Best practice for testing off peak boards

[ANDREW B]

What would be conceder the best practice for testing an off peak board and associated circuits during a periodic inspection. In particular the ZE and ZS when there is no supply on?

 

[SirKit Breaker]

Thats a good one answers on a postcard!

I would probably contact the supplier and ask if the meter has an override facility or if the timer can be adjusted to bring the power on temporarily.

Cheers........Howard

 

[roukel01]

Well, if it can't be switched on, if a normal board is next to or close to the off-peek one and the tail size/length are similar can't you measure Ze there and then calculate your Zs results from your R1+R2 results? and then put a comment in the limitations box??

 

[mrmatt]

I would check for an over ride switch or go back out of peak times to measure (charging a premium for out of normal hours working)

Don't forget you can take Ze value from the regs book or Enquire with supplier as other options and as said already in the thread you can then calculate zs from your (R!+R2) already measured

 

[devlin maguire]

Is it a dual tariff board or seperate if dual tarriff ZE of the main supply is all you need, earth is (or should be) as in MEM MK etc common to entire board, If it is not associated with main supply then the options mentioned by other posters is the way to go
Mac

 

[ANDREW B]

Thanks for the replies.
If there is an adjacent day rate board, with similar length tails would the ZE/ZS at that board be ok to use for the off peak reading (if it’s noted on the test cert as such)?
Also I forgot to ask about testing off peak RCD protected circuits.
And also where there is a night store in the bathroom I have seen a 30 mA RCD switch spur used to supply it how would you test this.

 

[Bobby B]

just liven it up off the normal rate to test the rcd's. i see no prob with this

 

[andrew692003]

The old style black teleswitch has 2 small red buttons on the right hand side for over-riding both heating and hot water supplies! This does mean you have to cut the security tag too unscrew the cover. The new style meters which have the blue and orange buttons can also over-ride but you have to pull the supplier cutout to do this too.

 

[Jason Smith]

I hope a feed from the main board is ok as been doing this for quite a while !!- Safety warning for those who dont know, watch out for that sort of contract that allows a boost in the afternoon! - may spoil your day.

 

[Chris B]

I was always under the impression that calculating Zs from Ze + R1 + R2 was not acceptable and frowned on by the NIC EIC as not a true reading.

 

[Andyfm]

"I was always under the impression that calculating Zs from Ze + R1 + R2 was not acceptable and frowned on by the NIC EIC as not a true reading"

Isn`t that what the NIC are asking their contractors to do now, to avoid live testing