Economy 7 timings

[Paulmcfadyen]

I've just connected an additional storage heater to the off-peak side of my Economy 7 supply. I used the way that had previously been occupied by the immersion heater to connect this, and had planned to reconnect the immersion, via a timer, to the main "always on" CU. The timer would have allowed the immersion to come on only during off peak times, thus continuing to benefit from heating water during off-peak charging periods. However, on inspecting the LED on the new heater's FCU, the off-peak periods seem to be totally random from day to day. The system is controlled via a timeclock as opposed to a radio teleswitch, so I don't quite understand how it can be happening. Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

[mapj1]

Normally E7 is radio switched from PM of the carrier of radio 4 at 198KHz
If you really do have a clock, is it actually used, or is the meter a modern radio teleswitch type, and the clock just left there for posterity when the meter was last swapped ? Never rule out the ludicrous, until you can prove the sensible. How old is the meter? Otherwise how old is the clock - is it dying?

 

[Paulmcfadyen]

The clock is ticking away and I don't see any other control equipment - certainly nothing that resembles a radio teleswitch I've seen before. The whole system is around 25 years old and as far as I'm aware has never been updated since installation!

 

[theshogun]

Do you have 2 electric meters if so you probably have an off peak installation .
The time switch then just controls your storage heating board,in the older installs the time switch sometimes had a boost period in the day, (to top up the old type of storage heaters as they were very poor at retaining the heat).
This could be faulty check the on and off periods of the time switch and what the time is set at.

If not the time switch could be turning the metre between high and low rate,(this is the earlier form of e7)as well as having separate tails feeding your storage heater board.
Look for a smaller tail /control going from the time switch to the meter.
When the fcu is next on check to see if the meter has change from high to low rate (there is normally a small arrow on the meter to indicate this).
If this is the case then your time switch is probably faulty you will then need to get your REC to replace it in which case they may upgrade their side of the installation.

 

[HDRW]

Normally E7 is radio switched from PM of the carrier of radio 4 at 198KHz

That may be the way it's done in new installs (and I don't know what the original poster has), but mine, vintage 1987 I think, is definately a clock:

I don't know how often they replace meters, but I'm sure mine isn't the only one out there like this.

Cheers,

Howard