Discuss Storage heaters not working after meter change in the Central Heating Systems area at ElectriciansForums.net

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totty3478

Hi.

I have economy 7 white meter storage heaters which were running on a three rate meter. The meter had a day rate, a night rate and a separate storage heater rate. Everything worked fine. After the meter was changed to a standard single rate meter my storage heaters now no longer heat up over night. Does anyone have any suggestions about what the fault is?

Thanks
 
Hi totty 3478, sorry for the delay approving your post, staff are all grafters too so we juggle the forum and work which can sometimes leave threads waiting a bit :)

I would suggest you contact your energy provider, it is possible you have been fitted with the wrong meter, you may have a contactor or some nature that was triggered by your previous meter through an integral timing mechanism.
I take it you will still be getting a 2 rate day/night tarriff system with your new meter or your bills are going to rocket once you get your storage heaters back.

If they say they cannot help you then you may need an electrician to look into fitting you a timer again, I'm assuming you have a contactor that pulls in the supply to the storage heaters.
 
Hi Darkwood

Thanks for the reply. I an in negotiations with new energy supplier as I want to move away from my present one. The new supplier say they can fit a new meter that will accommodate the storage heaters but what I would like to know is if you think there could be a fault in the wiring rather than the meter?

Thanks
 
it's more likely that the meter monkey has cocked it up.
 
Hi Darkwood

Thanks for the reply. I an in negotiations with new energy supplier as I want to move away from my present one. The new supplier say they can fit a new meter that will accommodate the storage heaters but what I would like to know is if you think there could be a fault in the wiring rather than the meter?

Thanks

I can only give an educated guess on the info supplied, only a callout and a visual inspection and possible meter check of the set-up would give you a definitive answer. Night storage heaters can be controlled using several methods but as you said it happened in conjunction with a meter change then I suspect that is a key part of the issue.
The problem is meter fitters are not always the brightest sparks (pardon the pun) - they do a short course and really thats all they know how to do but if they come across a meter they are familiar with then they may just ignore any extra wires that went out of the meter (if in doubt, leave it out attitude), unprofessional attitude to cover their own lack of experience and/or knowledge and then winter comes and the customer finds none of the storage heaters work :/.
 
If all your storage heaters are not working then the individual circuits are unlikely to be at fault since they are usually independent circuits.

The only places a fault can occur for all of them at once is:
At the main switch of the storage heater fuse box.
At the power supply cables coming into the storage heater fuse box
At the timer controls system (if there is one)
At the meter.

I would believe it was the meter fitters mistake at the first instance as it does not make sense that a different fault has occurred at the same time as the meter was changed (but this can happen)
 
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Hi.

I have economy 7 white meter storage heaters which were running on a three rate meter. The meter had a day rate, a night rate and a separate storage heater rate. Everything worked fine. After the meter was changed to a standard single rate meter my storage heaters now no longer heat up over night. Does anyone have any suggestions about what the fault is?

Thanks

Why was the meter changed?

Who decided to change it to a single rate meter?
 
Thanks everyone for your replies

Hi Handysparks

The meter was changed to a single rate standard meter so that I could change energy supplier as my new supplier could not use the meter from the old supplier. So a standard one that anyone could use was fitted. The guy was there for only 15 minutes and all other electrical appliances in my house works. So I am just looking to see if everyone think it is the meter that's at fault and then I could fix it by getting a new meter.

Thanks
 
There are a few ways the meter can give you dual tarrif - it looks like your old meter used an intregal timed switch to provide a control wire or direct power to storage heater fuseboard, if this is the case the new meter would need these additional outputs, again we are guessing here, some meters only have one output option but change the charge rate digitally - this may not be suitable for your needs, without looking into it by someone checking it on a callout then we cannot really tell you much more.
 
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If you have changed tariff to single rate, the off peak will be disconnected hence no storage heaters, anyway if that is your form of heating why change, if it was connected to 24hrs supply it would cost you an small fortune.
 
I would get your supplier changed pronto. Your water heating was also probably supplied on overnight off peak too, so you will now be using day rate to heat that.
 
Hi.

I have economy 7 white meter storage heaters which were running on a three rate meter. The meter had a day rate, a night rate and a separate storage heater rate. Everything worked fine. After the meter was changed to a standard single rate meter my storage heaters now no longer heat up over night. Does anyone have any suggestions about what the fault is?

Thanks
Is there 2 chunky lookin cables just hanging loose lol
 

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