Hot Water is Cold

Forums › Home Workshop DIY › Hot Water is Cold

ronw

1222 posts

Uber Geek

#237996 28-Jun-2018 10:19

Anyone know about Ripple Control. I am in Browns Bay and my hot water tank is showing less than 20 degrees C. Tried ringing Vector to see if there is problem but held on for 20 minutes and it cut me off. Now it is giving engaged signal. Would the Ripple control normally be off for a day or more as tank normally lasts more than a day. It has two elements normally I only use the top one but have now turned on both top and bottom.

Any suggestions?

Nokia 7 Plus
Nexus 6P 32Gb
Nexus 6 Phone
Nexus 5 Phone
Nexus 7 2013 Tablet
Samsung TAB A 8"
Samsung TAB A 10"

& many Windows laptops, Desktops etc

Goosey

2833 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#2045268 28-Jun-2018 10:37

How do you manage to turn on/off the elements individually?

Are you on a day rate or night rate or contstant /day/night rate.

Suspect if only one element was on and ripple control in effect then thats half the heating right.

Also, its cold... you lot had a cold night the other night... guessing cylinder wraps and pipe insulation is lacking too.

ronw

1222 posts

Uber Geek

#2045274 28-Jun-2018 10:46

Sorry should have been a bit clearer. Its a 300 litre tank with two elements one top one bottom and it also has solar heating (not much chance of that working today)

We normally run it with just the top element on, and that is fine. We don't use a lot of hot water so just the top 150 litres or so if really good. Today both top and bottom are below 20c so I am guessing something is wrong. Have spoken to Vector and they have said there was a problem in the next suburb over but people around me seem to have hot water. Going to check meter next to see if that is showing anything

Nokia 7 Plus
Nexus 6P 32Gb
Nexus 6 Phone
Nexus 5 Phone
Nexus 7 2013 Tablet
Samsung TAB A 8"
Samsung TAB A 10"

& many Windows laptops, Desktops etc

Scott3

3970 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#2045275 28-Jun-2018 10:46

Would the Ripple control normally be off for a day or more as tank normally lasts more than a day.

Not normally, however if if there is an equipment fault or similar, which means the lines company is struggling to supply an area, they will shed the load of the hot water cylinders (sometimes for a few days).

There is also a chance that your ripple switch didn't read the "turn back on" signal, or is stuck in the off position.

The recent record load on vectors network, combined with their call center being flooded with calls suggests that it may be the former... Unfortunately their outage map is not published while they fix up their app.

You could call your power retailer, and log a "no hot water" fault with them. Generally you want to do this prior to forking out for a sparky to check your end.

Also of note, often the ripple switch is viable in the meterbox, so you could check it's position. (unfortunately mine is labeled 1 & 2, and i do not know which state is 'On")

ronw

1222 posts

Uber Geek

#2045292 28-Jun-2018 10:58

Bit more info. Had a look at meter which is just a single smart meter. Oh for the days when water heating at a separate meter which you could tell if it was working by the speed of the wheel. Anyway smart meter shows 2R3740, 888888, F000 10, 059644, and underneath that three arrow icons which are just blinking slowly. After a few minutes there is a click from the meter and the arrows speed up to very fast then a couple of minutes later they go back to just slow flashing

Is that any help to someone who knows anything about smart meters

Nokia 7 Plus
Nexus 6P 32Gb
Nexus 6 Phone
Nexus 5 Phone
Nexus 7 2013 Tablet
Samsung TAB A 8"
Samsung TAB A 10"

& many Windows laptops, Desktops etc

61 posts

Master Geek

#2045478 28-Jun-2018 13:35

Is there a button on the smart meter? Press it unit a kwH value is displayed. With most things off (heaters, cooker etc) it will be below 3000. With the water heater on it will be 3000+

There was an issue with the hotwater control in Torbay - random houses. Like they missed the turn back on signal.

I had an electrician bypass it.

I am not sure how much it is used by Vector as I think it causes them more problems than it's worth.

