Having issues boosting the heating system outside of off peak economy 10?

Morning ​@confused off peak b,

I’m sorry to hear that you’ve been having issues with your boost isn’t working on your heating contractor. I’ve tagged ​@Firedog who’s got great experience with these setups and might be able to provide some valuable advice. 

Thanks for the ping, ​@Chris_OVO  

I’m afraid I tend to run and hide when I see polyphase installations, because I don’t really understand how they differ from ordinary ones. However, I’d say first that you won’t hear a clunk from the meter just because it’s switching from one tariff to another. You may hear a noise when a relay flips, so I suspect that that’s what you notice. 

The relay in the meter just sends a signal to the external (100A?) contactor to switch on or off. The boost function simply overrides the timings in the meter’s ALCS calendar, so it sounds as if either the external contactor isn’t reacting to this signal, or else there are controls for the heating equipment (timers or thermostats), say) that are suppressing power draw even though it’s available. Either way, I think you’re going to have to call in an electrician to look at the circuit downstream of the meter. It would be best if you could get hold of the one responsible for originally installing the heating equipment, but in any case make sure you find one experienced with polyphase electrical heating - not every electrician will be.  

Sorry not to be more helpful ...

Thanks for your reply but the contactor is a sealed unit fitted by SMS when they fitted the smart meter and wired the meter to the contactor and then fitted the seals same as the meter seals. So  my electrician will not tamper with the seal on the contactor as it is part of the meter set up and I guess breaking the seal on their contactor is the same as breaking the seals on their meter and data transmitter hub.  The power feed in to the bottom of the contactor is always live but the feed out of the top of the contactor is only live when switched by the ECO 10 signal at off peak times not when the boost function on the meter is operated. The click when the boost function is activated definitely comes from the meter so I am wondering if there should be a second switch wire from the meter to the contactor so wire 1 operates when the online signal tells it to and wire 2 would activate when the boost signal tells it to. Or is this not how these things work?

I have been told the heating controls have nothing to do with the problem it is the supply to the heating board which is not being switched on by the boost programme actuating the supply contactor whereas it is being actuated by the normal down the line signal at the off peak times when the heating controls are in exactly the same situation calling for supply at both times but only getting supply at the off peak time not via the boost system. 

​@Firedog Thanks so much for hopping on to take a look. I really appreciate your knack for navigating those tricky heat storage and ALCS setups!

​@confused off peak b I’ve passed this thread along to one of our engineers to get their insight. I might not hear back until early next week since the weekend is right around the corner, but I’ll keep you updated!

Also, if you could share some pictures of your setup, that would be awesome! It could really help us understand what you're seeing. 

Hi thanks for your help but I have just been e mailed and told Field force are coming out on 3/9/2020 to sort out my problem with the meter so I will wait until they have  been and then update you after.

Thanks for your help and support anyway.

Thank you for letting us know. In the meantime, while you wait, the offer still stands. If you can upload some photos of the setup, I can have our engineering friend Luke provide some advice.

Thank you. I can’t find a manual for your kind of meter, so all I’ve got to go by is a sales leaflet and a bit of experience with other sorts of meters. There are two 2A ALCS inside the meter, but I’m not at all sure what for. It could be that the boost function is quite separate from the ‘normal’ ALCS. You say you’ve had instructions from OVO how to use boost - would you be able to share them with us? 

I’m so glad to hear this has been resolved now ​@confused off peak b 😊 Thanks for popping back with an update.