removing economy 7

[danlightbulb]

Hi all,

I'm about to buy a house that has economy 7 storage heating. I will be replacing this with gas central heating so wish the economy 7 circuits to be removed.

How do I go about this, is it simply a matter of contacting the electricity board?

Regards

 

[Taylortwocities]

Yes, have them remove the meter and make sure the offpeak tarif rental doesnt appear on subsequent bills!

You will probably have an offpeak fuseboard and associated wiring to be removed. There will probably be wiring to the rooms that have storage radiators in them (?). You could utilise the wiring as radial circuits from the main fuseboard/ consumer unit

 

[danlightbulb]

Many thanks.

Yes there is a separate fuseboard. Will this be disconnected when the meter is changed so that I can go about removing it and modifying the wiring.

 

[Taylortwocities]

The electricity company will diconnect the off peak meter and (if they can be bothered) will remove it. Anything else is up to you or your favourite electrician.

 

[plugwash]

personally i'd ask them to put both fuseboxes on the untimed supply when they disconnect the off peak meter. That way you can re-use the off peak circuits as single socket circuits and get some extra sockets with little work and no mess.

 

[Lectrician]

The meter guy is unlikely to do this for you unless you dish out the posh biscuits. He will turn up, remove teleswitch and swap meter for a single credit meter. He will leave the old fuseboard in situ with the pair of tails disconnected.

 

[Deleted member 54734]

Depends on what area you live in.

We get told to leave the off peak board live.

And the off peak meter is always removed why leave it disconnected?

P.S wish some sparks would stop removing the time clock when storage heaters are being removed.
Get lots of jobs where cust has been getting a high bill because the meter is unable to switch to night/ cheap rate.

 

[icstm]

I moved into my property in September and would now like to switch from Economy 7 to a regular tariff. I have a standard E7 set-up with off-peak (storage) heating.

Currently there are 2 boxes: the meter (with 2 readings) and the economy 7 timer that separately feeds the off-peak circuits via a separate fuse board to the storage heaters and the hot water.

When I switch to a regular tariff how do I need to ask the EDF technician to ensure that he correctly wires in the new meter to ensure that all circuits are always live including the old off-peak lines?

I am concerned that he will forget about the off-peak line. As both the timer and the meter are theirs what should I ask them to do to ensure that they don't simply cut the supply to the off-peak lines?

 

[Deleted member 54734]

Don't know about EDF but we are told to fit henley blocks and leave the off peak board live.

If EDF don't do this or you think the chap might leave the board disconnected while on the phone about the meter change ask for an isolator as well.

This way if they do leave the board disconnected you can isolate the supply to connect it up again.

Or you could always tell him/her what you want to do when they turn up and ask them to leave it live via Henley blocks.

 

[icstm]

Thanks Roo,

Where would they fit the henley blocks? I ask becase the meter and the timer are outside my flat on the floor above.

What is the generic term for henley blocks? I might ask customer services to leave notes on their system when I request the switch-over.

I'm going to swapping the storage heaters for Kalirel heaters and leaving the immersion heaters in place, but will connect a timer so that water is heated in the morning and evening.

 

[Deleted member 54734]

Don't know much about Kalirel heaters, but I do know usually anything that heats uses a lot of electric.

If these heater's do use lots of lecky then you may be better off staying on an off peak tariff.

Just googling them quickly and it looks like E10 may be a good tariff for these heaters as they are not storage heaters (tho I may be wrong)?

As for Henley blocks.
Henley blocks are....... well Henley blocks, most people that deal with electricity will know what a Henley block is.

Chances are these will be fitted next to the meter and timer.

Pic would be good tho.

Everyone likes pic's

 

[plugwash]

I think the proper generic term is service connector blocks but everyone calls them henley blocks at least in casual conversation regardless of if they are made by henley or not.

 

[icstm]

ok, I'll try and get a pic, though I'll have to ask permission to get into the meter cupboard...

As for why I am removing storage heaters: I ;leave the flat at 8 and return no earlier than 7, so most of the storage heater heat will have been lost by then.

I don't have double glazing (not in my control as the leaseholder) so the heat realeased during the day will have been lost when I get home.
Correct me if you think otherwise.

 

[Deleted member 54734]

Sounds to me like your doing the right thing getting rid of the storage heaters.
As for the tariff......
I don't know what part of the country your in but I do know that Economy 10 (if your supplier supports it) would give you cheap electric between 20.00hrs and 22.00 hrs if that would help you?

Might be worth asking your supplier what would be the best tariff for you as your out most of the day.

They have a chap they can send round to advise you on the best tariff.

 

[DJM]

EDF don't do this or you think the chap might leave the board disconnected while on the phone about the meter change ask for an isolator as well.

EDF do not fit isolators, even if they are on the job card as I have found out. EDF are the worst and most difficult people I have ever had to deal with, I am astonished they are still in business.