New smart meter causing borehole to use more than double the amount of energy as before

Hi ​@Sassiem , can you show a picture of the meter for context? Also you mention about other properties, could these be requesting water more often or is there perhaps a leak somewhere?

One other thing to check .. are you seeing the high usage directly from meter readings or if online, could they be estimated readings? Have you had the pump checked recently because if there is a fault, that could also draw more power

Hey ​@Sassiem 

Sorry for the issues you’re having. These topics may be helpful:
 

Hello- a not very good picture of meter attached. 

Hello- I can take better pictures but a couple attached.

No I don’t think the neighbours can be drawing much more water, there are only three elderly people in 2 of the houses.  If anything it should be using less. No leaks reported anywhere either. The smart meter only sends readings monthly- I’m checking the screen and it’s just racing around- about 1100 kWh in the last 10 days. 
no not checked the pump- it’s 35 m in the ground so not sure how it gets checked but the engineer would

know. 
 

thank you both for your replies. It’s so stressful for someone who doesn’t understand how these things work!

kind rgds

1100 / 10 / 24 = 4.583 kWh.

Around 5kW isn’t unusual for a larger sized borehole pump, and the borehole pumps with such a rating do tend to be 3-phase.
(Not important, but do you know what make/model of pump it is?)

However to give the numbers you say then the pump would have to be running constantly.

You said it yourself in your opening post:

It seems like the meter is constantly supplying electric rather than just when water is being demanded.

It could well be just that - something has gone wrong with the control system/sensors and the pump is running constantly.

If that is the case then it’s either just recirculating water round and round in the bore, or pumping it out of an overflow to somewhere.

If you go to the top of the borehole you may be able to hear, or feel vibration from, a pump that is running.
 

Just tagging ​@BPLightlog so they see this 🙂

Thank you all again. I can’t hear anything at the borehole but what I can hear is the water treatment plant-  it’s big enough for 4 houses and had 2 secoh 100 blowers replaced  couple of months ago- they hadn’t been working for who know how long before. 
How much electricity would they draw and could this explain the sudden hike? That said I’m leaning toward the pump having a fault—- I’ll have the make and model of the pump and will send it later. It was only replaced 3 or 4 years ago. 
Have a great day and thanks for the time all.

Hi- it was a Lowara L4C motor that was replaced with the pump, if that means anything to anyone! 

Not really, the specification sheet says those are 75W, so even a pair of them isn’t anywhere near 4.5kW.

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0269/2035/3881/files/JDK-S-100_120.pdf?v=1647344540

However that is interesting information in itself - Someone was doing work in there at about the time that this problem started?
If so then you have to suspect that the cause lies there.

If it is the pump running constantly then it’s unlikely that the pump itself is faulty and more likely to be a sensor.
As you have obviously been having work done in there then it may even be as simple as a wire having been knocked off a connection. (or taken off and not put back).

One of these? https://www.pumpsukltd.com/lowara-2gs05m-l4c.html

According to that those are only 550W (and single phase), so wouldn’t account for the amount of usage that you say is happening.

The three phase used to used about 1200 kWh per 6mths.

That’s around 0.28 kWh, so could possibly have been one of those L4C’s running constantly at half it’s capacity?

So if the setup does have the pump running constantly then we need to know what the new pump is so we can find what kWh it is.
You may (should) have the paperwork for it somewehere, or at least an invoice with the make/model number stated.

There is the possibility that any replacement parts have not been configured as they were originally intended.

With any sort of pump, it can be set up to operate on demand (as was previously) or continuously (might be now?)

I would get it all checked again, motor, sensors and configuration.

Thanks ​@Nukecad this is really helpful. 

​@Sassiem might be worth getting an electrician to have a look at this by the sounds of things. let us know of any updates, I hope it’s resolved soon!

Morning all- hope everyone is well.

just thought I’d put an update on-

my electrician came out and found the ‘live to earth’ leak which was from an old plug from

which a redundant light fitting fed. This has now made the UV light casings safe and has reduced the electricity draw from up to120 kWh per day to a now seeming stable 45 kWh per day.

So now assessing whether this is about right for a quite large water treatment plan and borehole.

i really appreciated everyone’s comms in this.

have a great day 

Hi ​@Sassiem , that’s an interesting find from your electrician. A ‘live to earth’ leak would mean a constant high draw of power although, I would have thought that as a separate circuit, the safety fuse or trip should have activated at that power level. As long as it has been fully isolated (or removed), then it sounds ok.

For the rest of the circuits and pump draw, the power consumption will depend on its configuration and specifications so it’s difficult to add much more. I think the bottom line might be if you’re happy now with the power consumption as it is and cost .

Thanks for the update.

As said a ‘live to earth’ fault that didn’t trip and cut the circuit altogether is pretty unusual these days.

I guess that this may be an oldish ‘agricultural’ (or at least rural) setup which are often not up to the same standards as a modern domestic setup.

However have you got those numbers right?

The three phase used to used about 1200 kWh per 6mths. The new meter is now reading usage of 2800 per month! 

A constant draw of 45 kWh per day is still around 1350 kWh per month, or over 6x higher then you say it used to be.

Of course we have no idea what has been changed equipment wise.

Hey ​@Sassiem,

Thanks for coming back with the update! Really helpful 😄

Evening everyone- hope you are all staying well. Just a quick line with an outcome (I hope). 
Borehole engineers came out and there was a tear in the riser tube thing. As explained this meant the pump was effectively going almost non stop. Pump

qas also pretty coroded- rusted and water egress I am told was imminent. Riser thing and pump has been replaced so hopefully meter readings will right themselves 🤞, though pretty hefty bill to come 🫣

thanks all for the guidance and advice! 

Thanks for coming back and letting us know what it was.

So it sounds like we were kind of right and the pump was running constantly, we just hadn’t got the correct reason why it was doing that.

I’m a bit surprised that they say the pump was badly corroded though, you said earlier that it was replaced 3 or 4 years ago,
Of course if it’s been running constantly that wouldn’t have done it much good.

Yes you were right- to be fair what they said was the rust on the motor was likely to cause water to get in- I think I have that right. It was replaced in 2021 and was a 2.2 kw pump which they also said was too big for the amount of water being distributed. 

I’ll try to add the other image. I do

appreciate people reaching out and offering words of help.

all the best all😊

Thanks for popping back with an update ​@Sassiem 😊