Hot water stopped working - is ripple control still a thing?

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duckDecoy

795 posts

Ultimate Geek

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#303273 29-Jan-2023 12:39

Our hot water cylinder stopped working sometime between friday night and saturday morning. Because of all the flooding here in Auckland we're trying to rule out any simple causes and fixes before we call in the plumber.

Is ripple control still a thing? And if so would they likely have used it during the floods? I couldn't get through when calling but I imagine they are inundated.

snnet

1377 posts

Uber Geek

#3028765 29-Jan-2023 12:43

Ripple control/pilots generally aren't being installed on new connections/shifts but they still exist on installations they were installed on. They may not be getting controlled but they also may be - totally depends on your retailer. Is it actually a ripple control or is it on the pilot system? can you take a photo of your metering set up?

There are two systems in place - ripple control is the one that will get a signal at a certain frequency to switch the relay, there is also a pilot system where a separate pilot cable comes in from the street and gets turned on/off to power a relay

The ripple relay is usually a grey/white box with clear plastic at the top portion of it and the pilot system typically uses a black box - that's going by installations done within the last couple of decades or so (older may have all sorts of different devices)

If it's the black box it's entirely possible the pilot hot water system is offline due to a fault. Either way you can try Vector faults first, residential customers get so many free callouts a year. They might be able to tell you over the phone also

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josephhinvest

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#3028866 29-Jan-2023 13:14

I think it’s more sophisticated these days but it certainly does still exist. I’m in Titirangi and my hot water has gone off 4 times in the last 6 weeks. Each time it has been restored by Vector at whatever remote location controls the signal. The visiting technician has suggested it might be power lines banging together causing the erroneous signal. It’s been quite frustrating!

Cheers,
Joseph

duckDecoy

795 posts

Ultimate Geek

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#3028868 29-Jan-2023 13:22

snnet:

Ripple control/pilots generally aren't being installed on new connections/shifts but they still exist on installations they were installed on. They may not be getting controlled but they also may be - totally depends on your retailer. Is it actually a ripple control or is it on the pilot system? can you take a photo of your metering set up?

There are two systems in place - ripple control is the one that will get a signal at a certain frequency to switch the relay, there is also a pilot system where a separate pilot cable comes in from the street and gets turned on/off to power a relay

The ripple relay is usually a grey/white box with clear plastic at the top portion of it and the pilot system typically uses a black box - that's going by installations done within the last couple of decades or so (older may have all sorts of different devices)

If it's the black box it's entirely possible the pilot hot water system is offline due to a fault. Either way you can try Vector faults first, residential customers get so many free callouts a year. They might be able to tell you over the phone also

Is this what you mean? The pics are not great as the clear plastic has clouded over across the years so I had to have my phone pushed up hard against it

duckDecoy

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#3028869 29-Jan-2023 13:23

josephhinvest: I think it’s more sophisticated these days but it certainly does still exist. I’m in Titirangi and my hot water has gone off 4 times in the last 6 weeks. Each time it has been restored by Vector at whatever remote location controls the signal. The visiting technician has suggested it might be power lines banging together causing the erroneous signal. It’s been quite frustrating!

Cheers,
Joseph

Did you have to contact them or did they just fix it by themselves

josephhinvest

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#3028875 29-Jan-2023 13:55

I believe this is the thing.
I had to call each time - the last call was 4pm Friday, before the big rain arrived.
I’m still waiting for my water to come back on, then will chase up the hot water.
Luckily we have power and house is thus far dry

Cheers,
Joseph

Bung

5444 posts

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#3028879 29-Jan-2023 14:21

I think Vectors site says they use pilot control in north and west, ripple in south and east areas. If lines are down supply is fixed before pilot wires. Have you tried putting your address into their outage map page?

duckDecoy

795 posts

Ultimate Geek

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#3028892 29-Jan-2023 14:54

Bung: I think Vectors site says they use pilot control in north and west, ripple in south and east areas. If lines are down supply is fixed before pilot wires. Have you tried putting your address into their outage map page?

Yes and I didn't get anything. Would that indicate my pilot is NOT down?

snnet

1377 posts

Uber Geek

#3028907 29-Jan-2023 15:42

duckDecoy:

Bung: I think Vectors site says they use pilot control in north and west, ripple in south and east areas. If lines are down supply is fixed before pilot wires. Have you tried putting your address into their outage map page?

Yes and I didn't get anything. Would that indicate my pilot is NOT down?

I wouldn't go by their web site for this type of fault, but calling them you might get some kind of notice that there is a known fault in your area - being on the pilot system it's a lot more likely there's a fault and it's dropped out, just lodge it with them and see what happens, it might be a wider fault or your particular relay hasn't clicked back in after one was resolved.

(And yes the photos were what I meant - so you are on the hot water pilot system as opposed to the ripple relay system)

snnet

1377 posts

Uber Geek

#3028908 29-Jan-2023 15:44

Bung: I think Vectors site says they use pilot control in north and west, ripple in south and east areas. If lines are down supply is fixed before pilot wires. Have you tried putting your address into their outage map page?

Just fyi this might be true for most of the areas but there are a lot of mixes of pilot and ripple relay in all sorts of parts of auckland - north and west definitely have a good mix of both

antant

105 posts

Master Geek

#3028995 29-Jan-2023 17:41

West Auckland and on the pilot wire here … often 2 or 3 times a year, usually when there’s strong winds we’ll end up without hot water for a few days (usually takes a few days to notice too). Usually a quick check with neighbours will confirm that it’s not just us.

duckDecoy

795 posts

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#3029883 31-Jan-2023 10:16

Thankfully it was just the pilot, confirmed by neighbours being out as well, and its been restored.

raytaylor

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#3031569 3-Feb-2023 23:55

josephhinvest: The visiting technician has suggested it might be power lines banging together causing the erroneous signal. It’s been quite frustrating!

Reminds me of the days of pulse telephone dialing and water in the line causing 111 calls.

Ray Taylor

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1101

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#3032457 6-Feb-2023 12:59

My ripple control died, when the Power Company tech came he just bypassed it (rather than fix it).