Home » Electrical installation » Electric meters » Self-propelled electric meter: what to do, how to fix it
Quite often there are situations when people notice that their electric meter continues to rotate even in the absence of voltage. Accordingly, questions arise: why does it spin and how to get rid of such a problem? In fact, this phenomenon is called self-propelling. As a result, a person may overpay for energy that he did not use. In this article we will look at what a self-propelled electric meter is, consider the main causes and ways to solve problems.
Types of meters
Mechanical meters are older models, so it is in such devices that more breakdowns occur. This is due, first of all, to wear and tear of the mechanism and design features. This type of device is also called induction. The mechanical counter consists of the following parts:
- current coil;
- voltage coils;
- disk;
- counting mechanism;
- permanent magnet.
All these elements are compactly installed in a housing made of dielectric material.
The design of an electronic meter differs significantly from an induction meter and contains only a few printed blocks with an electronic display. They are much more compact and have less weight.
Ways to solve the problem
To eliminate excessive energy consumption, the first step is to determine what is causing the increase in consumption. If the information provided did not help you or you doubt that you will be able to independently detect and eliminate the cause of the overspending, we recommend that you first contact the Housing Office. An electrician from the service organization must inspect the panel for unauthorized connections and errors in the installation diagram. If no obvious reasons are found in the panel, you need to check the wiring in the apartment and the electric meter itself. As for checking the wiring in the apartment, here again, either do the inspection yourself or call a specialist. We talked about how to independently check an electric meter in a separate article: https://samelectrik.ru/kak-samomu-proverit-pravilnost-raboty-schetchika-elektroenergii.html. Checks didn't help? Call the electrical network organization and find out how you can perform a specialized check of your meter.
If in this case the network organization tells you to call an electrician, say that you did this (as we wrote about earlier) and that the electrician did not find any problems with the connection diagram. Then the network organization should announce the procedure for checking the electric meter. After paying for the services, someone from the network organization will come to you and perform a qualified inspection.
Finally, we recommend watching a video that clearly shows one of the reasons for excessive energy consumption in an apartment:
Now you know why an increase in energy consumption may occur and what to do in this case. We hope the information was useful and interesting for you!
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Published: November 15, 2017 Updated: November 15, 2017
Self-propelled meter - what is it?
Self-propelling of an electric meter is its incorrect operation, which consists of counting electricity in the absence of its consumption.
In other words, when all household appliances in a house or apartment are turned off, the meter continues to count. Of course, this is not a pleasant factor, since no one wants to pay for unconsumed electricity. Therefore, during operation, it is necessary to regularly check the device for self-propelling, so that if this problem is detected, immediately eliminate this problem and avoid troubles with the service provider.
A malfunction may appear unexpectedly, so you should always pay attention to the measuring device.
Causes of electric meter malfunctions
Repairs to electricity meters should only be carried out by electricians from the resource supply organization.
Electric meters have a limited service life, and sometimes fail before the time stated by the manufacturer. One of the main reasons for replacing a device is its malfunction.
Repair of electric meters cannot be carried out independently. This is due to the need to violate the integrity of the protective seal of the controlling organization and the seal manufacturer, which is punishable by law.
The most common reasons why devices fail:
- The results of numerous checks with special controllers have shown that the device’s accuracy class becomes less than 2.0. If the indicator is 2.0 or higher, as written in the accompanying documentation, and the service life has not yet expired, the device can continue to be used.
- Due to heating, the contacts were damaged, possibly completely burned out.
- The meter is overloaded, as evidenced by a loud hum, a change in the color of the viewing window, and the appearance of an unpleasant smell of burnt insulation.
- The integrity of the insulating layer on the wires is damaged.
- The red light on the electricity meter is flashing or the rotation of the disk of the electrical appliance is slowing down/stopping when the load is off. The norm is one blink of the light bulb or one turn of the dial within 15 minutes after the network has been de-energized.
- The integrity of the device body was damaged. In this case, you will need to replace the device with a new one, since the cases cannot be repaired.
How to identify a self-propelled gun?
You can check the electricity meter for self-propelling in the simplest way. To do this, it is necessary to turn off all devices in the house or apartment that consume electricity, that is, make the consumption zero.
Tip #1: You can also simply turn off the machine that is installed after the meter. If the device is working properly, its disk will stop spinning. You need to watch him for a few minutes. There is a mark on the disk that will facilitate visual observation. If the disk moves, then this device contains self-propelling and must be replaced.
The same operations are carried out with an electronic meter. Such a counter does not have a disk, but instead a light indicator is installed. When monitoring the device, the indicator light should not flash more than once per minute. If the indicator flashes very quickly, you should immediately contact your energy supply company.
Reasons for appearance
The reasons for the appearance of self-propelled guns in a mechanical counter are directly related to its physical properties.
In this device, a special device is installed to level friction forces - a compensator. It looks either like a special plate or a short-circuited coil. A compensator is installed in the path of the magnetic flux. When the meter is operating, the magnetic flux bifurcates into two, between which a phase shift angle appears. As a result, an additional moment appears, which compensates for the friction moment.
