’s gone on?
Question 4, If my presumption that the contactor is part of the control circuit of the storage heater and immersion then this points to an intermittent fault with this, as how else can both the storage heater and immersion both have gone off. Maybe the fault with this, or the socket fuse blowing are linked? If this is correct, then with this particular set up there’s no way to override the settings and ask for more heat until the E7 tariff switches back in.
Question 5, if I’m wrong in my assumption this would then mean that when the input dial is turned up when off to bed, then regardless of whether or not the E7 tariff is on, it will start heating up?
I’ve a few photos of the setup if this helps which I can post up / email if needed.
Many, many thanks for any assistance or guidance you can give me, and I’m sorry for going on….. I’m not sure if I’ve confused myself even more just writing this all down!!
Paul
