Geyser device

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Mike Hoxblack

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Our municipality installed devices with which they can remotely switch off our geysers not too long ago. The promise was that it would switch off the geyser between 6-8PM. Now I notice that they're switching it off at 5PM already, which throws everything out for us. We used to get along fine with it. Two of us get off work at about 5, so we would shower once we got home and the geyser would have time to heat up again in time for the other two to shower when they got home later. Now this no longer works and the last person to shower either has to have a cold shower or wait for the geyser to come on at 8PM and then shower at about 9PM, when it is warm again.

Does the municipality reserve the right just turn off the geyser an hour earlier than they promised? Allegedly tampering with the device is illegal, but at this rate I'm just going to disconnect it from the main box. My only other option is to get a second geyser or a gas geyser, neither of which are currently viable and not to mention, I should not have to spend a dime because I should not go without hot water for 3 hours.
 
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Looking at the Eskom leaflet it sounds like the same deal:
http://www.eskom.co.za/sites/idm/Documents/RLMKwadukuzaLeaflet.pdf
It says your geyser will be
"switched off from 18:00 and 20:00 and switched on again after 20:00"
but also that:
"Peak time, that is when most electricity is consumed, is between 17:00 and 21:00."
So I can understand if they've shifted the time a little.

Whats your municipality?
I had a look for by-laws about this, but it's a pretty useless thing to search for.

According to this:
http://www.energy.gov.za/files/poli...dards for reticulation services 18Jul2008.pdf
We're all meant to have smart meters and ripple controllers on the air-con and pools by 2012!
 
Fck that thing....It was removed long ago because it did not cooperate with my working schedule.
 
richjdavies said:
Looking at the Eskom leaflet it sounds like the same deal:
http://www.eskom.co.za/sites/idm/Documents/RLMKwadukuzaLeaflet.pdf
It says your geyser will be
"switched off from 18:00 and 20:00 and switched on again after 20:00"
but also that:
"Peak time, that is when most electricity is consumed, is between 17:00 and 21:00."
So I can understand if they've shifted the time a little.

Whats your municipality?
I had a look for by-laws about this, but it's a pretty useless thing to search for.

According to this:
http://www.energy.gov.za/files/poli...dards for reticulation services 18Jul2008.pdf
We're all meant to have smart meters and ripple controllers on the air-con and pools by 2012!
Click to expand...

I think it's the ripple thing. I remember the leaflet talking about the ripple effect. It's just really annoying. 2 hours was already stretching it, but now it doesn't suit the schedule at all.

You come home from a long day and want to have a shower, then you're stuck without hot water until about 9. Have to boil a kettle just to wash dishes.
 
Mike Hoxblack said:
I think it's the ripple thing. I remember the leaflet talking about the ripple effect. It's just really annoying. 2 hours was already stretching it, but now it doesn't suit the schedule at all.

You come home from a long day and want to have a shower, then you're stuck without hot water until about 9. Have to boil a kettle just to wash dishes.
Click to expand...

You use up all your hot water in one shower or what? Not sure I'm following, how small is your geyser? If it goes off at 17:00 you should still have plenty of hot water when you get home.

I can't say ripple switches thrill me, but they are a lot more practical than many of the other solutions being proposed and can actually help somewhat.
 
Yup - would agree with others.
The solution is either:
a. illegal removal/by-pass etc.
b. expensive addition of other heating supply (gas, solar etc.)
c. keeping it hot

On c the options are to either:
1. Increase the amount of heat there - (from reading it sounds like the geyser isn't timed separately, i.e. it's on all day right? it's not just that you need to put the timer back an hour too?); maybe increase the temperature of the geyser if it's been turned down (then mix at the shower for the right temp) or insulate better -- not just the geyser but also the pipes
2. Reduce the amount of hot water you're using -- lower-flow shower-head? maybe slightly shorter shower or just turning down the flow a tad... or changing your routine so you don't do things like shaving in the shower say. At the extreme end - aybe share a shower with your loved one... :D (tends not to reduce water usage - but you just don't care as much!)


PS: some other info:
https://www.citypower.co.za/customers/Pages/Geyser-Control.aspx
"07h00 t​​​​​o10h00 in the morning, and again between 18h00 to 20h00 in the evening." So count yourself lucky if only the evening slot :D
Or the power sods who get these ones:
http://www.romulus.co.za/assets/smartrippletimer.pdf
 
mmacleod said:
You use up all your hot water in one shower or what? Not sure I'm following, how small is your geyser? If it goes off at 17:00 you should still have plenty of hot water when you get home.

I can't say ripple switches thrill me, but they are a lot more practical than many of the other solutions being proposed and can actually help somewhat.
Click to expand...

It's a standard size geyser. With 4 adults trying to shower, it's almost guaranteed the last one won't have hot water. Insulation is an idea, but I doubt it's going to make a significant difference in this instance.

I'm thinking I'll just bypass the thing and plead ignorance whenever the Eskom people come around (which has never happened in the three years I've had this device). Does anyone know how complex it is or can I simply do it myself?
 
