Electrician for "electricity leak" ?

markin

waqasahmed said:

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

Are you cycling the battery 30 times a day or im i misunderstanding the numbers here?

PV Gen today 0.1kwh
EAC today 28.5kwh
EBat Discharge Today 79.3kwh


You can have more than 1 consumer units, its common to have 2 in E7 homes.

anon_ymous

markin said:

waqasahmed said:

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

Are you cycling the battery 30 times a day or im i misunderstanding the numbers here?

PV Gen today 0.1kwh
EAC today 28.5kwh
EBat Discharge Today 79.3kwh


You can have more than 1 consumer units, its common to have 2 in E7 homes.

I doubt it? Or I hope not? 

I've got only one here

DE_612183

have you shut off power at the consumer unit and then seen the meter stop to zero yet?

anon_ymous

DE_612183 said:

have you shut off power at the consumer unit and then seen the meter stop to zero yet?

Shall do on Friday evening and report back. Kinda require power to work atm lol

Gerry1

waqasahmed said:

Gerry1 said:

waqasahmed said:

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) 

The electricity supplier's responsibility stops at the meter; anything downstream of the meter is your responsibility.  If your car has a leaky tank or fuel pipe, it's not the petrol station's problem, their responsibility ends at the nozzle !

Sure. I get that. I was just wondering what they meant tby dodgy wiring ie: their wires, or my wires?

I'm well aware that I'm NOT to touch their equipment but I wasn't sure which wires you're referring to. Theirs? or mine?

If their wires were dodgy the leakage wouldn't be measured because it wouldn't have gone through the meter (and the heat would probably have caused a fire).

Petriix

waqasahmed said:

Petriix said:

waqasahmed said:

Petriix said:

The first thing that springs to mind is: you say your smart meter shows you are using 200W. Do you mean the IHD which displays your current usage? If so it could actually be showing what you are exporting to the grid rather than importing. Depending on the model some show export with a pylon type symbol, a negative number or just zero (which mine does), but some make no distinction between import and export. Check if the actual meter reading is increasing.

Another possibility is if you have a hybrid inverter and a battery it's possible that your battery is charging from the grid - perhaps if it's reached a critical low voltage and is emergency charging to bring it above the minimum level.

Other than that...It's entirely possible that there is something branched off from your main incoming electric supply before your main consumer unit. I say this because my EV charger is separated in this way using a Henley block. You need to double check that there isn't anything else connected which doesn't go through the CU.

From experience it's highly unlikely that there is a random 200W draw constantly on your supply. Possible exceptions include powering communal lighting or part of another flat if you live in a house which has been divided into multiple flats, but I assume that none of these could apply in your case as it's unusual to have solar installed at a flat.

Sorry, the IHD? It's deffo the import, not the export

Mine has the ability to differentiate. I did also consider that the battery might be the thing pulling power from the grid too. There's no communal lighting/flats. It's a semi detached house

Ok. IHD = In House Display, as opposed to the smart meter itself which is in a cupboard or garage etc.

So, you have a hybrid inverter with a battery. Do you have any way of monitoring the power flow through the inverter to/from the battery? I'd very much suspect that the battery is drawing a small amount, possibly because it thinks there's more surplus solar than there actually is or maybe just because you fully depleted it and the BMS is trying to protect it from under voltage. What type of battery is it?

I have emailed someonje to see if they can install a power meter JUST for that. It's a Growatt SPH3000 inverter, with one x Growatt 3.3 Kw battery

I did check using the IHD (showing import, not export)

I've seen this thingy

https://www.ginverter.com/products/smart-meter

I'm not familiar with the Growatt monitoring options but I thought they had a dongle which could connect the inverter to wifi and allow you to monitor in real time. Without it I'm not sure how you keep track of your battery state of charge etc.

anon_ymous

Petriix said:

waqasahmed said:

Petriix said:

waqasahmed said:

Petriix said:

The first thing that springs to mind is: you say your smart meter shows you are using 200W. Do you mean the IHD which displays your current usage? If so it could actually be showing what you are exporting to the grid rather than importing. Depending on the model some show export with a pylon type symbol, a negative number or just zero (which mine does), but some make no distinction between import and export. Check if the actual meter reading is increasing.

Another possibility is if you have a hybrid inverter and a battery it's possible that your battery is charging from the grid - perhaps if it's reached a critical low voltage and is emergency charging to bring it above the minimum level.

Other than that...It's entirely possible that there is something branched off from your main incoming electric supply before your main consumer unit. I say this because my EV charger is separated in this way using a Henley block. You need to double check that there isn't anything else connected which doesn't go through the CU.

From experience it's highly unlikely that there is a random 200W draw constantly on your supply. Possible exceptions include powering communal lighting or part of another flat if you live in a house which has been divided into multiple flats, but I assume that none of these could apply in your case as it's unusual to have solar installed at a flat.

Sorry, the IHD? It's deffo the import, not the export

Mine has the ability to differentiate. I did also consider that the battery might be the thing pulling power from the grid too. There's no communal lighting/flats. It's a semi detached house

Ok. IHD = In House Display, as opposed to the smart meter itself which is in a cupboard or garage etc.

So, you have a hybrid inverter with a battery. Do you have any way of monitoring the power flow through the inverter to/from the battery? I'd very much suspect that the battery is drawing a small amount, possibly because it thinks there's more surplus solar than there actually is or maybe just because you fully depleted it and the BMS is trying to protect it from under voltage. What type of battery is it?

I have emailed someonje to see if they can install a power meter JUST for that. It's a Growatt SPH3000 inverter, with one x Growatt 3.3 Kw battery

I did check using the IHD (showing import, not export)

I've seen this thingy

https://www.ginverter.com/products/smart-meter

I'm not familiar with the Growatt monitoring options but I thought they had a dongle which could connect the inverter to wifi and allow you to monitor in real time. Without it I'm not sure how you keep track of your battery state of charge etc.

Well, 15 minutes afrom real time, which allowed me to see that I was using x power at y time

anon_ymous

Gerry1 said:

waqasahmed said:

Gerry1 said:

waqasahmed said:

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) 

The electricity supplier's responsibility stops at the meter; anything downstream of the meter is your responsibility.  If your car has a leaky tank or fuel pipe, it's not the petrol station's problem, their responsibility ends at the nozzle !

Sure. I get that. I was just wondering what they meant tby dodgy wiring ie: their wires, or my wires?

I'm well aware that I'm NOT to touch their equipment but I wasn't sure which wires you're referring to. Theirs? or mine?

If their wires were dodgy the leakage wouldn't be measured because it wouldn't have gone through the meter (and the heat would probably have caused a fire).

Thanks. So either my wires OR their power meter

Qyburn

Do you have an isolator on "your" side of the meter? 

anon_ymous

Qyburn said:

Do you have an isolator on "your" side of the meter? 

I don't believe so unfortunately. The only isolators are at the inverter end of things