I took the more techy approach by checking my night readings everyday for a few months at the start. My day unit total is almost always 3 and the night only fluctuates in the winter when I switch on the heating. I just put the year into energypal and it confirmed that my day is steady over the year as expected. The setting I put my Input on the heater is important too as it can be cold enough if the weather changes quickly and I need to pump it up a bit.
Smart meter/tariff & "Nightsaver" night storage heaters
- Thread starter ClubMan
- Start date
Indeed...
And this is concerning if true...
Smart Meter and Storage Heating
Does anyone know how smart meters will work with storage heating? Storage heating is currently controlled by the day/night meter.
www.boards.ie
I think the issue being discussed on Boards.ie is different.
The large ESB Networks time switch which was supplied with the old day / night meters has contacts rated at 80 amps.
These time switches are capable of switching on the storage heaters directly. So a seperate contactor was unnecessary.
This seems to be what the poster on Boards is asking about.
So there was two possible ways to operate storage heaters.
Either directly switched by the ESB time switch.
Or the ESB time switch could just switch on the customers storage heating contactor.
If the ESB time switch was directly switching on the storage heaters, alterations would need to be made to the customers equipment. They would need to have a storage heating contactor fitted and then provide a pair of switch wires to be connected to an auxiliary contact on their new smart meter.
The large ESB Networks time switch which was supplied with the old day / night meters has contacts rated at 80 amps.
These time switches are capable of switching on the storage heaters directly. So a seperate contactor was unnecessary.
This seems to be what the poster on Boards is asking about.
So there was two possible ways to operate storage heaters.
Either directly switched by the ESB time switch.
Or the ESB time switch could just switch on the customers storage heating contactor.
If the ESB time switch was directly switching on the storage heaters, alterations would need to be made to the customers equipment. They would need to have a storage heating contactor fitted and then provide a pair of switch wires to be connected to an auxiliary contact on their new smart meter.
So, tonight I checked things using the high tech 
approach of switching the storage heater on at the wall switch just before 11pm and then gluing my ear to it until, a tad after 11pm, I heard the "clunk" at the fusebox and then the heater started to hum as power was enabled to it and it started charging up. So, whatever the exact mechanism is, they are being switched on at 11pm and presumably off again at 8am. I guess that the smart meter does, after all, have some mechanism to switch the storage heater circuit on/off and things are working the same as they were with the old setup with the physical day/night meter (and separate rotary timer switch, I think). I'll try to get more specific info but at least it looks like I may have been worrying about nothing after all... 
approach of switching the storage heater on at the wall switch just before 11pm and then gluing my ear to it until, a tad after 11pm, I heard the "clunk" at the fusebox and then the heater started to hum as power was enabled to it and it started charging up. So, whatever the exact mechanism is, they are being switched on at 11pm and presumably off again at 8am. I guess that the smart meter does, after all, have some mechanism to switch the storage heater circuit on/off and things are working the same as they were with the old setup with the physical day/night meter (and separate rotary timer switch, I think). I'll try to get more specific info but at least it looks like I may have been worrying about nothing after all... Apologies, I still haven't figured the details out but the bottom line is that my storage heater circuit is definitely only switching on during night rate hours (2300-0800 on a smart meter/tariff - used to be 2300-0800 winter and 0000-0900 summer on the old physical day/night Nightsaver meter) so apologies for the false alarm. I was just worried that my storage heaters might be consuming electricity outside of night rate hours.
I guess that they do take account of Nightsaver/storage heater capabilities when installing the smart meter and the meter must have some timed switching capability in that regard.
If/when I have any further specific details I'll post back but thanks for all the feedback so far.
I guess that they do take account of Nightsaver/storage heater capabilities when installing the smart meter and the meter must have some timed switching capability in that regard.
If/when I have any further specific details I'll post back but thanks for all the feedback so far.
Yes, but didn't the daylight saving time clock change effectively shift it? There was definitely a different "night" time period for the summer and winter periods with the old physical day/night meter.
The big day / night time switch in my house is a simple motor driven 24 hour disc with the on off tabs set at 23.00 and 08.00
So in summer it switched on at 00.00 and off at 09.00
Your smart meter will presumably automatically adjust the hour for summer and winter.
So it will always switch on at 23.00 and off at 08.00
So in summer it switched on at 00.00 and off at 09.00
Your smart meter will presumably automatically adjust the hour for summer and winter.
So it will always switch on at 23.00 and off at 08.00
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I think that we're in agreement?
The old "traditional" dual day/night meter (and timer switch?) switched the storage heater circuit on 0000-0900 summer and 2300-0800 winter.
The smart meter seems to switch it on 2300-0800 all year round. And most or all time of day or day/night smart tariffs use 2300-0800 as the night rate period.
The old "traditional" dual day/night meter (and timer switch?) switched the storage heater circuit on 0000-0900 summer and 2300-0800 winter.
The smart meter seems to switch it on 2300-0800 all year round. And most or all time of day or day/night smart tariffs use 2300-0800 as the night rate period.