Economy 7 storage heater

Ladylupo10

We have a unidare economy 7 storage heater. In November we had all 3 elements replaced, but after Christmas we awoke to find the rcd had tripped on the circuit. After trialling turning different appliances off overnight, we have identified the fault as the repaired storage heater. It always trips out around 4am. The electrician who replaced the elements cannot identify a fault. Any ideas?

Robin9

What is the rating of the RCD ? Perhaps the storage heater is drawing 15a and the RCD is 10a

Ladylupo10

Hi, how would we find this out? We have lived in the property for 10 years with no issues. Could the new elements be drawing more amps than the old elements? The economy 7 is active from midnight, would this not cause the rcd to trip out straight away? Thanks

footyguy

Ladylupo10 wrote: »

We have a unidare economy 7 storage heater. In November we had all 3 elements replaced, but after Christmas we awoke to find the rcd had tripped on the circuit. After trialling turning different appliances off overnight, we have identified the fault as the repaired storage heater. It always trips out around 4am. The electrician who replaced the elements cannot identify a fault. Any ideas?

:eek:

Get an electrician who knows what they are doing.

Good luck!

matelodave

As Footyguy says, get someone who knows what they are doing.

About the only thing that's simpler than a storage heater is a lightbulb so it shouldn't take a genius to work out what's wrong

jk0

I'm wondering why the storage heater trips out other appliances. Is it on a timeswitch on the 24 hour supply?

Richie-from-the-Boro

Water Controller circuit.

lstar337

matelodave wrote: »

As Footyguy says, get someone who knows what they are doing.

About the only thing that's simpler than a storage heater is a lightbulb so it shouldn't take a genius to work out what's wrong

:rotfl: Blunt but true! :rotfl:

macman

Presuming the sparky supplied the new elements, it's his responsibility, whether the circuit is overloaded, or whether one element is faulty. If he won't fix it, tell him in writing that you will employ another electrician to resolve the problem, and will be charging the cost back to him.
Is this 'electrician' actually qualified? What paperwork did he issue you with, if any?

Ladylupo10

I don’t want to be too critical of the electrician to be honest. The heater was lukewarm for ages, running off two or maybe one element. As we are hoping to sell our property soon, we decided to get it fixed. This was easier said than done, as most electricians won’t touch old heaters. The one we found travelled some distance, and it did work for a month. He has since been back and checked everything, and has even replaced the switch in case it was a earth issue. He didn’t charge me for this. There is no obvious problem. We now can’t get anyone else to help, so it’s not even like I could charge this back.

lstar337

Ladylupo10 wrote: »

As we are hoping to sell our property soon, we decided to get it fixed. This was easier said than done, as most electricians won’t touch old heaters.

?? Really?

I think you may be stretching the definition of the word 'most' here. I'm sure most electricians will be happy to work on any appliance.

Since a storage heater is such a simple device it would be easy money for a quick fill-in job.