Storage Heaters
 

I have been asked for ideas about a heater not working. (not been to look
yet). How are they normally connected - are they on individually fused
radial circuits - or are they on a ring? I want to get an idea of whether I
am going to be looking for fused spur outlets - or a fusebox. The
'all-electric' property is about 12 years old.

The heater is a
http://www.heatstore.co.uk/downloads...nst-Issue6.pdf

The wiring diagram isn't very clear - can't decide if there is a user
re-settable cut-out.



Anyone experienced with these?




--


--
John

Storage Heaters
 

On Sat, 06 Jan 2007 09:42:07 GMT someone who may be "John"
wrote this:-

I have been asked for ideas about a heater not working. (not been to look
yet). How are they normally connected

Each heater should be fed by a dedicated radial circuit from the
off-peak board (or the off-peak section of a combined board). The
fixed wiring should terminate in a switch near the heater, from
which heat resisting cable should go into the heater.

The protective device at the board may have operated. If there is
switched fused outlet instead of a switch then the fuse there may
have operated. The heater may also have overheated for some reason
(usually being obstructed) and needs to be reset.

Other than the smallest sizes such heaters have multiple elements,
so the failure of an element will not cause total failure (though it
may be that the elements have failed one by one).


--
David Hansen, Edinburgh
I will *always* explain revoked encryption keys, unless RIP prevents me
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2000/00023--e.htm#54

Storage Heaters
 

David Hansen wrote:

Each heater should be fed by a dedicated radial circuit from the
off-peak board (or the off-peak section of a combined board). The
fixed wiring should terminate in a switch near the heater, from
which heat resisting cable should go into the heater.

The link provided by the OP shows the heater to be of the type with a
separate fan/boost section, so there there should be two independent
electrical supply connections - a switched off-peak supply as above plus
a permanent supply for the 1.5 kW fan/boost side.

The OP needs to be clear which side isn't working (failure of both sides
is unlikely as they are electrically quite separate).

The protective device at the board may have operated. If there is
switched fused outlet instead of a switch then the fuse there may
have operated. The heater may also have overheated for some reason
(usually being obstructed) and needs to be reset.

The last of those is the most common problem. The circuit diagram in
the instructions show two bi-metal devices in series on the off-peak
side, one is the normal user input charge control and the other is an
overheat cut-out. Sometimes the latter needs to be manually reset,
sometimes it's a non-resettable thermal fuse type of device that needs
to be replaced. As this is a critical safety component only an official
spare part should be used (and definitely no bodging by leaving it
shorted it out).

The fan/boost side seems to to have two cut-outs, each associated with
one half of a twin-bank heating element. The are fed via a room stat
and the fan and boost switches.

--
Andy