Mains isolator

I think one designed for electricity rather than gas... (!)

(where I live, the gas company only supplies gas and the electric company only supplies electricity)

Scooot - i suspect that BG won't be able to do that. The Smart Meter fit out is just that and any additional work such as your isolator would probably be pushed back to your Electrician as they just want to do the minimum, work needed to replace your present meter.

I'd also question the value of getting a Smart Meter at present given the issues with them but that's another story. 

James

Innocent Bystander posted:

I think one designed for electricity rather than gas... (!)

(where I live, the gas company only supplies gas and the electric company only supplies electricity)

Ok,understood.

james n posted:

Scooot - i suspect that BG won't be able to do that. The Smart Meter fit out is just that and any additional work such as your isolator would probably be pushed back to your Electrician as they just want to do the minimum, work needed to replace your present meter.

I'd also question the value of getting a Smart Meter at present given the issues with them but that's another story. 

James

 

Thanks for the reply.

I have read and seen on to some bad press about smart meters.Maybe holing off is the best idea especially if they won't fit the isolator.

Hi Scooot,  my EP is Scottish Power & they assigned specialist installers Lowri Beck.   They were approved to replace cables to/from the new meter if required & ensure other compliance issues, but nothing much else.    BG might do it different,  but its worth asking before you make further plans.     

Scooot posted:

I have read and seen on to some bad press about smart meters.Maybe holing off is the best idea especially if they won't fit the isolator.

One day we will all be 'required' to have Smart Meters so I went ahead & had mine installed last year.     I'm not sure what specific bad press you are referring to but the only 'bad' about mine is the ZigBee signal is very weak & we could not place the meter in our prefered position.  Aside from that, once Scottish Power got their act together, it works.  It reports the usage correctly,  we get various history graphics (graphs are my nerdish) for 'lecky & gas on our account on Scot Power webpage.  Does it save power by making us more aware,  not at all,   we are quite a few steps ahead of energy providers in ways to do that.    Given the same choice to install Smart Meters again,  no thanks,  not until its mandatory.

Mike-B posted:

Scooot posted:

I have read and seen on to some bad press about smart meters.Maybe holing off is the best idea especially if they won't fit the isolator.

One day we will all be 'required' to have Smart Meters so I went ahead & had mine installed last year.     I'm not sure what specific bad press you are referring to but the only 'bad' about mine is the ZigBee signal is very weak & we could not place the meter in our prefered position.  Aside from that, once Scottish Power got their act together, it works.  It reports the usage correctly,  we get various history graphics (graphs are my nerdish) for 'lecky & gas on our account on Scot Power webpage.  Does it save power by making us more aware,  not at all,   we are quite a few steps ahead of energy providers in ways to do that.    Given the same choice to install Smart Meters again,  no thanks,  not until its mandatory.

Mike - i have nothing against Smart Meters as such - the idea of a Smart grid with all the micro generation schemes, battery storage and challenges of electric car charging infrastructure is going to be an interesting one to manage so i'm all for moves to make this a lot easier. Unfortunately in the rush to meet the roll out, there seems to be interoperability issues (some stop working when you change supplier etc) and other problems (some very good IET articles if i can find them) which put me off getting one installed. 

To add to that, there is no personal advantage to me (no reduction in bills or energy usage) at the moment so i'll stay with the old tech until the dust settles 

Mike-B posted:

Scooot posted:

I have read and seen on to some bad press about smart meters.Maybe holing off is the best idea especially if they won't fit the isolator.

One day we will all be 'required' to have Smart Meters so I went ahead & had mine installed last year.     I'm not sure what specific bad press you are referring to but the only 'bad' about mine is the ZigBee signal is very weak & we could not place the meter in our prefered position.  Aside from that, once Scottish Power got their act together, it works.  It reports the usage correctly,  we get various history graphics (graphs are my nerdish) for 'lecky & gas on our account on Scot Power webpage.  Does it save power by making us more aware,  not at all,   we are quite a few steps ahead of energy providers in ways to do that.    Given the same choice to install Smart Meters again,  no thanks,  not until its mandatory.

Mike, with you on this had Smart meters fitted a couple of years ago can't see the worth.

Ironically when I asked the installation engineers they weren't too complimentary saying they had a lot of problem's getting them to work in certain areas due to coverages as required, also if you switch suppliers they might not work as intended with your new provider best left till it is sorted properly.

The main driver to get mine installed was issues over access to the meters;  my meters are installed in the secure garage & we ended up with well over a year of estimated bills because we were not in when the meter reader called,   that was a nuisance to get it corrected.  We then agreed to providing monthly readings which went well,  it needed us to remember to do it & its not so nice in mid winter etc.   Smart Meters seemed a good idea at the time.   

When I had my main consumer unit replaced, Scottish Power (I live in Wales?!) installed a DP isolating switch between the meter and the CU, like this:

They do this so that they can avoid a second visit to reconnect the tails to the meter, as you electrician can simply connect to the switch and turn it on himself. Although this switch only has one pair of terminals, maybe you could ask for one with more, as there is nothing unusual about having more than one consumer unit. When I had dedicated mains installed at a later date, there was enough room for the isolating switch to take a second pair of tails. (Others simply use a Henley Block to split the tails rather than a switch.)

My small audio consumer unit has two circuits, feeding two different rooms, so they are perhaps not fully isolated from each other, but at least they are isolated from the main CU.

How this fits in with smart meters I have no idea, I'm avoiding them for as long as I can. Of course, having enough space to fit all this stuff in can be a problem too. I would be tempted to get the switch fitted first if that is your priority, then how they fit the smart meter is their problem.

ChrisSU posted:

When I had my main consumer unit replaced, Scottish Power (I live in Wales?!) installed a DP isolating switch between the meter and the CU, like this:

They do this so that they can avoid a second visit to reconnect the tails to the meter, as you electrician can simply connect to the switch and turn it on himself. Although this switch only has one pair of terminals, maybe you could ask for one with more, as there is nothing unusual about having more than one consumer unit. When I had dedicated mains installed at a later date, there was enough room for the isolating switch to take a second pair of tails. (Others simply use a Henley Block to split the tails rather than a switch.)

My small audio consumer unit has two circuits, feeding two different rooms, so they are perhaps not fully isolated from each other, but at least they are isolated from the main CU.

How this fits in with smart meters I have no idea, I'm avoiding them for as long as I can. Of course, having enough space to fit all this stuff in can be a problem too. I would be tempted to get the switch fitted first if that is your priority, then how they fit the smart meter is their problem.

Due to the present climate and advice about the smart metres the above would be a good way to go.My consumer unit is way out of date so replacing that first along with the isolator makes perfect sense.I can then  worry about the smart meter when potentially forced to have one.

Thanks all