Faulty meter?

[Pickup]

Thanks guys, going back sometime over the next few days, will post an update and photos of the fuse boxes then. Appreciate all the help, have a good weekend.

 

[crystal ball]

Are they purpose built flats or a big house converted?

 

[Pickup]

Purpose built in mid 80s, she’s owned it for 7 years. Block of 9 flats, 3 on each floor. T shaped building. 1 x 2 bed in the leg of the T, 1x1 bed in each arm of the T. My wife’s flat is a 1 bed on 1st floor.

New meter installed in 2013 when she bought the flat as the display was blank when we went to take the first reading on taking ownership. Never had any issues, electrical inspection every 5 years (as required by Scottish legislation for rental properties), most recent 2 years ago. Appliances PAT tested every 2 years.

 

[Old Salt]

Pickup the landlords supply is a common term for providing power to those items that a “landlord” would normally provide e.g. communal lighting for hallways and stairs, fire alarms, lifts and such like.

 

[Pickup]

Hi Folks,

quick update....
Between Thursday 12/11 @ 7pm and Saturday 14/11 @ 11:30am the meter recorded 9 units of electricity used (6 daytime & 3 night time).

Photos of both fuse boxes and the services access point beside it (I figured the easiest way for someone else to steal electricity would be to use the void to run a cable but there’s no sign of anything but the supply cable and the intercom wiring)

LED on meter is flashing every 18-19seconds. Amp clamp didn’t arrive so couldn’t check current draw

Again, MANY thanks for the help and advice.

 

[davelx]

OK, looks like you have 2 CUs, one fed direct from the meter and one via the teleswitch. Have you tried turning both CUs off for 24 hours and checking if the reading changes? If it does, then you need to start looking for some hidden tap-in between the meters and the CUs.

If they don't, then repeat with just one CU turned on, then again with the other. Then you will at least have an idea where to start looking for the unknown load.

 

[flameport]

As has been said earlier in this thread - that meter will show a solid red light when all loads are disconnected, and that should happen in less than a minute after the load is removed.

If that doesn't happen with both consumer units turned off, there is a connection to something else or it's the wrong meter.
Then it's time to have the main fuse removed, and wait for the complaints about things not working.

The holes in the back of the service void need to be sealed.

 

[endecotp]

See if you can borrow a clamp meter.

Out of paranoia, I’d turn off all of the MCBs too.

(BTW, I find that style of main switch somewhat confusing as to which way is ON when the front panel is removed!)

 

[endecotp]

You might like to glance at the other “faulty meter” threads in “related threads” below; it’s not completely unheard of for a meter to be faulty.

 

[SUNRAY]

According to your figures that looks to be just under 1A continuous and I'd say it's on the 24 hour consumer unit.

I wonder if anyone is able to look at Teleswitches at the moment and confirm the connexions as I've phoned a friend and they've given me the order from L to R:
Brown from c/o, grey to CU, Blue from c/o, link to meter, grey to CU. They have a split board. Main switch feeds RCBOs and teleswitch [grey] and return from teleswitch supplies heaters RCD.
My interpretation is the 2 left most terminals are flipped compared to the above picture which means the teleswitch control is being metered, either for OP or my friend.

However friends flat was empty for 3 months and clocked up zero off peak and the several KWH expected for the refurb usage.

 

[SUNRAY]

Scrub the request, this matches OP

 

[Pickup]

Hi folks,

I’ve spotted something strange... Sunray’s photo I can understand (assuming the N between meter & timeswitch is used to record night-time usage - the guy who installed the smart meter at our house recently mentioned the neutral in connection with metering...).

As well as the explanation I’ve re-drawn the wiring shown in the photos to make it clearer (I hope)...

Sunray’s.

LN (from supply) to time switch,
LN (from supply) to meter,

L (from meter) to c/u
N (from meter) to c/u
L (switched from time switch?) to c/u

My wife’s property (also with the N between meter and t\switch)

LN (from supply) to time switch,
LN (from supply) to meter,

L (from meter) goes to c/u AND Time switch
N (from meter) to c/u
L (switched from time switch?) to c/u

why does the L feed from the meter need to go to the time switch? If it’s the permanent feed then there’s no need for the L from the incoming fuse.

Comments or thoughts, please.

 

[endecotp]

why does the L feed from the meter need to go to the time switch?

The time switch connections are:

A) power for the radio receiver; this comes from before the meter, I.e. you don’t pay for it.
B) an output to the meter to tell it what rate to use.
C) connections to a relay that is on when the cheap rate is enabled; this is connected from the live output of the meter to the off-peak CU input.

I believe this is what you have, based on your photos. I’ve not tried to understand Sunray’s photo.

 

[Pickup]

A) power for the radio receiver; this comes from before the meter, I.e. you don’t pay for it.
B) an output to the meter to tell it what rate to use.
C) connections to a relay that is on when the cheap rate is enabled; this is connected from the live output of the meter to the off-peak CU input.

Thanks.... Just so I’m sure I’ve got this straight...

The live (& neutral) from the supply fuse to time switch is only to power the t-switch,
the neutral between the t-s and the meter is used to tell the meter when it’s to count “off-peak”.

Thought I’d cracked it just can’t figure out where the 1.25 A/h is going with both CUs switched off unless the meter is faulty or the time switch is faulty/wired wrong.

As the meter is recording usage for both rates that would indicate the meter is faulty or power is being used by something on the main c/u (if it was the off-peak c/u the daytime usage wouldn’t go up) but I know the switch on the c/u works because the lights go out when the c/u is turned off.

Definitely need to get that amp clamp.

 

[endecotp]

Thanks.... Just so I’m sure I’ve got this straight...

The live (& neutral) from the supply fuse to time switch is only to power the t-switch,
the neutral between the t-s and the meter is used to tell the meter when it’s to count “off-peak”.

Yes.

(Not sure it’s a neutral, but it’s a signalling wire of some sort.)