Power Supply Problems
We always have issues with the power supply here. Bird strikes often take it out completely for a day or two, there are constant brown-outs, we have powercuts if it’s cold or windy, the power seems to dim somewhat at 9 pm every night, and if there are any problems anywhere on the local network we seem to take the brunt of it.
While on the Isle of Man the power went off a few times. Morgan had to deal with it and fortunately, it was just a case of flipping the master RCD switch back on. Once we were back home it was getting worse. At one point the fuse was tripping several times a day and even several times an hour now and then. Getting work done was nigh-on impossible.
Engineers
I then spotted an SP Energy engineer up the electricity pole outside our house so I went to have a chat with him. He was working on an ongoing fault for a neighbour down the road and was a little surprised to hear that we were having problems too. It was a good job I spoke to him rather than just assuming he was working on the issue that was causing us problems.
He went off to find other faults and came back a few hours later. He said that they’d found another fault on a pole down the road that would be causing the supply to fluctuate. They had fixed it so all should now be OK. They then headed off saying to call them if there were further problems. You’ve guessed it, about an hour later the fuse tripped again. Grrrr….
It was then fine overnight so I thought maybe it was indeed fixed.
The Problems Explode
The following day however just at a critical point in a document I was working on there was yet another outage. Everything went off and sure enough, the fuse had tripped again. I turned it back on and started looking up the number to call SP Energy. I also had to sort out the washing machine as it had stopped mid-cycle. I was therefore in the utility room just below the fuse box when there was a loud bang that made me duck to the floor and the power went off yet again. This time a different fuse had tripped.
The fuse for Eddi, our solar energy diverter that sends power from the solar panels to the hot water immersion heater had tripped. I reached up to turn it back on and as I did so there was a massive flash, a loud bang and some smoke from Eddi. I instinctively recoiled and crouched on the floor and decided enough was enough. There was now a smell of burning and I wasn’t going to try that again.
I got on the phone to SP Energy and told them what had just happened. To be fair to them there were engineers on site within half an hour and it was the same guy as yesterday which was useful. He did lots of tests but couldn’t find anything. Typically, whenever he was testing things the power seemed stable, but as soon as he stopped for lunch or headed off to get something it would go off again.
Leaking Transformer
Eventually, after much searching another engineer turned up with a voltage recorder that they were intending to fit to our supply to see if there were any fluctuations in the supply. If not, then it was likely to be something in our house that was causing the problems. I’d also called Ian (our friendly electrician) to see if he could pop out to test the safety of the now-dead Eddi and give us some advice on testing other equipment in the house for problems.
With the second engineer on-site, the SP Energy guys decided that they would do a complete test on everything. Tracing the supply back to the main grid. They started off on the pole in our back garden and worked their way back.
Later in the day, they turned up on the doorstep to report that they had found a transformer further down the road with a ‘massive leak’. Apparently, there was oil all over the place and the grass beneath it was scorched. They were going to have to get some parts and replace it that evening. True to their word they arrived later that evening to say that they had replaced the transformed and all should now be OK. We’d heard that before!
So far so good though, the supply has (as far as we know) been stable since the transformer has been replaced
RIP Eddi
We’re now left with the problem of a completely dead Eddi and therefore no hot water. The device itself is under warranty, but I’m not sure if it will be covered by the warranty in such circumstances. I feel as though SP Energy should compensate us for it as the supply that we pay for and that they deliver was outside of the permitted parameters. The spikes and surges that we were getting were after all the cause of the damage to Eddi. I’m not sure how we go about proving that though nor how long a compensation claim will take.
We, of course, need some hot water so have had to bite the bullet and order a new Eddi ourselves. Hopefully, Ian will be able to fit it for us once it arrives. The whole point of the Eddi was to save money – we use it to send surplus solar power to the immersion heater so that during the summer our water heating bill is reduced. It works well but does of course need several years of service before it pays for itself. If we have to replace it all the time then it costs a lot more than it’s worth. Let’s hope we get SP Energy to pay for the replacement for it.
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Wow ,lucky it didn’t happen when it was just Morgan at home though.
I’m surr SP should pay at the very least for Eddie let alone the stress and inconvenience.
You’d think so wouldn’t you – but apparently, according to the phone call we’ve had from them, they aren’t liable for any damage caused, even when it’s clearly their fault. They said that even if their fault caused they voltage to spike above acceptable limits they wouldn’t be liable for damage to any of our devices or property.
Al.