Convert Economy 7 Circuit Ask questions and find answers to many subjects relating to electrics and electrical work

[lackybandit]

Hi

My house has an economy 7 circuit, controlled by a radio teleswitch, the circuit has 4 storage heaters downstairs on it, however upstairs I have replaced the storage heaters with panel heaters on the main circuit, is there any way I can convert the economy 7 circuit to run 24 hours a day so I can use the unused sockets upstairs & put timers on the storage heaters downstairs?

[ericmark]

Economy 7 is a tariff. You need to be using roughly 20% of your energy consumption at night to be making a saving. Some Economy 7 tariffs may charge you almost double the standard rate for any energy you use during the day. It needs to really be an all or nothing and for Economy 7 to work the Dish washer, Washing Machine, Tumble dryer, and domestic hot water as well as central heating all need to be using Economy 7.

The old system had a master timer and different wiring for storage radiators but the modern method seems to be to use individual timers so washing machine etc can if required still be used in the day.

You need to carefully consider which way to go. There is now a more conventional central heating using Economy 7 where water instead of bricks are heated which gives better control.

To get rid of Economy 7 talk to your supplier it will mean cheaper power in the day but more expensive at night.

[singer]

Your question is a little confusing but I think you are saying you have 4 storage heaters downstairs which are still working and used to have storage heaters upstairs which have been removed and replaced with panel heaters.

If thats the case at the moment the panel heaters will only work when the radio-teleswitch switches the off peak consumer unit on overnight.

But then you go on to say you have unused sockets upstairs also on off peak which you want to use 24hrs.

Whatever the arrangement is, basically when the storage heaters were installed they would have been wired back to a seperate consumer unit fed via the radio-teleswitch.
This radio-teleswitch is activated using a radio signal from the supply authority for 7 hours overnight, when the electricity is cheaper, hence the name Economy 7.
The storage heaters therefore receive a 7 hour charge overnight and switch off again in the morning.
However the radio-teleswitch also switches the main consumer unit over to this cheaper tariff for the 7 hour period which means any electricity used in the house from ANY circuit during this 7 hours will be charged at the cheaper rate.
I think your problem is you have points upstairs that used to feed storage heaters that have now been converted to 13 amp sockets, and because they are fed from the off peak consumer unit are only live for 7 hours overnight.
To remedy this you need to remove the affected circuit or circuits from the off peak unit and feed them from the normal tariff consumer unit.
This may sound easy but there may be quite a few problems along the way.
You may not have spare ways in consumer unit for extra circuits - if you do you will need to choose correct protection for new circuit appropriate to cable size etc
If no spare ways then you could spur them onto existing socket circuits but then need to consider circuit design as allowed by regs.
Best to call in the local sparky I think to swap your circuits over for you safely!!
Hope this helps.

[lackybandit]

Sorry if Ive been confusing, the panel heaters are wired into the main circuit so are live 24/7, the unused economy 7 sockets upstairs are blanked off, what I wanted to know was how to convert these blanked off sockets to 13 amp sockets that run 24/7.thank you both very much it is a lot clearer in my head now, I wasn't sure if it was a job for the lecky supplier or a sparky, certainly not a job for me!

[ericmark]

What singer says is spot on. But do consider if Economy 7 is worth having! With half the house no longer using the system it may save money getting rid of the whole Economy 7 tariff. You need to do some maths and look at alternative tariffs I think there is an Economy 10 where you get a boost half way through the day!

[lackybandit]

[quote="ericmark"]What singer says is spot on. But do consider if Economy 7 is worth having! With half the house no longer using the system it may save money getting rid of the whole Economy 7 tariff. You need to do some maths and look at alternative tariffs I think there is an Economy 10 where you get a boost half way through the day![/quote]

I will have a look at the maths, but we have 4 heaters, the hot water, the washing machine & any heating from the panel heaters overnight. Thanks for your input, much appreciated.

[ericmark]

Have you looked at wet systems? Need a place to put cylinder but no longer needs to be up-stairs in airing cupboard I am considering fitting in corner of garage. But the control is far better and you can add solar panels.
See http://www.gledhill.net/building-products/bp-index.htm and the PDF on how it works http://www.gledhill.net/building-produc ... nt_how.pdf is very good. I am not saying do it but be aware it exists.