Quantum Dimplex Night Storage Heater Won't Charge at Max Rate

​@Firedog that makes a lot more sense. I hadn't thought of it being partly faulty. I'm slightly more dis-discombobulated.

Peter 

I have received a response from Dimplex technical.  This came after an initial email from them requesting information from the display screens which was frankly a extremely laborious process to provide requiring my to transcribe some 15 or more bits of data into an online form.   A subsequent email requested screenshots of the same display for other metrics, so quite why I couldn't just take a photo of every single screen and email that to them in the first place and allow them to take what information they wanted from them rather than having to spend the best part of 20 minutes typing in data to their online form I really don't know.

Here is their final response:

“I have spoken with our Product Support team who have advised the unit is reading to be the wrong time of year. Can I confirm if the date/time is correct on the heater?

We would suggest running a Factory Reset on the heater, and leaving for a few days to see if this improves. I have attached below a link to instructions on performing a Factory Reset.”

Reset completed.

Frankly rather underwhelmed as the unit is correctly reporting the date and time.

Further more, my energy monitoring app shows no change in the max power consumption when it was automatically switched on (via programmable ‘smart-breaker’) 2330-0530 last night.

Lastly, despite asking 3 times for further info on the more abstract aspects of the Quantum’s setup (once on the phone and twice by email) I have still not received anything.

I can only conclude that this unit is *not* ‘as advertised’ (ie the specs say it can charge at 1kW and it can only do 700W) and Dimplex are mis-selling them… which is rather disappointing.

Shame you didn’t get more help from Dimplex. I’m still of the opinion that there is a strong possibility of an element failure. Firedog also mentioned this.

Your input readings would equate to 2 of the 3 elements being energised.

Indeed - I have to wonder why Dimplex didn’t suggest this but maybe the data I sent them tells them the elements are all fine (I gather there are 3…?). I’m reluctant to start dismantling it right now especially as my heating needs are much diminished due to the season.

Anyway, I have sent them an email expressing my disappointment and await a response.

I have just noticed another email sent earlier:
“Now that a factory reset has been done we would like to see some more of the 7 days screen reports so we can look into this further can you resend photos after the weekend,

 it may be element failure but we would like to confirm that before we can arrange an engineer visit.”

!

I will do as they suggest…  It’s out of warranty now so...

You still have a right under the Sale of Goods Act for a repair or replacement if the goods fail with within an unreasonably short period of time even though it might be outside of the warranty period. The difficulty of ‘unreasonably sort period of time’ is that it isn’t precise but for a relatively simple piece of equipment six years is usually taken to be a reasonable period.

CAB or Trading standards should be able to help but I think you have to contact the retailer in the first instance and that may or may not be possible.

Peter

(A bit of web research later...)

I think I have got to the bottom of it…  This appears to be a relevant wiring diagram for the heater:

… although mine appears to be a ‘G10 series’ not a G6.. .  According to https://electricspares.co.uk/product/dimplex-quantum-340w-element/ the 2 main elements are 340W each (x 2 = 680W which is actually what my energy app shows - not quite 700W).  There is a 3rd ‘boost’ element of maybe the same rating which gives the max input power as ~1000W as the specs sheet says.

So, I don’t think there are any issues with the unit itself, just the design in terms of some modern eco overnight tariffs which can’t make the heater heat up fully at basic cheap rates…  I doubt there is any possibility of taking advantage of, for example, Octopus Intelligent Go’s random daytime sessions and even if it were, I would almost certainly need to add the wifi hub (at another ridiculous £150, thanks very much indeed. Actually, I just found one on eBay for a ‘mere’ £80 and bought one 😊..)...

Ok, that's really useful and I can read that diagram (electronics deign engineer like forever). If your heater has an Off Peak terminal you just need to supply power to that (including the Neutral line). Two elements come off the Permanently On power and one from the Off Peak. Just give the Off Peak terminal some power. You can talk that through with an electrician. 

The only thing I'm not certain of is what the symbols mean to the left of the word PCB. They are obviously relay contacts controlled by the PCB but there are only two types. Normally Open and Normally Closed but there are three different types of symbol which has me a bit confused.

More thinking required …

Peter

The tariff is probably not the limiting factor here, but rather the charge rate or installer settings of the heater. I would check the input/charge settings and also make sure it is wired for full charging capacity. 4.2kWh/day does seem quite low for winter heating, even for a small room,

As a matter of interest ​@martinwinlow how are you switching the heater on/off to coincide with the EV tariff discount period?