After OVO installed a smart meter it kept tripping. I reported this and was informed to re set the trip. This has gone in now for a year, I turn off all electrical appliances at night and it still trips. Surely this is not right?

Updated on 10/07/24 by Abby_OVOSmart meters should not interfere with the consumer unit causing your power to trip however there is speculation that certain RCD or RCBO units (particularly if not adequately earthed) may trip if too close to the meter . The best answer below gives more details.Ifyou are experiencing any issues with a circuit tripping after a smart meter installation we would advise you to contact anelectrician to checkyour consumer unit .I have a couple of comments:1: I don’t think we have enough evidence to suggest that all RCBOs with an earth connection can be affected by Electro-Magnetic Interference (EMI) from a Smart Meter. For the sake of non-technical readers, let’s establish that we’re discussing trips which have a test button on them:trips found in Consumer UnitsIt might be valid to suggest a hypothesis to the effect of:There is a possibility that a Smart Meter in close proximity to a Consumer Unit with RCBOs or RCDs could decrease the threshold at which the unit will trip. This issue might be more likely to affect trips with a separate earth connection wire.That’s still quite a long way from the statement from@JohnatPreston but allows others to find this Topic if they’re struggling with a similar problem.Even so, I still have a number of misgivings:a: The total radio-frequency transmission power from a Smart Meter Communications Hub is less than 0.5W. Since this radiates omni-directionally, the proportion of this available to reach an earth wire 600mm away is less than 1-millionth. That doesn’t seem to me enough energy to adversely affect a trip.b: An earth wire is, by definition, connected to earth! So any radiation received will be clamped by the enormously larger body of matter at the same potential-difference… the planet! So if I wanted to make the earth wire from an RCBO act as an aerial, I’d first have to disconnect it from the earth-block in the consumer unit, and leave it “floating”.So the incident which@JohnatPreston refers to might be due to an incorrectly-installed earth cable rather than the Smart Meter per se.c: It’s important to identify the manufacturer of the RCBO which was involved. There is actually quite a bit of difference in the way that these units are constructed internally.2: Covering a Smart Meter in aluminium foil is to be strongly discouraged. Firstly it can block out the radio transmissions required for both the Wide Area Network and the Home Area Network.Secondly, foil is conductive and no one should be placing metal surfaces around equipment that handles 230v AC!If the above hypothesis were to be tested, then the correct/safe way to do so would be with an earthed sheet of mesh between the Smart Meter and the Consumer Unit. This acts as a Faraday cage. And if you don’t understand what this is or how to select the correct dimensions for the mesh wires, then you shouldn’t be doing this experiment anyway!

My consumer unit keeps tripping, is this connected to the smart meter?

My electric has tripped three times now. First time in October in early hours. Electrician checked sockets etc, all okay.

Past 2 nights it has tripped again between hours 02.30 and 05.30.

Could it be the smart meter causing this, when it's updating or whatever. Only the sockets go, not overhead lights

That is a circuit trip then rather than the whole feed. Is there something (heater, immersion etc) that switches at that time.
As Blastoise mentions, a sensitive RCBO is most likely at fault (unless a faulty appliance). They are difficult for many electricians to diagnose as it is a specialised test to find the problem.

@Blastoise186 @BPLightlog

Thank you for the reply.

The heating is a combi boiler and it doesn't switch on at that time. The fridge freezer is on but nothing else.

If it was the fridge wouldn't it retrip when I put the power back on?

Because it only goes in the early hours, I thought it might be to do with something updating like the smart meter or the WiFi.

The electrician who came out thinks the wiring of the RCD switch has been affected when our new smart meter was wired up. When he checked the CU he recommended installing a new one as ours is very old and he thinks there might be a “mismatch” between it and the new smart meter. He has given us a temporary solution which so far has worked, but will come back in New Year to install a new CU. Thanks to everyone for their advice , hoping this will be an end to our problems. Happy Christmas

When he checked the CU he recommended installing a new one as ours is very old ...

That sounds like good advice, even though it’s a significant expense you probably weren’t expecting just now. It will be money well spent.

In the meantime, could you tell us whether your current CU enclosure (the box with the hinged lid) is made of plastic or metal? Older ones were often plastic, newer ones often metal. The current rules only say that it has to be fire-resistant, so the right sort of plastic wouldn’t be a problem in that respect. However, plastic wouldn’t shield the RCD from electro-magnetic fields, while steel would. There’s some evidence that the tiny bit of radiation from the smart meter’s communications hub may be enough to trip a less-than-optimal RCD.

When he checked the CU he recommended installing a new one as ours is very old He has given us a temporary solution which so far has worked,

It would be interesting to know what that solution was. Did he perhaps install a different (better) RCD? With a higher threshold, for example (e.g. 100mA instead of the normal 30mA)?

The electrician who came out thinks the wiring of the RCD switch has been affected when our new smart meter was wired up. When he checked the CU he recommended installing a new one as ours is very old and he thinks there might be a “mismatch” between it and the new smart meter. He has given us a temporary solution which so far has worked, but will come back in New Year to install a new CU. Thanks to everyone for their advice , hoping this will be an end to our problems. Happy Christmas

I’m pleased to hear you have a solution (if only temporarily over the festive period) & they can get this sorted in the new year. Have a great Christmas @Sine

Reply

Products

Resources

About OVO

Help & Support

Reply

Need advice from other members?

Sign up

Log in to the OVO Forum

Scanning file for viruses.

This file cannot be downloaded