"Better" electricity?

[blackrose]

The water from the mains immersion heater in my calorifier seems to be heating the water to a slightly higher temperature at my new mooring. The immersion programmer hasn't been changed so it's only on for the same amount of time and I haven't changed the thermostat settings.

 

Is it possible that the quality of the mains at the new mooring is different, or am I just imagining the water is hotter now?  I think some of the electricity might come from the mooring owner's solar farm or perhaps that just gets fed back into the grid.

[MHS]

Have you moved south? It’s warmer than up north!

[Thames Bhaji]

Seems possible that a higher voltage could be heating the water slightly quicker, but the thermostat would be cutting in and out at the same temperatures. Is the timer on for long enough for it to get up to temperature and the thermostat cut out? 

[blackrose]

I guess it must be my imagination then

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, blackrose said:

I guess it must be my imagination then

 

Unless by co incidence your thermostat has gone faulty?

[Thames Bhaji]

7 minutes ago, blackrose said:

I guess it must be my imagination then

It might not be, if the timer is turning it off before the thermostat does. Eg if it’s a low power heater and is only on for an hour, a higher voltage might be getting it a bit hotter than the lower voltage did before the timer goes off. 

[Murflynn]

8 hours ago, Thames Bhaji said:

Seems possible that a higher voltage could be heating the water slightly quicker, but the thermostat would be cutting in and out at the same temperatures. Is the timer on for long enough for it to get up to temperature and the thermostat cut out? 

 

230v is the "norm" for mains supplies in the UK.  However the voltage measured at the consumer unit or fuse box will always be less than the voltage measured at the outgoing supply from the local substation.  In extreme circumstances this can be significant. 

 

When I was working in Oman several of the air-conditioning units overheated and failed.  We measured the incoming at 270V.  This was because we were next to the substation and the electricity company had done its best to maintain a reasonable voltage for some new properties that were a long way from the substation.

[Jen-in-Wellies]

We were measuring 260V on the mains at our moorings. The inverter/chargers on some peoples boats were unhappy with it, especially some Victron ones. After a lot of complaints the electric company accepted it was a problem and put in a new transformer on a pole for the site.

[PeterF]

33 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

We were measuring 260V on the mains at our moorings. The inverter/chargers on some peoples boats were unhappy with it, especially some Victron ones. After a lot of complaints the electric company accepted it was a problem and put in a new transformer on a pole for the site.

I have measured 250V inlet where I moor,  9% higher than the nominal 230V. 250V is within specification, 253V max is permissible. That will result in nominally 9% more current and 18% more power so my nominal 1000W element is probably providing 1180W.

 

In the UK, the declared voltage and tolerance for an electricity supply is 230 volts -6%, +10%.

[ditchcrawler]

1 hour ago, PeterF said:

I have measured 250V inlet where I moor,  9% higher than the nominal 230V. 250V is within specification, 253V max is permissible. That will result in nominally 9% more current and 18% more power so my nominal 1000W element is probably providing 1180W.

 

In the UK, the declared voltage and tolerance for an electricity supply is 230 volts -6%, +10%.

I think you will find that is left over from the days when the supply was a nominal 240 volts. I spent days during the strikes of the 70s watching a volt meeter and recording the voltage  with a chart recorder.

 

[PeterF]

1 minute ago, ditchcrawler said:

I think you will find that is left over from the days when the supply was a nominal 240 volts. I spent days during the strikes of the 70s watching a volt meeter and recording the voltage  with a chart recorder.

 

I t used to be 240V +/-6% but when we harmonised to nominal 230V with Europe, the spec was widened so nothing really needed to change.

[Tonka]

The water quality is different at the new mooring and this effects the heating. 

[Tony Brooks]

17 minutes ago, Tonka said:

The water quality is different at the new mooring and this effects the heating. 

 

Unless you mean it's softer so it's dissolving the lime scale off the element, I simply do not see that as credible. I can't see the dissolved minerals or even organic matter making a significant difference to the water's specific heat capacity - happy to learn, though.

 

If you are talking about central heating, then the amount of antifreeze in the mixture will make a difference because it has a rather differnt specific heat capacity.

[Alan de Enfield]

6 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

 

Unless you mean it's softer so it's dissolving the lime scale off the element, I simply do not see that as credible. I can't see the dissolved minerals or even organic matter making a significant difference to the water's specific heat capacity - happy to learn, though.

 

If you are talking about central heating, then the amount of antifreeze in the mixture will make a difference because it has a rather differnt specific heat capacity.

 

 

Maybe it's the old North / South divide where the softy southerners get full strength water, but North of Watford Gap we get ours 'watered down'.

 

I did once try making dehydrated water so as to make the storage easier, but the volume of water needed to re-hydrate it made the whole exercise impractical, particularly when someone pointed out that it was already for sale in cylinders (Hydrogen and oxygen) where you could put a 2:1 mixture in a tub, give it a shake and you'd get water.

[Jen-in-Wellies]

52 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

someone pointed out that it was already for sale in cylinders (Hydrogen and oxygen) where you could put a 2:1 mixture in a tub, give it a shake and you'd get water.

Put a match to it once thoroughly mixed for flambé water.

[Jim Riley]

59 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

 

Maybe it's the old North / South divide where the softy southerners get full strength water, but North of Watford Gap we get ours 'watered down'.

 

I did once try making dehydrated water so as to make the storage easier, but the volume of water needed to re-hydrate it made the whole exercise impractical, particularly when someone pointed out that it was already for sale in cylinders (Hydrogen and oxygen) where you could put a 2:1 mixture in a tub, give it a shake and you'd get water.

You'd think that such a mix would take off, business would be booming.

[ditchcrawler]

47 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Put a match to it once thoroughly mixed for flambé water.

 

 

Edited July 4, 2021 by ditchcrawler

[Jen-in-Wellies]

15 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

 

 

You can see it works. Just look at how much water they've made already.

[Sea Dog]

4 hours ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

We were measuring 260V on the mains at our moorings. The inverter/chargers on some peoples boats were unhappy with it, especially some Victron ones. After a lot of complaints the electric company accepted it was a problem and put in a new transformer on a pole for the site.

Is your electrician called Mervyn, Jen?

[Robert B.]

Your supply may also 'droop' if you have busy moorings with lots of power being drawn (e.g. liveaboards running electric heaters etc). I've measured as low as 190 volts incoming at the marina in Ely.

 

 

[Richard10002]

I watched an “audiophile” video the other day, (Paul McGowan of PS Audio).

 

He suggested that music sounded better at night because the electricity supplied was “better”, (in many more words, of course).

[Tony Brooks]

1 hour ago, Richard10002 said:

I watched an “audiophile” video the other day, (Paul McGowan of PS Audio).

 

He suggested that music sounded better at night because the electricity supplied was “better”, (in many more words, of course).

 

Oh yes, definitely. More likely he is pissed by then so has his senses dulled.

[PeterF]

4 hours ago, Richard10002 said:

I watched an “audiophile” video the other day, (Paul McGowan of PS Audio).

 

He suggested that music sounded better at night because the electricity supplied was “better”, (in many more words, of course).

 

Turn your face away from the garish light of day,
Turn your face away from cold, unfeeling light -
and listen to the music of the night...

 

[ditchcrawler]

5 hours ago, Richard10002 said:

I watched an “audiophile” video the other day, (Paul McGowan of PS Audio).

 

He suggested that music sounded better at night because the electricity supplied was “better”, (in many more words, of course).

Maybe if demand is lower there is less French stuff in it