Adding more Economy 7 sockets

[AndyPRK]

Does jersey have mains gas ?

 

[phatboy]

Does jersey have mains gas ?

Yes, but its supplied from very very large tanks at an industrial site, and has to be bough on island by ship as there are no underwater pipelines. Hence gas is pretty expensive!

 

[JohnW2]

I wasn't clear with the E7 setup I had, it was actually a split load cu, so the second half of the cu had storage heaters and water heater connected, and there was a contactor in the cu connected back to the electricity room via 1m t+e to the timeswitch. This was 63a rated I think, hence the loud bang.

That all makes sense. However, as you will have seen, I still have a 'loud bang' despite there not being a significant contactor in site (certainly nothing switching the supply). As I've said, it must be either the timeswitch itself (which is what I suspect), or else an unnecessarily noisy between-tariff's relay/contactor.

One further question has occurred to me. With tariffs like your E20, how do they 'police' the situation - i.e. attempt to ensure that people are not connecting non-heating loads to the 'cheap' supply.

Kind Regards, John

 

[JohnW2]

Yes, but its supplied from very very large tanks at an industrial site, and has to be bough on island by ship as there are no underwater pipelines. Hence gas is pretty expensive!

Is that LNG or LPG?

Kind Regards, John

 

[winston1]

One further question has occurred to me. With tariffs like your E20, how do they 'police' the situation - i.e. attempt to ensure that people are not connecting non-heating loads to the 'cheap' supply.

Kind Regards, John

Perhaps people are more honest there and there is no need to.

 

[phatboy]

One further question has occurred to me. With tariffs like your E20, how do they 'police' the situation - i.e. attempt to ensure that people are not connecting non-heating loads to the 'cheap' supply.

As far as I am aware, there is no way for this to be policed. They don't monitor peak usage I don't think, as I replaced 1 heater with a larger one and everything was fine.

I have considered adding things like towel warmers to the supply before, as its half the price of daytime usage nearly!

 

[phatboy]

With tariffs like your E20, how do they 'police' the situation - i.e. attempt to ensure that people are not connecting non-heating loads to the 'cheap' supply.

Perhaps people are more honest there and there is no need to.

I have considered adding things like towel warmers to the supply before, as its half the price of daytime usage nearly!

Damn, just proved Winston's theory wrong!

Although I said I considered doing it, I haven't actually done so.

 

[AndyPRK]

One further question has occurred to me. With tariffs like your E20, how do they 'police' the situation - i.e. attempt to ensure that people are not connecting non-heating loads to the 'cheap' supply.

I was wondering that too.

I guess the fact that it can randomly go off will prevent people connecting some items up to it.

I guess you could get away with running a fridge/freezer off a 20hr supply.

Other items (that didn't mind a small power interrupt) could have a changeover contactor to the normal supply when the cheap rate went off.

 

[JohnW2]

As far as I am aware, there is no way for this to be policed. They don't monitor peak usage I don't think, as I replaced 1 heater with a larger one and everything was fine.

Interesting. I imagine that, as with E7 etc., they will have a pretty good idea of what is the 'usual/normal' ratio of cheap-rate to standard-rate usage, and that they might well 'investigate' if a particular household had an unusually high proportion of their total consumption being metered at 'cheap rate'.

I have considered adding things like towel warmers to the supply before, as its half the price of daytime usage nearly!

It might be contrary to the word of the contract, but I would be prepared to have a good go at arguing that a towel warmer was 'heating'

Kind Regards, John

 

[phatboy]

It might be contrary to the word of the contract, but I would be prepared to have a good go at arguing that a towel warmer was 'heating'

Kind Regards, John

It says 'approved water and space heating'. I didn't see the list of what items are approved though.

But I suppose something of relatively small consumption like a towel warmer wouldn't be noticed.

 

[JohnW2]

It says 'approved water and space heating'. I didn't see the list of what items are approved though. But I suppose something of relatively small consumption like a towel warmer wouldn't be noticed.

I suppose that "approved" might be the 'legal' catch (but not a very good one, if they don't tell you what is approved!). However, in common sense terms, I'm not even sure that it would even be 'dishonest' - lets face it, the heat produced by a towel warmer will end up 'in the house' no less surely than the heat produced by an 'approved space heater'!

Kind Regards, John

 

[Avocet]

I doubt it, but he may well have thought that the supply to the 'day CU' was switched such that it was got power from the 'night meter' during low-cost periods.

Can he see tails running from the night meter to the main CU?

No I can't. The meter cupboard is on the outside of the house, and the CUs are inside. The wires are behind the plaster somewhere. I've taken a few photos. You can see the pickup for the usage meter clamped round one of the cables.

 

[Avocet]

ccf

 

[westie101]

Yep, E7 so all the house switches over to the off-peak rate. The black "meter" is a radio-teleswitch that controls the meter rate dials & switches the off-peak load on

 

[Risteard]

We put all underfloor heating mats on the E20 off-peak side. Can't remember whether the heated towel rails were. Must check one of the Electrical Installation Certificates and see if I can dig them out.

Nearly 3 years since I left Jersey. I'd head back in the morning if the opportunity arose.