[bena]

Dear all
Have you had this problem?
We have electric storage heaters which get turned on by eon at their off peak times.
They have stopped working, maybe after a gas meter was installed, but Im not sure. we don't use them in the summer.
They are the heating in the house, and they are not coming on.
I have tried to log a call with eon but it seems difficult
I have had 4 phone calls with them, each almost an hour long.
I have tried Twitter !
I have tried whatsApp and had a better conversation but no engineer thinking about what is wrong
I have logged a formal complaint and I am told they will email within about 48 hours, may be there will be a resolution in a week or so!

Each time I call they seem unable to access any information i have told them in the past, Its as though they never wrote anything down about what my problem is!

So far they have not helped. and I'm at a complete loss of what to do. My phone bill is getting bigger!

[theunknowntech]

Good evening @bena ,

Please post photos of the heaters, your meters, the consumer units/fuseboxes and anything around them. I need to see what you've got in order to try and give advice.

Thanks

[bena]

Thanks
here should be a photo of meter etc but if not:
the storage heaters were made in the 70s and 80s and are big full of heavy bricks with a heating element.
the meter has a cable coming out and going to a large 3phase relay. the meter is suppose to control when the relay turns on the power to the storage heaters, (0-5:00, 13:00-16:00,20:00-22:00) but they never get any power.
any help with how to ask eon welcome

[retrotecchie]

@bena

That's a conventional setup for three phase with the heating load switching controlled by the three phase relay driven by the auxiliary contact from the meter.

One of two things is happening here.

1. Either the meter timings and the ALC relay haven't been properly configured in which case the relay isn't being controlled by the meter.

Are you billed for an Economy 7/10 tariff with different peak and off-peak prices? Does your meter indeed show two different registers for peak and off-peak usage? Do your meters send readings automatically and are these shown on your bills as peak and off peak usage?

2. The phase supplying the live side of the relay isn't providing power because the fuse has blown and you are only getting two phases.

A little difficult to see from the photos but you have a single phase isolator switch which I assume feeds the rest of the house (lighting and power) and a three phase isolator that goes off to the heating system. It's not impossible that there is a fault on the old heating system that has caused a fuse to blow, but it's not the same phase that supplies power to the rest of the house. Unlikely, but it can happen.

The incorrect configuration of the auxiliary contact in the meter is the most likely scenario, and all I can offer in the way of diagnostics is the following:

Have a look on the display and see if their is an icon or legend that looks like a switch contact. During peak times the icon should show an open contact and it should only show as closed during the off-peak times. If there is no change between peak and off peak hours, then the relay isn't programmed properly.

To the left of the LCD display there are two LEDs that flash periodically when power is being drawn. During peak hours, one of these will flash. During off-peak hours, the other one should flash. If you only see one of these LEDs flash, no matter what time of day, then the meter isn't correctly configured for dual-rate tariff and will only bill at peak rate and never actuate the auxiliary contact.

I can't give you any more specifics than this as EDMI are notorious for not having any technical information for end users.

In any case, it is likely that when you try and speak to customer services, they won't have a Scooby what is going on, but my opinion is you need a meter engineer to come out and have a look as they have more of an idea than the helpdesk.

[theunknowntech]

Nah, this is easy. It can be done remotely via SMETS Command - just get someone to issue a SMETS Command to reconfigure ECAUL/ALCS in the first instance. You should only get an engineer out if the SMETS Command fails to resolve it.

This does not require an engineer - in fact an engineer on-site probably can't do it anyway.

[retrotecchie]

@theunknowntech

In theory it is easy, however trying to get through to anyone in customer services with enough knowledge to understand the issue, get it passed on to someone who can actually action the configuration command, and then check back with the customer to follow up and check that it has actually worked....that's usually a whole new world of pain and not something that will happen within a short period of time.

[theunknowntech]

Yes... I've noticed that...

Alas, it remains the easiest option. There's not much point - or value - in sending out an engineer to run the exact same command in front of the meter that'd be possible to do remotely.

[bena]

Thank you for the help:
Yes I have a switch icon on the meter and it is always open, and I have informed Eon of this as I thought it might mean something.
I also asked EMDI about the switch but technical support refused to speak to me and referred me to my supplier, I did not tell them it was Eon!
We have econ-7
off-peak is
00:00 to 05:00
13:00 to 16:00
20:00 to 22:00
House power in on L1 and is working fine
A test was done at 20:30 (off peak) using a clamp meter there is less than 1mA going down the control wire between the meter and contactor relay. I say less because it was difficult to remove interference from other cables, sometimes it was 0 sometimes 1, it does not measure less than 1mA.
Does anyone know what current the contactor uses?
I have seen the flashing lights on the meter but now I know what to look for. I shat look and report back tomorrow.
More many thanks

[retrotecchie]

@bena

Those hours would be Economy 10, not Economy 7. I'd check exactly what tariff you are on as E7 only gives you seven hours off-peak, usually in one continuous block.

The contactor should draw about 100mA when energised. Maybe more. The meter auxiliary contacts (there are actually two sets) are rated at a maximum of 2A.

EDMI are notorious for not giving any information. As the meters are 'the responsibility of the supplier' I sort of understand why, but at the end of the day, you'd think they'd be a little more helpful.

Track what hours the LEDs change and that will at least confirm the meter is actually changing between off peak and on peak times, and will give you the times the meter thinks are your hours.

[bena]

great 1mA will not activate the coil. one engineere at Eon i first spoke to seemed to say "this wont work, there is a conflict in the configuration
thanks