Mike2k111
Member
Registered: 7th Oct 03
Location: N.Wales
User status: Offline
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Having a few problems with my water heater in my flat. Basically when my feed switches over at night it seems as though the circuit isnt switching. I had a look in my circuit breaker box in my house and found this thing which i think is where the problem is.
There seems to be 3 positions on the switch (top/middle/bottom) where i can position it. Ive managed to get the water heater to come on permanent by moving it to the top position but im sure this should be done automatically when the electric feed switches over. Anyone know how these things work? What each switch position means etc. I can't even find the name of the bloody thing 
Thanks
[Edited on 20-01-2010 by Mike2k111]
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jrsteeve
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Registered: 3rd Apr 02
Location: Manchester
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Do you have a timer like this? 
If so that should control the time it comes on, not the fuse switch.
If not try it in the middle slot as that might be on an economy 7 circuit, so only gets power after midnight to heat it up.
[Edited on 20-01-2010 by jrsteeve]
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oceansoul
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Registered: 19th Jun 06
Location: Sunbury, Surrey
User status: Offline
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Try google Legrand 04049.
Might find something relevant that could help
[Edited on 20-01-2010 by oceansoul]
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jrsteeve
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Registered: 3rd Apr 02
Location: Manchester
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by oceansoul
Try google Legrand 04049.
Might find something relevant that could help
[Edited on 20-01-2010 by oceansoul]
If he speaks French or has a translator
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Mike2k111
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Registered: 7th Oct 03
Location: N.Wales
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by jrsteeve
Do you have a timer like this?
If so that should control the time it comes on, not the fuse switch.
If not try it in the middle slot as that might be on an economy 7 circuit, so only gets power after midnight to heat it up.
[Edited on 20-01-2010 by jrsteeve]
No unfortunately not, the last property I was in had the exact same timer as that though and everything was perfect.
Now i just have 2 immersion elements on the tank (one top, one bottom) with 2 cables which are connected to 2 on/off switches on the wall. Im guessing that this is a similar setup to using the timer ie. one switch is for boost, this works as intended, and the other switch controls the economy 7 immersion element which is switched on via the contactor in my original post.
The issue I have is finding out what exactly controls the contactor switch. Ive heard of some properties having tele-switches which are controlled by radio waves but as far as i can see there isnt anything like that.
The meter in the communal cupboard downstairs is digital and switches between on-peak/off-peak at the correct time but i've no idea whether this is also able to control the contactor switch to automatically switch on the immersion element when the meter changes to offpeak.
I've had a private electrician out to look at the internals but he said there was no live feed coming in on the circuit and ive had Eon engineer out to look at the meter and he confirms its ok from his point of view. So im stuck at the moment trying to source the problem myself.
think ive narrowed it down to
a) no signal is being sent to the contactor to activate the offpeak supply
b) the contactor is broken and isnt switching the supply on/off as intended
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jrsteeve
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Registered: 3rd Apr 02
Location: Manchester
User status: Offline
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I have storage heaters in my place at the mo, and they only come on at night as they're on a separate supply to everything else but still in the same MCB (fuse box) as everything else. If it's set up like this i'm not sure there'd be any current on the circuit until after midnight.
Ahh i think i've just worked it out. The main immersion is manually controlled using the wall switch, and will just stay on until you switch it off. So basically the switch in the original post isn't controlled by an economy 7 circuit, it should always be on, hence why the immersion fires up.
What you should do is have the 2 immersions wired up to an economy 7 timer so that the main tank only comes on at off peak time.
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C2RL R
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Registered: 28th Mar 02
Location: Redcliffe, QLD
User status: Offline
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if you take the cover off that consumer unit you should be able to see how it is connected. you should see 2 terminals marked up with A1 and A2. there should be wires in there that you can trace to see what is bringing it on.
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