Hope this helps

ronw

1222 posts

Uber Geek

#2045564 28-Jun-2018 14:51

Water is heating currently, with both elements on it is showing 63 degrees C for both bottom and top of tank. Trouble is the solar tubes on roof are also showing 63 C. Not sure if it could get that temperature from sun as its pretty cloudy all over Auckland. Will keep watching. I think something happened on the Network and got fixed after my call. If the odd house can miss the ripple signlay to turn on one would think that they would repeat the signal at frequent intervals for a few hours after the first signal to pick up any misses. If I was designing a smart meter I would make it call home at least once a day and with a bit of smarts at back end it would be easy to find out if any homes were not receiving the message.

My meter is made by Metix which is pretty major brand. Heaps about it on net but nothing about how to read the dam thing. There is no switch so it must be the flicking over every 8 seconds that supplies information.

Nokia 7 Plus
Nexus 6P 32Gb
Nexus 6 Phone
Nexus 5 Phone
Nexus 7 2013 Tablet
Samsung TAB A 8"
Samsung TAB A 10"

& many Windows laptops, Desktops etc

Bung

6488 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#2045607 28-Jun-2018 15:41

Metrix not Metix is a metering company. They have a guide to reading the various brands of meters they use.

Quic Broadband

Move to New Zealand's best fibre broadband service (affiliate link). Free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE. Note that to use Quic Broadband you must be comfortable with configuring your own router.

pctek

807 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#2045723 28-Jun-2018 18:32

Dead element then....if not the power co

da5id

550 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#2045748 28-Jun-2018 19:45

Are you sure the power company isn't load controlling? The company we use put a message on Facebook the really cold night 2 days ago and said they were going to load control, ie, turn off the hot water cylinder during various times to regulate the load on the grid.

http://www.countiespower.com/load-control

ronw

1222 posts

Uber Geek

#2045753 28-Jun-2018 20:01

Yes that is ripple control. All power companies use the hot water to control load
I suspect that is what happened but the switch on again did not happen till next day
All ok now

Nokia 7 Plus
Nexus 6P 32Gb
Nexus 6 Phone
Nexus 5 Phone
Nexus 7 2013 Tablet
Samsung TAB A 8"
Samsung TAB A 10"

& many Windows laptops, Desktops etc

larknz

1696 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#2045756 28-Jun-2018 20:06

When you have two elements it is possible that the bottom element is controlled by a ripple signal and the top element is uncontrolled for quick recovery. If you have only been using the top element it may be dead.

ronw

1222 posts

Uber Geek

#2045761 28-Jun-2018 20:18

Yes I wondered about that but I have both elements on now and the cylinder is same temp bottom and top. If the top was dead it would be much lower than the bottom and vice versa. Tomorrow I will turn the bottom of and see what happens
Thanks

Nokia 7 Plus
Nexus 6P 32Gb
Nexus 6 Phone
Nexus 5 Phone
Nexus 7 2013 Tablet
Samsung TAB A 8"
Samsung TAB A 10"

& many Windows laptops, Desktops etc

larknz

1696 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#2045762 28-Jun-2018 20:21

Heat rises. The top would normally be hotter than the bottom regardless of how many elements there are.

gregmcc

2147 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2045772 28-Jun-2018 21:24

Auckland area - Vector they use pilot control rather than ripple control, if there was a vector issue with the pilot control there would be a lot of people with no hot water

Here are your possible causes:-

Element blown

Thermostat faulty

burnt off wire in the hot water cylinder

blown fuse at fuse board

blown fuse at meter board for pilot control

pilot control relay faulty.

depending on the age of the plumbing the tempering valve may be faulty and it is for ever pushing cold water in to the hot water cylinder. - check the overflow pipe to see if water is coming out.

Solution

Call your electrician, you could give it a go yourself, but do you have the right tools? most likely not, would you know the right type of element or thermostat to get, are you sure that you know how to correctly test either to see if they are faulty?

Most likely it's the element, a specialist tool will be required for this.

Call your electrician, well worth the money to get the job done right