massive electricity bills (Fusion) electric wet heating system

Discussion in 'Electricians' Talk' started by Margaretk76, Apr 4, 2016.

  1. Bazza-spark

    Bazza-spark Screwfix Select

    Yes Margaret, that is correct and the sequence repeats itself.

    The phases used to be known as red, yellow and blue and cable colours indicated this. But to harmonize with european colours we have gone to brown, black and grey where brown is the old red, black is the old yellow and grey is the old blue. However where it gets confusing is the neutral used to be black and it is now blue.

    This can cause confusion in industrial environments where 3 phase is common. When you find a blue wire is it a phase or a neutral? Where you fnd a black wire is it a phase or a neutral? Not so much of an issue with domestic being single phase.

    If you take a street of houses you will usually find house 1 is on say brown phase, house 2 on black phase, house 3 on grey phase, house 4 on brown phase, house 5 on black phase etc. This continues with the idea being to balance the load on the transformers and generators.

    Hope that helps a little.

    Kind regards
     
  2. madhatter1uk

    madhatter1uk Screwfix Select

    One is yours and yours alone. One will feed two flats, the other will feed one flat and possibly a communal area supply.
    It's how it used to be done back in the day on flats, it's standard.
     
  3. madhatter1uk

    madhatter1uk Screwfix Select

    If you cut the wires and removed all three fuses, everyone else's power would go off in the block.
     
  4. Margaretk76

    Margaretk76 Member

    Thanks very much guys.......................I've just been on a call to the guy at sse, he has brought something else up.........he asked me to look at the tank that is in my neighbours loft to look and see if there is a switch (like a boost switch) set to permanently be on, as he suggested this could be why usage is so high.................is this feasible??
     
  5. The tank in you're neighbour's loft is more than likely your cold water storage tank,if you have a vented system.
    Why would anyone put the hot water cylinder for your flat in you're neighbour's loft.
     
  6. Margaretk76

    Margaretk76 Member

    Deleted member 11267 i dont know if i have a vented system sorry no idea but as far as i can gather (shoot me if im talkin s*&t) i control my heating from my timer control thingy on my wall.........i thought when it s timed to some on it heats up the water in the tank to then bring it to the boiler?????????????????? or does the cold water go to the boiler and the boiler heats it up ( when i moved in i vaguely remember the council (expert i use that loosely) told me that i share the tank with the woman upstairs.............................
     
  7. Margaretk76

    Margaretk76 Member

    Quick Question..................my heating and hot water have been off since 7am this morning................should all of the copper pipes coming in and out of the boiler still be boiling hot?
     
  8. Bazza-spark

    Bazza-spark Screwfix Select

    If that is the case you are paying for her hot water. If she knows that she will be using it to the max when the heating is on, hence your bills.

    Kind regards
     
  9. Margaretk76

    Margaretk76 Member

    Bazza i doubt she knows she is a wee old lady :rolleyes:
     
  10. madhatter1uk

    madhatter1uk Screwfix Select

    You do realise that it's between 6 and 14 kw per hour to run that system. That's up to 14 units per hour.
     
  11. Margaretk76

    Margaretk76 Member

    yeah madhatter found that out yesterday council guy when i moved in said boiler would never put out any more than 3kw but yesterday found out boiler is a 12KW
     
  12. Margaretk76

    Margaretk76 Member

    lady upstairs let me into her loft..........could only see one tank this is it tank.jpg
     
  13. madhatter1uk

    madhatter1uk Screwfix Select

    So if that's your tank, where is her tank?
     
  14. Margaretk76

    Margaretk76 Member

    exactly I think we share a tank???????????


    Also bout ten minutes ago my thermostat clicked so went to see why, my heating had switched on...............its not timed to come on but did it by itself???

    Think I now have a poltergeist screwing with me :eek:
     
  15. Mr. Handyandy

    Mr. Handyandy Screwfix Select

    Bejeezus, you need this sorting NOW.

    Mr. HandyAndy - Really
     
  16. Margaretk76

    Margaretk76 Member

    Hi just a little update...just had an electrician in from the council, he was here to do a safety test.................there is two tanks in loft upstairs other one was way over at the opposite side (yes I'm an idiot) he found a switch on the wall in my kitchen that had burn marks inside the switch turns out this is the immersion back up and it was constantly ON so think that this is more than likely what is causing the high usage tho ...................with this constantly on I SHOULD have had constant hot water which i didn't.....................can anyone shed any light?
     
  17. fire

    fire Well-Known Member

    Sounds like you have a heater element that went high on load probably half the heating element is burnt out and welded together meaning element is partially shorted. You measure current draw with a clamp meter and calculate the rated power then compare it to the actual. if it is way out then element has gone bad.

    On another note, i had an issue tonight with my central heating and it reminded me of this thread. The so called professional installers did not fit a radiator in the bathroom. I have also seen many peoples places without a radiator in the bathroom.
    Oddly when i close the bathroom door the heating raises temperature in a very short time but if i leave the bathroom door open the heat barely ever raises high enough to any level of comfort.

    Part of your problem could well be a badly installed and badly calculated/balanced heating system, out of interest, do you have a radiator in the bathroom and do all your radiators get hot at the same time?
     
  18. Might mean the cpc, I wounder if the neutral and cpc of your thermal store are incorrectly wired (both technically at the same potential) but might be fooling the metering equipment (as only Phase and Neutral are connected) and should both balanced (equal flow of current in both directions) perhaps some of our meter people could advise us........
     
  19. Lectrician

    Lectrician Screwfix Select

    Meters use the neutral for voltage reference only. They don't monitor its load.
     
  20. Mr. Handyandy

    Mr. Handyandy Screwfix Select


    How do they(the meters) get load measurements then ?

    Mr. HandyAndy - Really
     

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