Mike Hoxblack said:
Our municipality installed devices with which they can remotely switch off our geysers not too long ago. The promise was that it would switch off the geyser between 6-8PM. Now I notice that they're switching it off at 5PM already, which throws everything out for us. We used to get along fine with it. Two of us get off work at about 5, so we would shower once we got home and the geyser would have time to heat up again in time for the other two to shower when they got home later. Now this no longer works and the last person to shower either has to have a cold shower or wait for the geyser to come on at 8PM and then shower at about 9PM, when it is warm again.

Does the municipality reserve the right just turn off the geyser an hour earlier than they promised? Allegedly tampering with the device is illegal, but at this rate I'm just going to disconnect it from the main box. My only other option is to get a second geyser or a gas geyser, neither of which are currently viable and not to mention, I should not have to spend a dime because I should not go without hot water for 3 hours.
Click to expand...

Shower together. Boooooom. Problem solved :P
 
There is no such thing as a standard size geyser, do you mean 150L?...
What is the current temperature setting? Just setting it up a bit is probably all you need to do, or look into a low flow shower head.
However I guess breaking the law as first option while simultaneously complaining about how lawless our country is would be a much more South African thing to do.
 
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You have the option of having it disabled. Where I live, that means an additional charge of R3000/month. Setting the geyser to a higher temperature should help a lot. Alternatively, get some of the people to shower in the morning.
 
Well, I was more than willing to comply with their demands when they told me it was between 6-8PM. If they told me they were going to switch it off from 5PM whenever they felt like it, I would have told them to stuff the meter up their ass when they came to install it.

It's a 100L geyser. There's no way it's going to stay hot for three hours with four adults in the house.
 
P924 said:
You have the option of having it disabled. Where I live, that means an additional charge of R3000/month. Setting the geyser to a higher temperature should help a lot. Alternatively, get some of the people to shower in the morning.
Click to expand...

Go to bed without a shower? Fek NO! This is SA. Not UK.
 
mmacleod said:
However I guess breaking the law as first option while simultaneously complaining about how lawless our country is would be a much more South African thing to do.
Click to expand...

Any unregistered person just opening a DB is breaking the law. I've given up arguing about this one - people plain and simply just don't care. Dept. of Labor (whom enforces the Occupational Health & Safety Act) is aware of it though, and very busy with inspections.
 
Ripple relays are notoriously unreliable. They were used in the 70's in Roodepoort, and gave so much trouble, that the council one day came around and removed them all in our area.

There are many variables you have to take into account and it is quite complicated to find out how and what to change to live with these things.

We went for a bigger geyser (200L) (needed for 4 adults in my opinion) changed the temperature setting to 70 degree C, insulated the hot water and cold water pipes from and to the geyser as far as possible, got a geyser blanket, and employed an in line water heater on the hot water run furthest from the geyser. I have also used a timer for more than 30 years as well as an Energy Control Unit.

Sadly, the only way to combat supplier inefficiency is to take matters into your own hands, and it costs you Capital. The above are the only alternatives without resorting to a move towards Solar Water heating, which is even more capital intensive, but is probably the best long-term solution.

This is my next step and will be done when the current geyser needs to be replaced. If I was to do this, our electricity consumption will drop way below 500KW per month ---- which I suspect will raise all sorts of other issues ----
 
savage said:
Any unregistered person just opening a DB is breaking the law. I've given up arguing about this one - people plain and simply just don't care. Dept. of Labor (whom enforces the Occupational Health & Safety Act) is aware of it though, and very busy with inspections.
Click to expand...


They showed up at my place for an inspection when I bought my current Property, condemned the installation, which was then "repaired" at the expense of the previous owner using the appointed "electrician", inspected again and once again " condemmed". The previous owner then said that is it, he is finished and I ended up with the can of worms, no power until I could get it "fixed".

So I re-did my power installation myself, from scratch. Then had a battle to find someone to give me a privately arranged "inspection certificate" indicating who had done the work. Then back came the "official" inspector, who then wanted to know who had done the work as he had "never seen an electrician do such an excellent job ever". So don't talk to me about all this BS.
 
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daniellgr said:
They showed up at my place for an inspection when I bought my current Property, condemned the installation, which was then "repaired" at the expense of the previous owner using the appointed "electrician", inspected again and once again " condemmed". The previous owner then said that is it, he is finished and I ended up with the can of worms, no power until I could get it "fixed".

So I re-did my power installation myself, from scratch. Then had a battle to find someone to give me a privately arranged "inspection certificate" indicating who had done the work. Then back came the "official" inspector, who then wanted to know who had done the work as he had "never seen an electrician do such an excellent job ever". So don't talk to me about all this BS.
Click to expand...

While savage may be correct, legally, I have seen some atrocious work done by some - not all - electricians. They get paid by spending their time, so generally, doing only what is necessary makes financially sense.

When you work on your own house, you can spend time and do things neatly as well.
 
savage said:
Any unregistered person just opening a DB is breaking the law. I've given up arguing about this one - people plain and simply just don't care. Dept. of Labor (whom enforces the Occupational Health & Safety Act) is aware of it though, and very busy with inspections.
Click to expand...
They inspected my premises/area last month, checked that a ripple control was installed and functional (they would have installed one at no charge if necessary), DB wiring was up to code and that the meter had not been bypassed.

They also take photos of everything as proof.
 
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