How to check if new storage heaters and washer cylinder installed correctly.

Laurochka

I recently had old storage heaters and water heating cylinder replaced. 

I had my old 2 electricity meters which were on rts replaced in May with a White Meter 1 Smart Meter. 

I got the new heater and cylinder fitted on Fri and I understand there will be initial costs as the water heater comes up to temperature and the storage heater settles.

However I'm using almost 3x the daily electricity I was before and this doesn't seem right. 

I usually use around £1.50 - £2.00 electricity a day. 
Yesterday (Sat - the day after installation) I used over £5.

I checked the timing of the water cylinder and I think it was heating during my daily rate hours, so last night, I changed the timing so it only heats during my night rate.

This morning my smart meter was showing I'd already used £2.75 - already way over my daily average. 

I'm slightly concerned the storage heaters are charging on the expensive day rate, but I don't know how to check this. The old heater used two power points - one switch for the storage part and one switch for a convector I could put on whenever. 

The new heater is a Dimplex Quantum QM150RF - Wi-Fi Ready Storage 

Heater, 1500W. It appears to also have been wired into the two switches but I'm not sure why? 

My concern is increased because the fitter asked my about my meter and didn't seem 100 sure about the circuits/ rates etc. 

Also I had a small storage heater completely removed. I was told that the connection would just need sealed off with a plate, as it wouldn't be usable for a normal power point because it was on the heating circuit. However the electrician put in a plug socket - which doesn't work. So I'm a little dubious....

Any advice very welcome. 

RedFraggle

Ideally a dimplex is dual wired to a switched circuit (though they can run on a 24 hour supply).
The 24 HR circuit is for the controls and the bricks heat on the E7 circuit. 
The socket on the old heating circuit will only be activated at night. 
If you read the manual for the dimplex it will show you how the check through the settings. It could be set to heat using the Back up fan heater if there's insufficient heat in the bricks. Mine are set so that only happens is I use the boost function. 

I would ask the electrician to come and check he's wired the dimplex in correctly and ideally put a socket with a light indicator on the E7 circuit so you can see when it's active. 

gambleruk

If you wanted to be sure your heaters are only charging at your cheap rate then you can go into advanced settings and set your own hours, I have mine programmed to only charge between 12 30 to 7 30am on economy 7 rates for each day, easy to do and peace of mind knowing that it is only charging at the cheap rate, they use very little electricity during the day when the fan is running.

debitcardmayhem

Is the “smart meter” the IHD which shows £2.75? That is not certaint to be correct, your electric suppliers app/website should tell you when you are using what  and at what rates. 
The IHD gets its rates from the meter, and if that’s not up to date then you can’t rely on the IHD.
Are you on E7 or a similar tariff, again check you suppliers info.

Ildhund

Laurochka said:

Dimplex Quantum QM150RF - Wi-Fi Ready Storage Heater, 1500W. It appears to also have been wired into the two switches but I'm not sure why? 

That's quite simple: one of them switches power to charge up the heat store, ideally only during offpeak hours. The other provides constant power to the heater's controls, the fan that pumps warm air out when needed and perhaps to a heating element to boost the temperature if the stored heat has run out.

To advise further, we'd have to see photos of your meter etc.:

• A close-up of the meter itself. Touch a button before taking the picture so the display is lit up. We should be able to read the markings on the meter and everything on the display, so please make sure the photo is in focus. Note the time the photo was taken and include it in your post.
• An overview of the backboard the meter's mounted on or the box it's in, so we can clearly see all the cables to and from it and where they lead to.
• Photos of the consumer units ('fuse boxes') with the lids propped open. Again, clear enough so we can read the labels on the individual breakers, assuming there are any.

It would also be helpful to know:

• Your location. The first part of the postcode is usually enough.
• Your electricity supplier.
• The name of your tariff and its offpeak times.
• What sort of control is fitted for the water heater. Does it have two immersion heaters, one at the bottom and another higher up? Photos would help again.
• There will be a communications hub connected to the meter. It's usually mounted on top, but some customers will see it a couple of feet away and connected by a cable. It will usually have a different manufacturer's name from the meter itself - EDMI, perhaps, or Toshiba or WNC. It will also have some little LED indicator lights; how many are there (usually 2 or 5)? Are any of them flashing? What colour? and how fast - very, at 2 second intervals or at 5 second intervals?  

Of course you're concerned about the cost, but when trying to find out what's going on, it's the kW and kWh figures that matter. £2.75 could represent a standing charge plus 9kWh at 25p/kWh, a standing charge plus 22.5kWh at 10p/kWh or something in between. Your IHD will show you both the instantaneous power draw in kW (e.g ~3 kW when you switch the kettle on or the storage heater starts charging up) and also how much energy in kWh has been used in specific periods - so far today, this week and so on.

