Hi All,
I'm new to this forum but joined as it says its the UKs friendliest electrical forum and I'm after some friendly assistance.
I've just moved house and it has 10x storage heaters and 2x hot water cylinders with each containing two immersion heaters, presumably one is on the night circuit and the other on the day.
I'm due to move onto Intelligent Octopus Go tariff as I've got an EV and it's costing me a fortune, even if charging at the night rate, the new tariff halves my night rate to 7p per kWh. However it also means my night tariff changes from being active between 00:30 - 07:30 to being active between 23:30 - 05:30.
I've got a 3-phase supply with a dual tariff meter, it's not a Smart Meter but this is due to be changed on the 2nd Jan to a 3 phase smart meter. I've been told by octopus that my supply currently switches between the night and day tariffs at set times and the whole house benefits from the night time tariff when it switches over. There doesn't appear to be a separate night circuit coming from the meter to power the storage heaters when the meter switches over to the night tariff as I've had in the past, years ago when I lived in another property with storage heating.
How are my storage heaters and immersion heaters switched on/off at the correct times to align with the night tariff times if this is not done by the meter?
I've been trying to figure out the Electrical installation as a whole and it's confusing for me, I'm used to a single phase supply and 1 consumer unit. This house has 3 phase and has all kinds of electrical 'boxes' dotted about the property and I've so far uncovered 5 different consumer units which are also dotted about the property.
The previous owners are in their late 70s and are confused by my questions. They said they had the hot water systems installed in 2023 when they had the property converted to 3 phase as they kept overloading the single phase circuit. They also have had much of the house rewired in stages in 2020, 2021 and 2022. Despite this the only certificates they can provide are pre 2023, each certificate uses a different electrician so don't know if this is bad for continuity or it might not matter, but all of the provided certificates relate to work when the property was still single phase. I've contacted each of the electricians on the certificates but they each tell me they aren't qualified for 3 phase and so can't help me. I would really like to find the electrician who converted the property to 3 phase so I can ask them to walk me through the installation and tell me what is connected to each circuit and which circuits are on the switch night tariff and which are not.
Anyway, I've taken some photos if anyone can offer some advice or share some of their wisdom with me, I'd appreciate your help.
What is a surge suppressor, which circuits are covered by this and why is it needed here but not in any of the other consumer units?
You'll see in the following photos that I found another consumer unit in the roof space, along with a metal box on the left and a big plastic box to the right of it, the consumer unit in the centre contains an analogue MODT180 (16A, 24Hour ON/OFF Mechanical Timer) and based on this, plus the labelling in here, I'm guessing it might be the answer. I'm not sure how I can confirm this switches all the storage heaters or not and if it also switched the night immersion heaters in each of the 2 tanks or not?
Also, how do I change the times on this, can it be done easily without taking the consumer unit apart, can I do it or do I need an electrician to come on to do it? Its tricky to get to and on my hands and knees in the loft, I couldn't easily play around with this to see how it could be adjusted, especially as I don't know if this can be done by the home owner such as myself, or if it needs dismantling somehow by a qualified electrician to change the switching times?
It's also only rated 16A so doubt it can be switching all the storage heating and immersion heaters directly. But at the same time, I don't know what the contactor switch next to this is for, could the MODT180 be controlling a remote/ relay switch in one of these boxes at the side that then switches all the storage and immersion heater circuits?
Downstairs in an outside toilet, which is adjacent to the meter, I've also found a big metal box which has a switch on the front, all the wires coming from the meter go into here first before going off elsewhere, what's this for?
You can see the meter is relatively new and has the 4 cables (N, L1, L2 and L3) running through it for the 3 phases.
Any help much appreciated.
Thanks,
Richard.
I'm new to this forum but joined as it says its the UKs friendliest electrical forum and I'm after some friendly assistance.
I've just moved house and it has 10x storage heaters and 2x hot water cylinders with each containing two immersion heaters, presumably one is on the night circuit and the other on the day.
I'm due to move onto Intelligent Octopus Go tariff as I've got an EV and it's costing me a fortune, even if charging at the night rate, the new tariff halves my night rate to 7p per kWh. However it also means my night tariff changes from being active between 00:30 - 07:30 to being active between 23:30 - 05:30.
I've got a 3-phase supply with a dual tariff meter, it's not a Smart Meter but this is due to be changed on the 2nd Jan to a 3 phase smart meter. I've been told by octopus that my supply currently switches between the night and day tariffs at set times and the whole house benefits from the night time tariff when it switches over. There doesn't appear to be a separate night circuit coming from the meter to power the storage heaters when the meter switches over to the night tariff as I've had in the past, years ago when I lived in another property with storage heating.
How are my storage heaters and immersion heaters switched on/off at the correct times to align with the night tariff times if this is not done by the meter?
I've been trying to figure out the Electrical installation as a whole and it's confusing for me, I'm used to a single phase supply and 1 consumer unit. This house has 3 phase and has all kinds of electrical 'boxes' dotted about the property and I've so far uncovered 5 different consumer units which are also dotted about the property.
The previous owners are in their late 70s and are confused by my questions. They said they had the hot water systems installed in 2023 when they had the property converted to 3 phase as they kept overloading the single phase circuit. They also have had much of the house rewired in stages in 2020, 2021 and 2022. Despite this the only certificates they can provide are pre 2023, each certificate uses a different electrician so don't know if this is bad for continuity or it might not matter, but all of the provided certificates relate to work when the property was still single phase. I've contacted each of the electricians on the certificates but they each tell me they aren't qualified for 3 phase and so can't help me. I would really like to find the electrician who converted the property to 3 phase so I can ask them to walk me through the installation and tell me what is connected to each circuit and which circuits are on the switch night tariff and which are not.
Anyway, I've taken some photos if anyone can offer some advice or share some of their wisdom with me, I'd appreciate your help.
What is a surge suppressor, which circuits are covered by this and why is it needed here but not in any of the other consumer units?
You'll see in the following photos that I found another consumer unit in the roof space, along with a metal box on the left and a big plastic box to the right of it, the consumer unit in the centre contains an analogue MODT180 (16A, 24Hour ON/OFF Mechanical Timer) and based on this, plus the labelling in here, I'm guessing it might be the answer. I'm not sure how I can confirm this switches all the storage heaters or not and if it also switched the night immersion heaters in each of the 2 tanks or not?
Also, how do I change the times on this, can it be done easily without taking the consumer unit apart, can I do it or do I need an electrician to come on to do it? Its tricky to get to and on my hands and knees in the loft, I couldn't easily play around with this to see how it could be adjusted, especially as I don't know if this can be done by the home owner such as myself, or if it needs dismantling somehow by a qualified electrician to change the switching times?
It's also only rated 16A so doubt it can be switching all the storage heating and immersion heaters directly. But at the same time, I don't know what the contactor switch next to this is for, could the MODT180 be controlling a remote/ relay switch in one of these boxes at the side that then switches all the storage and immersion heater circuits?
Downstairs in an outside toilet, which is adjacent to the meter, I've also found a big metal box which has a switch on the front, all the wires coming from the meter go into here first before going off elsewhere, what's this for?
You can see the meter is relatively new and has the 4 cables (N, L1, L2 and L3) running through it for the 3 phases.
Any help much appreciated.
Thanks,
Richard.