Electrician for "electricity leak" ?

anon_ymous

Hi

So I've had a smart meter installed in September 2022
I've recently had an inverter installed too, for solar panels. Looking at the device physically, it appears to be consuming 35w. The app shows not a wh

See https://i.ibb.co/sshxF0q/Screenshot-20230116-105616.png


I turned everything off, including my fridge freezer, except the inverter and noticed I was still pulling 200w according to the smart meter I did phone the people who installed the inverter, before looking at the inverter itself too. They suggested that I'm probably "leaking" electricity somewhere if you've got everything turned off. The inverter app also shows that I'm pulling around 150-180w in the early morning, when nothing is switched on too (50w would be explained by the fridge freezer, 35w would be explained by the inverter) but that still leaves quite a lot of load left. All my appliances are farily new too, given I only recently bought the house so it's not like I've got "phantom" energy using that much

Looking online, the most likely cause is a dodgy smart meter, however there's also a possibility it's not even AFTER I've turned everything bar the inverter off. What kind of electrician could see if I am indeed "leaking" electricity, perhaps due to dodgy wiring? Also let's say that it is the smart meter that's at fault, I guess I'd still need to get an electrician to say "Yeah it's your smart meter" ? . Realistically, any energy company would fight tooth and nail if they have to give any money back

Astria

It's normal for an inverter to always consume some current even when it's not doing anything, but not 200W unless you have several of them.

You should have multiple isolators for the PV install, on both the DC and AC side, and typically have a shutdown/startup procedure to know in which order to use them, the first thing I'd do is isolate the solar installation.

Then you can turn off the circuits in your consumer unit and you should see within 1 minute that the smart meter says 0W - the IHD should run on batteries for a small time without mains power.

Then once you have that baseline, turn circuits back on and check the load, allowing 1 minute each time to allow the smart meter to update.

markin

50w seems far to high for the fridge freezer if not running and too low if its running the compressor.

anon_ymous

Astria said:

It's normal for an inverter to always consume some current even when it's not doing anything, but not 200W unless you have several of them.

You should have multiple isolators for the PV install, on both the DC and AC side, and typically have a shutdown/startup procedure to know in which order to use them, the first thing I'd do is isolate the solar installation.

Then you can turn off the circuits in your consumer unit and you should see within 1 minute that the smart meter says 0W - the IHD should run on batteries for a small time without mains power.

Then once you have that baseline, turn circuits back on and check the load, allowing 1 minute each time to allow the smart meter to update.

I've got one that isolates the battery, and then also the solar part

By consumer unit, do you mean my fuse box?

What should I do then if my smart meter doesn't show 0w? 

EssexHebridean

My under-counter freezer alternates between pulling nothing at all and around 70w when the compressor kicks in, so I've agree that I'd expect a FF to be a little higher than that depending on age and size. 

anon_ymous

EssexHebridean said:

My under-counter freezer alternates between pulling nothing at all and around 70w when the compressor kicks in, so I've agree that I'd expect a FF to be a little higher than that depending on age and size. 

It's a very new Haier. It's this in particular, albeit bought from Currys clearance at about half the price. It's thoretically using 36w/hour given the annual consumption of 318 kWh

https://ao.com/product/hfw7819ewmp-haier-american-fridge-freezer-silver-84408-27.aspx

All my appliances are very new

Reed_Richards

waqasahmed said:

By consumer unit, do you mean my fuse box?

These days the "fuse box" is likely to contain circuit breakers rather than fuses.  If you still have actual fuses you need an upgrade.  Anyway, since the "fuse box" no longer contains fuses, the modern term is "consumer unit".

Astria

waqasahmed said:

Astria said:

It's normal for an inverter to always consume some current even when it's not doing anything, but not 200W unless you have several of them.

You should have multiple isolators for the PV install, on both the DC and AC side, and typically have a shutdown/startup procedure to know in which order to use them, the first thing I'd do is isolate the solar installation.

Then you can turn off the circuits in your consumer unit and you should see within 1 minute that the smart meter says 0W - the IHD should run on batteries for a small time without mains power.

Then once you have that baseline, turn circuits back on and check the load, allowing 1 minute each time to allow the smart meter to update.

I've got one that isolates the battery, and then also the solar part

By consumer unit, do you mean my fuse box?

What should I do then if my smart meter doesn't show 0w? 

Yes, the fuse box, if everything is off inside there and the smart meter is still showing usage after a few minutes then something fishy is happening as everything should go through that box.

anon_ymous

Reed_Richards said:

waqasahmed said:

By consumer unit, do you mean my fuse box?

These days the "fuse box" is likely to contain circuit breakers rather than fuses.  If you still have actual fuses you need an upgrade.  Anyway, since the "fuse box" no longer contains fuses, the modern term is "consumer unit".

I don't think I've got actual fuses in there. It's got flip switched and an RCD thingy

Gerry1

waqasahmed said:

EssexHebridean said:

My under-counter freezer alternates between pulling nothing at all and around 70w when the compressor kicks in, so I've agree that I'd expect a FF to be a little higher than that depending on age and size. 

 It's theoretically using 36w/hour given the annual consumption of 318 kWh

It's true that the average consumption will be 36W (plain watts, not watts per hour) but that won't be a steady value.  The compressor will cycle on and off, so at any given moment its consumption will be close to zero (just few watts for the control system, wi-fi etc) or something closer to 100W when the compressor is running.

With the solar system isolated and absolutely everything switched off at the consumer unit, watch the red light (marked 1000 Imp/kWh or similar) for several minutes: it shouldn't even flash once.  If it does, you have a faulty meter or a wiring problem.

anon_ymous

Gerry1 said:

waqasahmed said:

EssexHebridean said:

My under-counter freezer alternates between pulling nothing at all and around 70w when the compressor kicks in, so I've agree that I'd expect a FF to be a little higher than that depending on age and size. 

 It's theoretically using 36w/hour given the annual consumption of 318 kWh

It's true that the average consumption will be 36W (plain watts, not watts per hour) but that won't be a steady value.  The compressor will cycle on and off, so at any given moment its consumption will be close to zero (just few watts for the control system, wi-fi etc) or something closer to 100W when the compressor is running.

With the solar system isolated and absolutely everything switched off at the consumer unit, watch the red light (marked 1000 Imp/kWh or similar) for several minutes: it shouldn't even flash once.  If it does, you have a faulty meter or a wiring problem.

Thanks. I'll do this. Then, if I've gone through all those steps and time that hopefully gives me more info

Once absolutely everything has been sorted at a fuse board and a solar panel level then I've got data to use and say "Look your smart meter is dodgy"

Actually, tell a lie, RE: the wiring problem, would that be up to me to get someone to fix it? Or the leccy company? (Not sure if your referring to wires in the house, or wires from the consumer unit to the smart meter)