Help with installation / diagram

I am not surprised the firm who supplied the windows has ceased trading, there must be quite a few unhappy customers.


The transformer you have is not the one shown in the wiring diagram and even if was it would not be any use to you.


The transformer you do have may power a single window, but definitely not the whole system.


I would have thought that the design should have the transformers adjacent to the windows and you may need thirty transformers, because the size of the cables you need to get from a single transformer to each of the thirty windows due to their length and voltages the power supply cable to each window will need to be 230 volts.


The best suggestion I have is to contact Erea UK in Dawlish  to ask them if they know a UK electrical installer who does work on heated window installations and/or if they will specify the transformers needed from the information you have.


Obviously trying to locate transformers around the house adjacent to each window is going to be difficult, but it is the standard installation practice for lighting circuits, with low voltage lighting we put the transformers next to the lights, not by the consumer unit. Either way if the transformer is next to the consumer unit or there are multiple transformers by the windows you may have to prepare yourself for replacing all the cables to the windows, but the controller wiring and relays should generally be able to be centralised by the consumer unit.


Time and money will sort the problems out, I think you are going to have to throw a considerable amount of money at it to get it all working, I know that is not what you want to hear but I don’t think you are left with another option.


It should be possible to get the two windows on the stairs that are wired directly to the mains without a transformer working without too much additional equipment, but I suggest you find and speak to a contractor who has previous practical experience of installing heated windows before connecting them up.


Best regards 


Andy Betteridge

I was editing that send ran out of time, it should say you may need twenty eight transformers.


Andy

That transformer label has to be one of the most confusing arrangements I have seen for a long time, and as noted, voltage do not tally with the paperwork.

So, now we cannot trust either.

This will need to be taken slowly..

Do you have a multi-meter that reads ohms ?


I suggest that if you do, then check that the windows supplied have resistances that match to within perhaps 10% with the table of figures in the instructions, and make a note of them, then we can work out how many volts each window really needs. and then, and only then,  we can decide how many transformers and what ratings are really required for each window or group of windows.


You are quite right to leave the CU in service for now, yes it is scruffy, and has one example of each type of breaker made by wylex in the last 20 years. But for now it is working.  I suspect once you open it it will look like so much spaghetti, and the lid will be hard to shut, but that goes with the territory.

Actually a 16A lighting circuit is not that surprising in a large building, - it is what we would do in a large factory for example.

OK, let's go back to the beginning. I have a heated rear window in my car. Fords (and the products of subsidiary companies) have heated windscreens. Why do you want them in a home? ?

Why do you want them in a home?

Similar logic to putting radiators under windows - by making what would otherwise be the coldest surfaces the warmest, the rest of the room loses a lot less heat (but at the expense of heating the glass, with presumably a fair amount of heat loss to outside). But of course a lot simpler where the windows go down to the floor so no room for a radiator.


There were quite popular on Grand Designs a few years ago (apart from some which kept shattering)


   - Andy.

Maybe one day they'll figure out a way of building a peltier junction into the glass - so use a current to maintain the required temperature difference between inside and out rather than simply creating heat.

   - Andy.

The transformer is 250W and can be tapped between 26V and 84V. It would struggle to power one window.


The plans show 20 SSRs, but only 5 have been installed. In any case, there doesn't seem to be any reason to have more than 2 SSRs, as there are only 2 zones (themostats + timers).


The cascaded CBs in the plan seem to make no sense (e.g. D,E,F)


Frankly nothing seems to make any sense.

I re-iterate the papers and the kit do not match, we should not trust either at this stage. It may be that the no of SSRs was higher as the intention was to use some sort of always-on central 3 phase transformer, and secondary side switching, and given the no, of disparate secondary voltages involved, then there have to be that many switches,

Clearly, like the rest of it, for a UK single phase supply, that is not going to work.

I agree, if that TX is rated at 250watts, it is most use as a doorstop, and if there really are 10kW of windows to heat then the total kVA of transformer that is really required is going to have to match!

Now with a true iron core transformer, (not some electrronic voltage reducer like with the halogen lamps) that  will be quite a serious weight - think 2 man lift at least, (or more sensibly a few less serious weights, of at least one per window group of a given voltage) 

For comparison,  a 3kW site transformer (the yellow 110V sort) is only really painfully "luggable", rather than easily "portable" and these windows  will need 3 to 4 times that at least (and those site transformers are only rated at 3kW for short duration, continuous use they are  only good for something  more like 2kVA).


It pains me to say it, but are you looking at legal routes/insurance to recover any of the loss on this ?

Surely these window heaters are not a good idea anyway? I have no direct knowledge of them, but unless part of a double glazed unit with a IR reflective coating on the inside of the outer layer they cannot be very efficient? Heating by very long wave IR is no good anyway, it will heat the local air around the window but not go any further. I assume that the windows do not glow as with the short wavelength IR heaters which are quite good. I suggest that the windows just be left as windows and alternative heating arrangements be made. The manufacturer probably gave up because these windows do not obey sensible physics and proved fairly useless and very expensive to run. It is like having radiators in the house at 25 degrees. Underfloor heating does use lower temperatures, but only works by very large areas (the whole floor) and depends entirely on conductive transfer of the heat to the air, and of course has to operate 24/7 (or pretty much) to be useful. It is also very well insulated on the underside, which windows are not, and a huge area difference too.


Glass heating as an anti-misting or frost removal is used for some items, plane windscreens, Rolls cars etc. and has a transparent layer of gold deposited on the glass which is then powered up from two edges. It is an expensive process and thus somewhat esoteric and does use significant power. For space heating it is probably useless.


I suggest that further money spent will be wasted, and you will have no comeback when the system doesn't work. Getting anyone near it is probably impossible. Lets see who posts anything else, sorry to be rather negative but sometimes the truth hurts and it is best to try to get over it.