Dimplex Quantum Fixed Charge Times with two cable supply

worlestone

Has anyone experience of setting Quantum storage heaters to a fixed charge time whilst on a twin supply?

It appears to be very straight forward, but the manual specifically states that charge times do not need to be set.

My reason for asking is that we are on Octopus Snug, which has variable charging times, but due to our smart meter there's a delay in switching, so we get charged at peak rate for the additional minutes - potentially an additional £160 per year.  It seems to me that setting the charge times would avoid this.

Any experience please? Thanks

QrizB

Are you certain that Octopus are charging you peak rate for those periods?

If they are, complain to Octopus. Ask them to refund you for the overcharge and to change your meter timings to remove the discrepancy.

Edit: I was about to refer you back to your own thread on your problems with Octopus Snug, but spotted that you're the OP over there too 

Yes, you can set your own times but beware that Octopus might move your timings around (unless they've given them to you in writing with the promise to tell you if they change).

c9off

From memory, the RF has charge timers, but none of the previous models.

RedFraggle

If everything is set at the factory default (which is NOT set) I think they should charge whenever the E7 circuit becomes live which should be set in your smart meter. 

QrizB

RedFraggle said:

If everything is set at the factory default (which is NOT set) I think they should charge whenever the E7 circuit becomes live which should be set in your smart meter. 

OP's problem is that they have a half-hourly-billed tariff, and the ALCS doesn't switch exactly on the half hour so they end up with the E7 circuit live during peak rate periods.

mmmmikey

Hi @worlestone I think some of the confusion lies in subtle changes to the Quantum heaters not always reflected in the manuals. I don't have direct experience of the Quantum heaters but have used similar settings on Elnur HHR and as far as I can tell from the manuals they work the same. I'm sure you know some of this so please excuse my somewhat simplistic explanation, it's just the easiest way I can think to explain.

Firstly, think of something like a table lamp which has it's own switch in the lead close to the lamp. It also plugs into a socket which is also switched. For the lamp to come on, you need to switch it on at the socket and then at the lamp (or vice versa). Once you've done that, you can switch it on and off just using the switch at the lamp. Or the other way round - as long as the lamp is switched on you can switch it on and off at the socket.

The storage heaters work in much the same way
 If you leave the heating element switched on at the storage heater, you can switch it on and off by using the second wire. This is switched on and off at the meter end, in this case remotely by Octopus. This is bog-standard storage heater operation.

The other way you could operate the heating element is to keep the second wire live live all the time and use a time switch on the heater itself to switch the element on and off. Because the first wire is always on, you don't actually need a second wire, you can just supply the time switch that controls the heating element from the first wire, and if you look inside a single wire heater you'll see that the first and second terminals connected together.

The upshot of this is that with the default two wire configuration, no schedule should configured and in this case the (time) switch at the heater will always be on. This is what Octopus expect and it allows them to control the heater for you.

If you want to set things up with a rule along the lines of "allow Octopus to switch the heating elements on and off as they choose except between 16;00 and 17:00 when the element must be off" then you can achieve that by using the schedule in the Quantum menus accordingly ( as long as your heaters are a version that supports this).

Seems like a long winded answer but I hope it helps you?

worlestone

Thank you @MMMMikey, your long winded explanation which was spot on, now I understand! Having said that, just in time for the warmer weather and switching the heaters off! But thanks, I'll set them up for autumn, knowing I can at last avoid the daily spike in charges when Octopus are being 'helpful'.