Economy7 Heating Timer Help

[ChrispyDuck42]

Hi, looking for some help regarding a storage heater circuit.

Currently the circuit it energised by the 5th port on the smart meter, with an inline fused switch which is switched off in May and back on in October etc to bring the heating back to life. We want to switch to Octopus Agile though as doing the maths this actually works out better than Economy7. The problem then is how do we control the heater circuit. I'm guessing that the switch down at the bottom with "Off Peak Heating" on it would need to be replaced with a big timer switch so we can set the time manually. However I'm struggling to find a suitable switch. There are 3 storage heaters controlled off this circuit.

So a couple of questions really:
1. If we switch to another tariff will the 5th port be energised permanently?
2. What can we replace the current switch with to use as a timer.

Thanks

 

[JohnD]

2. What can we replace the current switch with to use as a timer.

I can't follow the tangle of wires, but the answer is a Contactor, which will switch big currents but can be controlled by a small switch or timer. Then you can use any convenient timer, like the ones sold for central heating or immersion heaters, and you can change it when it goes wrong.

I think you would be well advised to engage a qualified local electrician, listed on one of the "Competent Person" schemes such as NICEIC.

It would be worth tidying the earthing and bonding wires as well, in larger sizes. You can get a large block to use as your Main Earthing Terminal, and fix it to your backboard. And replace any of your cables that are undersized or perished.

 

[ericmark]

Not sure why when you have gas, you have Economy 7? But Economy 7 is a tariff not a system, the old white meter is long gone, but over the years there have been so many changes it is hard to keep up.

The storage heaters have changed over the years, they were never much good, they came in a lot after Ronan Point when gas was removed from many high rise flats, but control has never been good, with one or two exceptions they would heat the room during the day great often too much, but in the evening the room ended up cold, so more involved than simply changing tariff, and seems you need other electrical work, the old Wylex fuse box is only rated 60 amp and seems you have a 100 amp supply, and no RCD protection, it may change what you want once upgraded, so would look at that first.

 

[ChrispyDuck42]

Thanks guys. Don't ask. It's my dad's house, is old and he never got round to putting in central heating, and now at 80 will be leaving that to the next owners. Has gas fires also so not that bad.