After smart meter installation - Off Peak storage heaters tripping lights, appliances etc.

Could you please post some photos:

(a)  A close-up of the meter. Touch a button to light up the display so we can clearly read it, and make a note of the time you take it;

(b)  A view of the meter box/cupboard/backboard showing all the cables to and from the meter and any other equipment close to it;

(c)  Close-ups of the consumer unit(s), clear enough for us to be able to read what each breaker is for if possible.

I don’t suppose your electrician was there after midnight to see what happened when the switched circuit went live at 00:10 (probably 23:10 now that summertime has ended?). You can probably turn the circuit on during the day for testing purposes if you can find the meter’s boost function, but we’d have to know what sort of meter you have to be sure.

Last - where are you? The first part of your postcode is enough to pin down who your DNO is and what your Economy 7 times should be.

Hi Firedog, 

My DCN is SP Energy (G46). As requested I attach the photos requested plus 3 the electrician told me to take @ 8.48am. on Monday. He put a trace between the CU & the heaters.

There is a scorch on the CU. It has been there for years & the electrian knows about it.

Thank you. I hope one or other of our resident electricians ( @BPLightlog ?) will come along with comments.

Meanwhile, you mentioned that ominous scorch mark on the CU and you sound happy that it was dealt with satisfactorily. You didn’t mention the less obvious patch by the bottom seal on the meter itself. The module that’s sealed is the terminal cover, and it looks suspiciously as though something in there (the LCS relay, perhaps, that switches power to the ‘offpeak’ circuit) has overheated and may have caused a fault. Because it’s inside the seal, only a meter engineer can deal with it. 

If it were my stuff, I’d turn the red and blue breakers off along with the 45A one next to them and call OVO for emergency help - I’d be fearing a major hazard.

At the weekend, you can usually get swiftish service from OVO’s social media support:
  

[I’ve had good results with X; post a brief description of the emergency, followed by a DM giving your name, address, postcode and account no. and a detailed explanation. Mention that your own electrician suspected a fault inside the meter; you can also include one of the photos showing the scorch mark on the meter itself.]

The circuit with the scorch mark is worrying (to my mind) as it’s next to a 100A breaker 

Unless the breaker was changed after the event, it could have suffered some residual damage. 
Also the main breaker has RCCD protection but only at 30mA 

For any set of circuits with the currents indicated on the trips, I would expect at least a 100mA main RCBO possibly with lower current devices as part of the rest of the circuits. 
In fact the 30mA device might be the cause of your circuit tripping as a smart meter can add a milliamp or so of residual current. These devices detect current flowing to earth but need to be rated at an appropriate level for the circuitry which it connects. Especially when storage heaters are used.

Thanks, @BPLightlog. I noticed that the ‘offpeak’ circuit (three NSH probably drawing ~3kW each) seems to be fed from the main board via the 45A breaker. If that is the case, then the RCCB is protecting the entire installation.

I took Giffy’s remark:“… a scorch on the CU. It has been there for years & the electrian knows about it” to mean that it had been properly dealt with.

You didn’t mention the scorch mark on the meter’s terminal cover. I wouldn’t expect to see anything like that on a shiny new piece of equipment, and it sounds as if the electrician didn’t either. I wouldn’t be happy having the offpeak circuit live if something’s sparking under there until a meter engineer’s had the cover off to check.

Firedog  &  BPLightlog

I tried to call my supplier's (EDF) emergency number, but they are all changed  to weekdays. In the end I called 105 and they came out and checked everything in their remit. The scorch mark was a shadow (thankfully). They took a picture to put on here for information. 

Thank you for letting me know about the RCCB being OK.

My electrician is on holiday and I am keen to get my heating on. Thanks for your help. 

Hey @Giffy, 

I can see that @Firedog and @BPLightlog have already stopped by to help with advice. You’re in great hands and please keep us updated on your progress 😊

I have just looking over old posts. Do you thinkI should ask for a Reconfigure of ECAUL/ALCS via SMETS COMMANDS?  

Thanks

If the switch over is happening at the correct time than a reissue of the command wouldn’t help. 
You could try switching off one of the storage heater circuits to see if that allows everything to work without tripping. 
Bear in mind that after a while of little or no usage, the storage heaters will be more leaky, electrically, than normal so that 30mA device might easily detect that. 
 

The point about the main switch being rated at 30mA (for residual current detection) is that it is likely to be too low to properly protect the entire system. I would expect to see a minimum of 100mA for that type of breaker. 
Further circuits could individually have 30mA RCCD protection to prevent a complete system switch off in the event of a trip

I  sure the electrician put on one a night. It still tripped. I think he also had one on & the others totally disconnected. I will put one on again to night & let you know tomorrow 

Also, I enclosed photos from last week where the electrician took a wire from the consumer unit to connect the storage radiator & all 3 came on at 8.48sm.