Smart meter is going crazy, boiler issue?

Hi ​@AntonyBear ,

Please show us the setup so we can advise.

Also, gas usage is NOT shown in real-time - it runs on 30 minute snapshots only.

 It's all electric at home no gas . Could it be faulty timer on the boiler that shows green light when set up to be on but it's heating at random times?

Possibly - but we’d need to see your setup to be more confident.

Set up of the meter?

Yes, and the boiler

A few questions. Is your water getting hot? What kind of heating do you have? Have you set the timer on your boiler to run for a specified time?

The most important question is this one. Do you have a smart meter? I am able to look at my actual usage for each half hour during the day using my online account. This gives me a way to track my usage and to highlight things that use the most energy. (I use gas for heating and hot water but everything else is powered by electricity including a tropical fish tank). This image shows my electricity usage for one recent day. I have annotated it to show what we were doing at each of the “spikes”. Using this kind of display would allow you to see exactly when and what is being recorded across the day. This may help you isolate any fault.

A few questions. Is your water getting hot? What kind of heating do you have? Have you set the timer on your boiler to run for a specified time?

The most important question is this one. Do you have a smart meter? I am able to look at my actual usage for each half hour during the day using my online account. This gives me a way to track my usage and to highlight things that use the most energy. (I use gas for heating and hot water but everything else is powered by electricity including a tropical fish tank). This image shows my electricity usage for one recent day. I have annotated it to show what we were doing at each of the “spikes”. Using this kind of display would allow you to see exactly when and what is being recorded across the day. This may help you isolate any fault.

 

I have an emersion boiler. It's set up to heat at night from 3 to 5 but when I look at those hours it's showing 0 or very little usage probably from the fridge. I have hot water and the timer lights in green at those hours  too . I also noticed one evening high usage when I went to sleep matching almost the boiler kw but it's not consistent every night. 

Your photos of the timer show that it’s set to come on at 5 in the morning and go off at 7 in the morning, from Monday to Friday. (Programme 1)
How many programmes do you have set?

It think we have terminology/technology missunderstanding here.

Your photos also indicate that there is a pump, which to me implies that hot water is being pumped through either radiators or underfloor heating.
(So that would be a boiler and not an Imersion heater).

Please could you confirm what kind of heating you have in the flat?
(And if you are using any plug-in heaters as well).

Could you also post a photo or two of your electric boiler/water heater, and any hot water tank, so that we can see just what you have?

Electric boiler plus electric heaters im not using at the moment

Thanks, that's a Pulsacoil hot water heater.

 https://hinchliffeheating.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/PulsaCoil-A-Class.pdf

They are used to give hot water at your taps.

So yes, it could be described as  a fancy type of immersion heater.

However that’s only the tap water so does beg the question - what are you using for heating the flat?

Electric heaters ( those are attached to the wall but I havent used them yet as I moved in this flat recently )

OK, if the heating is off then that can make things easier to work out.

Although are you not cold without the heating on?
(It’s been pretty cold weather here this week).

To get to your mysterious 1.5 kWh usages.

You say that “for few days in a row have over 1.5 kwh when we are either asleep or out .”
However you havent yet shown just why you think that is happening.
What is it that makes you sure that over 1.5 kWh is being used at those times?

If you are sure, then from what you have told us up to now I would check that timer, how many programmes are set and for what times is each one set to come on and off?

For example you said “I have an emersion boiler. It's set up to heat at night from 3 to 5”.
However you photos clearly show Prog.1 ‘ON’ at 5 am and ‘OFF’ at 7 am.

I’m not sure just how many programmes can be set on that particular timer, but it’s obviously more than just one, (there would be no need for a number if it was only the one), so you need to check what times each of them is set for.

PS.
The Pulsacoil ‘boiler’ has two immersion heaters fitted.
The Lower one is meant to be used during Off-Peak electricity hours to heat a full tank of water.
The Upper one is meant for use during Peak hours (eg. if you use the ‘Boost’ button) and only heats the top half of the tank.

It’s difficult to tell (because your usage that you posted is an estimate on the 15th Oct), but it may be that it is not programmed correctly and is heating a full tank during Peak times rather than Off-peak, which of course will cost more.

To check that we would need to know what your programmed timings are and what tarrif you are on, E7, E10, something else?

Thanks for your reply 

Im on economy 7

I have 3 programs for the weekdays and 3 for Saturday and Saturday.  I have set up only one for each and the other 2 are not set up (I  just put 7 am on and 7 am off ) 

I can see on my app those peaks of 3kwh per hour at random times and also  no usage when the boiler should be heating ( I moved some of the times on the programmes to see if anything will change but noting)This makes me believe the boiler or timer have some issues as I have lots of hot water. I have set the timer  Off last night  and will check  usage when I have the data today but the water was boiling hot from the taps this morning ( whe whole family had long showers yesterday so it should have been little left there so i think it just heats up when it wants) I don't put the heating on because it's a new building so well isolated and I really hate being too hot. I usually don't use it until mud December . The timer itself shows green light on the set up times but I can't really tell if that is passed to the boiler and based on data on the app I'd say no. If i see usage again for last night and today after it should have been OFF then it's a faulty timer 100% . It's a bit concerning the boiler may be working without any timer  when it wants as then I have no control over it - there is no off/on button on it just that timer on the wall.

I agree that that does sound more as if the Pulsacoil is on all the time rather than on a timer, and so the water is heating on a thermostat as and when needed.

Just for info I found a Youtube on setting that type of timer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkjzLMR9MHg

If you have set the timer off then it will be interesting to see if the water is still being heated anyway.

I have set the timer  Off last night  and will check  usage when I have the data today but the water was boiling hot from the taps this morning

Note that we have assumed here that particular timer in your photos is connected to the Pulsacoil, but it might not be.
It might instead be connected to your electric room heaters, that type of timer can be used with them.
if so then playing with the timings there would not affect the hot water - which is what you say.

Did you set it to no programmed times? Or did you turn off the switch labelled ‘Time clock’?

Morning ​@AntonyBear, I hope you’re well.

I can see some other users have come through with some really helpful info here, and I hope you can get to the bottom of this soon.

One thing I’ve noticed is that, on the bill you’ve sent a screenshot of, the reads are labelled as estimated. If any estimates are being used then the data shown in the ‘Usage’ section of your online account / app will not be accurate. In order to get accurate usage data you need to have the smart meter set up to provide half-hourly readings. Please can you follow the steps in this guide, and make sure that the meter is set to ‘half-hourly’. Once you’ve set it to half-hourly, check the usage data again over a couple or three days to see if it looks more accurate:

I just pressed off on the timer itself and the switch on the wall in on still.  Ill monitor data from today and see ....

Keep us updated ​@AntonyBear!

​@AntonyBear thanks for letting us know - I’m glad you got to the bottom of things, and just in time before the Winter 😁.