At a normal load of 100%, the frictional moment is completely compensated. But when consumption is zero, the compensation moment is much greater than the friction moment and, due to the difference, spontaneous spinning of the disk occurs.
To eliminate this, a special braking element is provided in the self-propelled counter.
The design of a mechanical (induction) meter assumes the presence of a plate - a compensator of friction forces
Self-propelled repair methods
When it is discovered that there is a self-propelled gun in the meter, it must be eliminated immediately. All causes that may be associated with the self-propelled vehicle must also be eliminated.
There are two ways out of this situation.
The first is, if a malfunction is detected, call an electrician who will dismantle the meter to hand it over for repair. After the repair is completed, it must be submitted for testing, which will confirm that the device is in working order. Then you should install the counter in place. In this case, during the absence of the device, another one must be installed in its place or the calculation must be carried out based on average readings.
The second method of fixing the problem is to simply replace the meter with a new one.
Tip No. 2: In most cases, a simple replacement is a more profitable and quicker solution, since the financial costs of repairs, verification, dismantling and installation often exceed the cost of the device. A large amount of time is also spent, and if you also take into account visits to various authorities, then replacement is definitely the best option.
When replacing, you need to remember that when removing the meter, you must notify the service provider if the dismantling is not carried out by them.
Also, during installation, sealing of the device is carried out only by a representative of the service provider, or by an electrician together with a representative of the supplier. A certificate must be issued for the seal installed, which indicates that all work was performed correctly.
Why does this happen?
So, self-propelling is the rotation of the meter disk, which is connected to the meter’s counting mechanism, in the absence of load current.
In the figure we see the magnetic flux created by the load current MP1 and the magnetic flux MP2, which is created by the current in voltage coil 1. These fluxes, penetrating the meter disk, create an induced emf in it, under the influence of which eddy currents arise. When currents and magnetic moments interact, a torque appears that moves the disk in a certain direction with acceleration. This torque is directly proportional to the load current.
In order for the disk to rotate at a constant speed, a braking torque must be applied to it. For this purpose, there is a brake magnet 3 in the meter. To eliminate self-propelling, the meter is equipped with a brake device in the form of a brake flag mounted on the disk axis, and a brake hook is inserted into the voltage coil. The brake hook is always magnetized, since the voltage coil is always connected to the network, regardless of the presence of a load.
The counter is adjusted by rearranging. If any of these elements does not work, the counter disk begins to move in self-propelled mode.
How to check the electric meter for a self-propelled vehicle? It is enough to turn off all outgoing machines and leave the input machine on. Check disk movement. If electricity is not consumed, the disk will make one revolution, the indicator on the electronic device will blink only once in 15 minutes. If the disk spins without load or the indicator blinks more often than the specified time, then the metering device is faulty and it is necessary to eliminate the movement of the meter disk in self-propelled mode.
Methods for eliminating the phenomenon
What to do if a self-propelled gun is detected and electricity continues to be consumed? How to determine that the electric meter is counting incorrectly? For example, a person has a country house, which he visits only on weekends. When leaving for the city, all group machines will turn off (there are, of course, those that do not turn off anything).
Arriving the next weekend, it is noticed that the electronic meter has added up a certain number of kilowatt-hours at a time when there was no one in the country house, and everything was previously disconnected from the electrical network. If no one was present in the home during this time, and there is no external connection, then there is only one conclusion - the electric meter is self-propelled.
Recommendation!
To ensure that the meter is not under constant voltage during a long absence of people in the house, it is necessary to turn off the input circuit breaker together with the group circuit breakers.
Electricity costs money, so if such a phenomenon is detected, the electric meter must be replaced immediately. Failure to do this will result in increased readings and inexplicable and unjustified financial costs. We described in more detail about at whose expense the electricity meter is changed in the corresponding article.
Why is it recommended to replace the electric meter when driving? Everything is very simple. If this phenomenon occurs, you should determine the cause of its occurrence and then repair the device so that electricity is not wasted. After the device has been repaired, it must be submitted to a government agency for verification. And only after all this the meter can be used in everyday life. All this entails financial costs, which are paid by the owner of the device. This amount can reach such a size that it will be easier and more profitable to buy a new electric meter.
For this reason, when a self-propelled device is detected, it is best to purchase a new electricity meter. To do this, you need to call the power grid and inform them about the planned change of the device. After his shift, the inspector must come and check the diagram, put a seal and draw up a report.
However, if you don’t want to replace the device, you can install a special device that will slow down the movement of the rotation disk. The problem is that the owner faces a considerable fine for using magnets and other devices, since it is illegal, so it is much easier to spend money on replacing the meter.
Finally, we recommend watching a video that discusses the problem of self-propelled electric meter:
So we told you what a self-propelled electric meter is, what are the reasons for its occurrence, and what to do if the meter itself spins or blinks without load. We hope the information provided was clear and useful for you!
It will be useful to read:
- What to do if neighbors steal electricity
- How to check an electric meter
- How to pay less for electricity
