Two broken boiler PCB's after Smart meter... Coincidence?

[Deleted User]

The_Fat_Controller said:

My installer was quite clear that the main distribution box switch and all individual breakers should be off until the meter was replaced.
I also ensured every single socket was off too.
Once the new meter was ready to go, everything was switched on individually.
I did say to the boiler, sorry you have been off for a couple of hours after having been powered-on and warm for about 3 years, I hope the shock won't kill you, luckily it didn't.
PS. Did you fit the tin-foil shields around all of your electrical devices at the same time as the Smart Meter was fitted ?

A complete over-reaction and not mentioned in any of the smart meter installer guides that I have looked at. Every property in this Country is subject to occasional and unforeseen power outages. Often DNOs will attempt Grid reconfiguration that fails but which results in On/Off cycles before the power is finally restored. If power-cycling caused widespread damage to electrical goods then there would be a public outcry.

FWIW, I had both my SMETS2 meters replaced last week. I was only asked to turn off the gas boiler as the installer needed to purge the gas pipe prior to turning on the boiler which is best done via a hob. Electricity was off course turned off when the main fuse was pulled.

https://www.edfenergy.com/sites/default/files/ifaq-migrated-files/smets2_credit_installer_guide_v.1.3.pdf

matelodave

Where I live, we have power dips, surges and outages lasting anywhere from a second or so to a couple of hours and apart from the aggro of resetting a couple of clocks and waiting for the router to reboot there hasn't been any other problems.

I dont run around  to turn stuff off and then back on again, one at a time, when the power restores. What happens in those houses who have E7 and the contactor closes at around midnight and a 10-12kw load gets slammed across the supply all in one go.

There really isn't anything in most people's house to cause a large spike when the power restores to kill the boiler so it really is just down to a coincidence or bad luck. If a surge was going to kill it when the power was turned on it would usually have happened at the time not a week or so later

[Deleted User]

I suspect that some installers are offering this advice to avoid being accused of causing the failure of any electrical appliance. If a plug isn’t pulled and an appliance failed, they can say we told you to unplug it. If all appliances are unplugged and one fails when it is switched back on, they can say that it was nothing to do with them as the power was fully restored before the appliance failed. It does avoid that accusation that a meter change caused my boiler to fail.

knightstyle

There is no point in putting tin foil round electrical devices unless the tin foil is connected to earth.

Ectophile

knightstyle said:

There is no point in putting tin foil round electrical devices unless the tin foil is connected to earth.

Faraday cages don't have to be earthed. Making a good Faraday cage from aluminium foil isn't that easy as it naturally develops an insulating oxide layer on exposure to air. You need at least two layers, with a big overlap between the joins.

Gerry1

@matelodave @[Deleted User] @knightstyle You're all missing the point.  There's a significant difference between normal power failures and throwing the main switch in the house.

If there's a power failure, all the appliances in the house still 'see' the supply to the rest of the road; everything is still connected in parallel.  Any spike from within the house will be damped by the low impedance it sees.

However, if the main switch is thrown, any back EMF from inductive loads such as fridge and freezer motors will be 'seen' by the  boiler (which is likely to be nearby).  The rest of the road is no longer connected, so the spike won't be damped, and there's a small but non-zero risk that it may be may be large enough to cause damage.

It's a bit like tugging at a door that won't open, or hauling something heavy up a slope.  If the door is unexpectedly unlocked from the other side. or the rope suddenly breaks, you'll no longer experience the stabilising force that they presented: you may therefore lose your balance and fall over.  Similarly, the spikes from a car's alternator are normally damped bt the car battery.  But if you disconnect the battery while the engine is running, the spikes will no longe be damped and you may have to replace the alternator, the radio and heaven knows what else.

The risk to any given boiler is probably very low, but even if it's only 1 in 1,000 that could still represent a significant number of incidents, given the number of smart meters being installed.  Best practice must be to switch off sensitive items before throwing the main switch.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2020/sep/27/installation-of-smart-meter-leaves-elderly-woman-facing-4000-bill

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5776998/smart-meter-fitted-now-boiler-broken/

Cardew

Now the BBC have reported that David Icke has been banned by Facebook and Twitter, I wonder if he is contributing to this thread!