What we have to find out is (a) whether the meter is recording usage on its offpeak register at the times given in the tariff details, and (b) whether the meter or possibly a separate contactor is switching power to the storage heaters at the same times. Sadly, it's not always the case, but any discrepancy is usually easily remedied remotely. 

  

QrizB

Laurochka said:

I recently had old storage heaters and water heating cylinder replaced. 
I had my old 2 electricity meters which were on rts replaced in May with a White Meter 1 Smart Meter. 

Was everything working OK in May, when you had your old heaters and cylinder? If it was, then we can assume that the meter isn't the problem here.

Laurochka said:

I got the new heater and cylinder fitted on Fri and I understand there will be initial costs as the water heater comes up to temperature and the storage heater settles.

Is your water hot, and is your new storage heater keeping your home warm? If the answer to both of those questions is "yes", it's a good sign.

Laurochka said:

However I'm using almost 3x the daily electricity I was before and this doesn't seem right. 
I usually use around £1.50 - £2.00 electricity a day. 
Yesterday (Sat - the day after installation) I used over £5.

When you had your smart meter installed, were you also rovided with an in-home display - one of those little devices with a screen that shows you how much energy you are doing? If so, there could be a screen whee it will show you what time of day you are using your electricity. Have a look at that and see if the high usage periods (when you are heating water, and when the quantums are charing) match up with your E7 times.

Or you might be able to find the same sort of info in your account on your enery supplier's website.

Laurochka said:

I checked the timing of the water cylinder and I think it was heating during my daily rate hours, so last night, I changed the timing so it only heats during my night rate.
This morning my smart meter was showing I'd already used £2.75 - already way over my daily average. 

Your hot water tank should have two elements; one of those will be connected to the E7 switched supply, so it only operates during the cheap rate periods. The other one is only intended for "boost" heating if you ru out of hot water and should normally be turned off.

If you have a manual timer, it's likely to be on the "boost" element. Can you turn that one off and only use the other one?

Laurochka said:

I'm slightly concerned the storage heaters are charging on the expensive day rate, but I don't know how to check this.
The new heater is a Dimplex Quantum QM150RF - Wi-Fi Ready Storage Heater, 1500W. It appears to also have been wired into the two switches but I'm not sure why? 

Quantums (and similar storage heaters) work best with two supplies. The Quantum uses the E7 switched supply to know when to charge the heater, but needs a 24h permanently-live supply as well to keep the electronics working so that it can adjust its output automatically to match your temperature settings. 
They can be installed with a single 24h supply but this is definitely a worse option.

gambleruk said:

If you wanted to be sure your heaters are only charging at your cheap rate then you can go into advanced settings and set your own hours

There should be no need to do anything like this; OP's Quantum heater has a dual feed so the heater can tell when the E7 switched supply is live.

EssexHebridean

It’s also perfectly possible that the OP’s old storage heaters had some failed elements - so weren’t drawing the power that might have been expected for the size of the heater. 

Swipe

My money goes on the smart meter being not configured or wired correctly and everything being charged at the day rate.

tim_p

Swipe said:

My money goes on the smart meter being not configured or wired correctly and everything being charged at the day rate.

It’s highly likely that that’s where the OPs money is going too. 

WiserMiser

gambleruk said:

If you wanted to be sure your heaters are only charging at your cheap rate then you can go into advanced settings and set your own hours, I have mine programmed to only charge between 12 30 to 7 30am on economy 7 rates for each day, easy to do and peace of mind knowing that it is only charging at the cheap rate...

@gambleruk ⚠️ Bad advice twice over, I'm afraid !

• If the NSH has two supplies wired correctly (one on overnight, one 24h) and the meter registers are correctly billed (overnight at lower rate) then that guarantees no overcharging.  You don't need to tell the Quantums when to charge up, only how warm the room should be and at which times.

• If the NSH has only one supply, it's critically important to find out exactly when the meter switches over and back.  Forget the area's E7 times and what the call centre, the energy company, the electrician or the bloke in the pub told you: they won't be paying your inflated bills !  You must look at the meter on the wall and see precisely when it changes over.  Bear in mind it could be a 'split shift' (e.g  2230-0030 and 0230-0730), and also check after the GMT/BST changes.

Swipe

What size is the storage heater and and was it set to a high setting? How much are your on and off peak rates? We can crunch some numbers. It could be just using loads initially as it charges from stone cold.