Hi All,
I hope you are all enjoying your weekends!
Before I start, I just want to thank you for your help in advance…
To summarise, I had storage heaters installed a few weeks ago by an installer, and have experienced a few problems!
To cut a long story short, the flat I moved into used to have horrible storage heaters in the living room and hallway, which I replaced with electric panel heaters. I was told that my bills would go sky high (which they did), however at the time, I was a bit stuck as my refurb budget had run out.
Fast forwarding to a few weeks ago, I had 3 Dimplex Quantum heaters installed. Now the Quantums in the living room and hallway seem to be fine (as the off-peak supply was already there, ready to be connected up via a fused spur), however the bedroom Quantum has given me some issues.
As there was no storage heater in my bedroom before, there was no off-peak supply. As such, the electrician made the suggestion of simply plugging the off-peak element end of the heater via a normal 3 pin plug into a normal socket, via an electronic timer (to emulate the switching at off peak times to take advantage of Economy 10).
I asked him if this was safe, and he said yes it was safe, and that it is a much better solution than having to pull a new cable from the other side of the property (literally the other side!). This gave me comfort as I know this electrician also performs electricity safety tests for properties. The DImplex Quantum QM150 was therefore installed in my bedroom using this setup.
Now for the issues:
This has made me extremely worried, and I have been doing a few hours of research this morning.
I understand that the off-peak elements of storage heaters are not really suited to be simply plugged into normal sockets (apologies if my terminology is incorrect, but I understand that the normal sockets are connected to the 30A ring main, and similarly, off-peak elements shouldn’t be connected to 30A ring mains).
I have also read that the storage heaters should be connected with 2.5mm wire (both from the heater to the socket, and from the socket to the fuse box).
So I’m just weighing up my options before I go back to the install company and start making a fuss:
Option 1:
I noticed that the connection between the plug and the timer socket wasn’t great i.e. the pins didn’t sit completely flush into the socket, but sat with a 1-2mm gap. Assuming that this was the issue (i.e. poor connection), the first option is to replace the plug and replace the timer with different models, which are a bit more compatible with each other and therefore don’t exhibit the 1-2mm gap.
Option 2:
Get rid of the socket and the plug, and replace this all with a Greenbrook T205-C Fused Timer Spur.
Option 3:
Ask the installer to come back and put in a new 2.5mm wire from the off-peak supply fuse box to my bedroom.
Out of the 3 options, my least preferable option is number 3, as the fuse box and the bedroom are literally on opposite sides of the property, which will mean lots of ugly trunking.
Option 2 therefore makes the most sense to me, but obviously this means that the off-peak element is still using the 30A ring main. The wire going from the heater to the socket looks like 2.5mm to me, but I think the wire going from the fuse box to the socket looks like 1.5mm (I’m not 100% sure about these wire sizes though – any easy way to confirm?). Considering these points, should this setup be OK?
Thoughts and suggestions would be much appreciated.
Kindest regards!
P.
I hope you are all enjoying your weekends!
Before I start, I just want to thank you for your help in advance…
To summarise, I had storage heaters installed a few weeks ago by an installer, and have experienced a few problems!
To cut a long story short, the flat I moved into used to have horrible storage heaters in the living room and hallway, which I replaced with electric panel heaters. I was told that my bills would go sky high (which they did), however at the time, I was a bit stuck as my refurb budget had run out.
Fast forwarding to a few weeks ago, I had 3 Dimplex Quantum heaters installed. Now the Quantums in the living room and hallway seem to be fine (as the off-peak supply was already there, ready to be connected up via a fused spur), however the bedroom Quantum has given me some issues.
As there was no storage heater in my bedroom before, there was no off-peak supply. As such, the electrician made the suggestion of simply plugging the off-peak element end of the heater via a normal 3 pin plug into a normal socket, via an electronic timer (to emulate the switching at off peak times to take advantage of Economy 10).
I asked him if this was safe, and he said yes it was safe, and that it is a much better solution than having to pull a new cable from the other side of the property (literally the other side!). This gave me comfort as I know this electrician also performs electricity safety tests for properties. The DImplex Quantum QM150 was therefore installed in my bedroom using this setup.
Now for the issues:
1) About 2 weeks ago, I found that the heater wasn’t charging up with off-peak electricity, and thus wasn’t giving out any heat at any time.
Having investigated this, I found that the switch for the socket that the 3 pin plug was plugged into, was stuck. I was thus unable to switch it from on and off.
To test this, I plugged in my iPhone charger and confirmed that no electricity was being output even with the switch in the on position. I put this down to a cheap switch that had gone faulty, and simply replaced it.
Having investigated this, I found that the switch for the socket that the 3 pin plug was plugged into, was stuck. I was thus unable to switch it from on and off.
To test this, I plugged in my iPhone charger and confirmed that no electricity was being output even with the switch in the on position. I put this down to a cheap switch that had gone faulty, and simply replaced it.
2) Last night, I could hear some buzzing/crackling from the off-peak socket whilst I was in bed. I therefore went closer to investigate, and smelt a little bit of electrical burning (similar to when using a soldering iron). As such, I quickly turned the switch off and took the plug out of the socket.
What I found was that the front of the timer socket (i.e. where the 3 pin plug goes into), was very slightly melted. I also found that the plug was slightly melted on the neutral side. Opening the plug up, I could see that there was damage on the neutral connection of the pin (i.e. to the plastic and screw etc.). Obviously the front of the plug was warm to touch at this point too.
This has made me extremely worried, and I have been doing a few hours of research this morning.
I understand that the off-peak elements of storage heaters are not really suited to be simply plugged into normal sockets (apologies if my terminology is incorrect, but I understand that the normal sockets are connected to the 30A ring main, and similarly, off-peak elements shouldn’t be connected to 30A ring mains).
I have also read that the storage heaters should be connected with 2.5mm wire (both from the heater to the socket, and from the socket to the fuse box).
So I’m just weighing up my options before I go back to the install company and start making a fuss:
Option 1:
I noticed that the connection between the plug and the timer socket wasn’t great i.e. the pins didn’t sit completely flush into the socket, but sat with a 1-2mm gap. Assuming that this was the issue (i.e. poor connection), the first option is to replace the plug and replace the timer with different models, which are a bit more compatible with each other and therefore don’t exhibit the 1-2mm gap.
Option 2:
Get rid of the socket and the plug, and replace this all with a Greenbrook T205-C Fused Timer Spur.
Option 3:
Ask the installer to come back and put in a new 2.5mm wire from the off-peak supply fuse box to my bedroom.
Out of the 3 options, my least preferable option is number 3, as the fuse box and the bedroom are literally on opposite sides of the property, which will mean lots of ugly trunking.
Option 2 therefore makes the most sense to me, but obviously this means that the off-peak element is still using the 30A ring main. The wire going from the heater to the socket looks like 2.5mm to me, but I think the wire going from the fuse box to the socket looks like 1.5mm (I’m not 100% sure about these wire sizes though – any easy way to confirm?). Considering these points, should this setup be OK?
Thoughts and suggestions would be much appreciated.
Kindest regards!
P.
