Dimplex quantum help - how hot?

lilac_dawn

I had 2 quantums installed last winter. One, brand new, seemed to be overheating. I raised a ticket with Dimplex but then the weather turned milder, I turned the heater off and it didn’t get sorted.
Can anyone help with the following: how hot does the outside get, especially if it’s still charging? I have it set to home all day, for today, programmed to come on at 8, and the fan duly started at 8. When I got up at 7 though the casing was seriously hot. It’s still in its charging time until 8:30. Is this normal? How much leakage should there be?
I am going to see if it cools down on the outside once the charging time finishes but wanted to compare with others first. I also need to know how to check the usage as the quantum, immersion heater and dishwasher used 25 kw/h up until midnight yesterday. 

Edited to say: dimplex engineer was supposed to arrive today but has cancelled. Dimplex has told me to switch my heating off until the next appointment - not even an apology!

Edit 2: Dimplex cancelled 2nd appointment at short notice. I am waiting for confirmation for the 3rd appointment.  I did manage to speak to an engineer who told me Quantums get very hot when they are charging and seemed to say they will always be hot on the outside? If that is the case, why are they described as high retention...? 

EssexHebridean

Warm, but not "hot" - if it is getting hot to the point that if you touch you hand to it it feels "hot" then I suspect there is an issue with the internal insulation. The fact that you describe it as "seriously hot" suggests that things aren't right - and of course if it is not functioning as a "High Heat Retention" NSH then that will also increase its running costs as it will be "leaking" heat at times you don't want.

The timing thing is a separate issue though. Is the heater wired in with two mains connections - one to the E7 circuit and a separate 24 hour one? And have you established what your current off-peak rate times are? We used to find that ours ran to just after 8am for part of the year so your 8.30am is far from impossible. 

Scot_39

As above - Quantums are either wired to restricted (e.g. E7 meter switched so only live 7 hrs overnight normally ) and live circuits - dual wired mode.

Or single wired to 24/7 live.

Some E7 regional timings can be as late as 9am in summer.  8:30 common in some regions.

Conventional nsh do get very warm to the touch - uncomfortably warm for many.  Quantums maybe less so.


But the core itself is probably far higher  - seen reference to 110 deg C limit - hotter than boiling water - on a quick google.  And the ch6 diagnostic screen 11 ex shows 80s, 90s and 104 max iirc.


Talk to Dimplex and see if they can get you to that reading on yours.

Or try the following the online guide  for one hardware / firmware series here as a guide  - but from past posts not all versions of Quantum give the same details to users.

https://lms.gdhvacademy.com/mod/book/view.php?id=1315&chapterid=531

Either the video at ch 4.5 or the tabled screens at ch 6. 

EssexHebridean

Quantums are a LOT cooler than standard NSH's - our old-style box of Bricks Dimplex heaters used to get hot enough on the cases that they were uncomfortable to the touch. The Quantum never got more than just warm. 

Scot_39

Thanks for that - had seen posts that they still got warm - just wasn't sure of how relative to old.

lilac_dawn

Thanks both. 
I know the times are correct - it is split here and when the clocks go back at the weekend will finish at 7:30am but kicj in at 10:30pm which is useful for laundry
It is more the temperature and I am wondering if this is affecting how much electricity it is using as it seems to be quite high in comparison to the old storage heater. 
Back to Dimplex I go

Scot_39

lilac_dawn said:

I had 2 quantums installed last winter. One, brand new, seemed to be overheating. I raised a ticket with Dimplex but then the weather turned milder, I turned the heater off and it didn’t get sorted.
Can anyone help with the following: how hot does the outside get, especially if it’s still charging? I have it set to home all day, for today, programmed to come on at 8, and the fan duly started at 8. When I got up at 7 though the casing was seriously hot. It’s still in its charging time until 8:30. Is this normal? How much leakage should there be?
I am going to see if it cools down on the outside once the charging time finishes but wanted to compare with others first. I also need to know how to check the usage as the quantum, immersion heater and dishwasher used 25 kw/h up until midnight yesterday. 

Iirc other brands like elnur have a default charge setting that is used initially - actually an editible parameter  - so may take more power than needed on switch on.

My old dumb heaters certainly take more to heat core from ambient then settle down.

Both might explain a high consumption.

But check for any automatic use of boost heating element too - as even the largest quantum now the 150 rf should only take 23.1 kWh over 7 hrs of charge iirc. 

Off peak main charge use is history display 2 in the ch6 section of gdhv help link listed above 

lilac_dawn

This is a QM150, The boost isn't on. I'm pretty sure it's not using offpeak as I can now check via the smart meter - although whne it was first installed, it was using peak one month, and then not the next. It seemed to be very erratic. 

EssexHebridean

Yes - Quantums as with any other NSH take a few days to settle in terms of the charge they take when they are best turned on at the beginning of winter, that usually resolves itself after a couple of days. That definitely shouldn't include them displaying an excessive level of heat though - or at least, never in my experience. 

lilac_dawn

Just out of interest, I stuck a thermometer on the outside of it and it’s already up to 35 degrees, and this is much cooler to touch than it was this morning. To my mind, it’s behaving like an old storage heater, with too much leakage - maybe this accounts for the high consumption? 

I have raised it with Dimplex. 

southone

I got one on top of mine and its showing 41.3C now (9:40 AM) it charged over night, max i seen on mine was 52c