Rota Disconnections

Electricity, Tariffs, Monitoring & Providers

Last Post by Toodles 2 years ago

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Mike Patrick

(@mike-patrick)

Honorable Member Member

Joined: 4 years ago

Posts: 172

Topic starter 23/08/2023 11:29 am

Ive just noticed this term, Rota Disconnections, on my electricity bill for the first time.

It presumably tells me where in the priority order my supply would be if general power cuts had to be made.

I've always thought that heat pumps should not just be disconnected from the mains to turn them off but shut down via the control panel, before switching off the power supply. Is this correct and is it true that the pump can be harmed if you don't follow that procedure? If so what are the implications for general power cuts and protecting heat pumps. Would they have to be timetabled so that heat pumps could be shut down correctly in advance?

Or am I worrying uneccessarily?

Mike

Grant Aerona HPID10 10kWh ASHP

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Toodles

(@toodles)

Illustrious Member Contributor

Joined: 3 years ago

Posts: 2062

26/08/2023 4:09 pm

I’ve not heard of these Rota Disconnections either; however, I have noticed that on the Tesla app that takes care of my 2 x Powerwall 2’s and under the heading of ‘Impact’ / ‘Backup History’, my system has experienced 12 events since February totalling 7 minutes; the longest was 2 minutes but most were a few seconds in duration. I was totally unaware of these events (as should be the case I believe) but I was rather surprised to see how many there were! We have rather ‘tired’ supply cables in the road and the SSEB have attended one or other spot in the pavement every week or so over the last few years so I am expecting a complete shut down sometime whilst the infrastructure receives a little TLC. The cabling is very much patched up but any original sections are over 90 years old now. We did have a complete loss of supply one day during Covid restrictions and could not heat the house nor heat up any food for some 12 hours that day; of course, had we had a Powerwall setup then…. Regards, Toodles.

Toodles, he heats his home with cold draughts and cooks his food with magnets.

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AllyFish

(@allyfish)

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Joined: 3 years ago

Posts: 494

30/08/2023 2:17 pm

Modern monobloc heat pumps will not be harmed by power cuts. They don't have a refrigerant pump down system as the low charge quantity doesn't necessitate. We get multiple power cuts a year as the underground cabling in the village is post WW2 paper insulated aluminium conductors. These were developed when copper was scarce and expensive. Their useable life expired a long time ago. Over time the dielectric properties of the paper breaks down, with the resulting short circuit in the cable popping the fuse in the sub-station and blacking out the properties the cable supplies. Northern Powergrid are forever digging the roads and paths up in the village and splicing patches in. The whole lot needs ripping out and replacing, but they have shareholders dividends to pay and Board of Directors' remuneration to meet, so network maintenance is a low priority.

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Toodles

(@toodles)

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Joined: 3 years ago

Posts: 2062

30/08/2023 3:09 pm

@allyfish Well, of course shareholder’s dividends and Fat Controller’s Bonii (plural of bonus!;-) ) are of a far higher priority than customer service! Regrets, Toodles.

Toodles, he heats his home with cold draughts and cooks his food with magnets.

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