This discussion is locked.
You cannot post a reply to this discussion. If you have a question start a new discussion

Immersion heater - economy 7 timer wiring

Former Community Member
Former Community Member
Hello,


I have a honeywell st6400c controller and an immersion heater. 

My heater has 2 switches, off and on peak. My concern is that the heating works only with both switches on. Even if its set to trigger at off peak time only, which it does, both switches light up and if I switch off the onpeak one, the heating stops even tho the offpeak is still lit (testing this at off peak hours ofc). Is this correct ? does this not use much more electricity? I was monitoring this and Im sure it goes against the "night" hours, but my worry is that it uses much more power than it should.

Thank you for your advice

Tom
  • Difficult to be sure without seeing how it is wired, but do you have 2 elements in the tank (one high for just heating half a tank, one low for heating a whole tank) or one element and a change over switch?

    I'm also assuming you have 2 sets of cables from your meter, some that are live all the time and some that are live only at off-peak times.

    Please check this is true before reading the below, as it may not be the case.


    The 6400 is normally used with hot water and heating,  and is in effect a pair of time clocks, that operate two groups 

    of  contacts that can keep different times.  manual can be downloaded here 

    As such this is not normally used with E7. Equally you could have the two clocks wired with one on each supply, or there may be a change over relay somewhere so that whenever the E7 supply is on, the system uses it, but if there is demand at other times, then it gets put on the day rate supply.

    Basically to be able to help we will need you to do a bit of detective work.
  • I think most E7 systems charge everything at the off-peak rate overnight - so an off-peak supply can sometimes be emulated by using a single 24-hour circuit and a time switch that only switches on during the overnight period. That saves running an extra cable and so on, but has the disadvantage that if your clock and the supplier's get out of sync you can inadvertently end up using electricity at the peak rate instead - or indeed get into a right tangle if the user doesn't understand exactly what's going on and tries to re-program their clock.

       - Andy.
  • You say “an immersion heater” so presumably just one immersion heater, therefore the two switches are linked together after the switches, therefore both lights come on.


    Set the clock and leave the peak switch off so it runs through the clock.


    Andy B.
  • Check the time the suppliers meter is set to and set the immersion clock to match if the time is out.


    Andy B.
  • If the clock is in fact an ST6400c then it only has 3 amp switching contacts.
  • Typiod:

    If the clock is in fact an ST6400c then it only has 3 amp switching contacts.




    I had not spotted that it is not even an immersion heater timer, throw it away as if it has been run controlling an immersion heater as it is scrap.


    If it is not actually controlling the immersion heater and is in fact controlling a central heating boiler it could be a gravity system and the heating won't run without the hot water.


    Andy B.


  • Unless the immersion heater is controlled through a relay, which I really doubt.
  • Former Community Member
    0 Former Community Member
    Hi guys,


    thank you all very much for your response, although half of it doesn't mean much to me as I'm, well, without any knowledge on this topic.

    I'm not even sure now whether it's an immersion heater (as I have emailed honeywell as well and they said they don't use their controllers for immersion heaters, what means im most likely wrong)


    I have figured out it's gonna be easier for you if I add some pictures to the topic so you don't waste your  time on me too much.

    Please see attached. I now know, they are separately connected to the top and bottom of the tank, which I haven't checked before (apologies). I thought I could read it off the tank what sort of a heater this is but can't figure it out..(the agency nor landlady are not any good which is annoying and weird at the same time). As you can see, the onpeak is wired into the bottom, off peak is wired into the top. As I've mentioned before, the off peak, even tho it gets lit as per timers settings, does nothing if the onpeak is not switched on. (I have tested it tonight) I hope this gives you more insight - i'm definitely learning from your answers. 

    I should have mentioned that I have switched electricity supplier recently. (this was finished less than a week ago)

    Also, I'm not entirely sure how to set the controller against the timer in the utility room as well, it just rolls . The offpeak hours seem to be running until about 7:15 in the morning what strikes me as a very odd time. 

    Thank you

    Kind regards

    Tom

    c5c4225e6a6a65a0bab09e93c6b1176d-original-image3.jpg
  • Former Community Member
    0 Former Community Member
    e2dc3337bfb528d291567321b5abfde6-original-image1.jpg
  • Former Community Member
    0 Former Community Member
    0efa9377c96cf3ad38e7967d6cd93525-original-image0.jpg