Hi guys I have a  ripple relay installed at my place that went bonkers this weekend after all the load shedding. My geyser just stopped working so I checked for power at the thermostat there was nothing so assumed it was the relay. I had a plumber out to check the geyser anyways and cofirmed that it was the relay. Many people in the area had the same issue. He simply opened it up and flipped a switch the opposite way and the geyser came back on. The plumber left and someone from city power came to check the relay. He assured me that the plumber switched the thing off and that there was no power going to the geyser at that moment. He showed me with a multimeter in the current position there was only power coming in and nothing going to the geyser. When he switched it the opposite way there was power both in and out. A long time after he went away I realised that the plumber was right and the city power guy switched it off. I checked for a diagram below and this is the exact thing that I have. The only difference is that the one in the picture actually tells you which way is on or off. Mine does not have the markers. I switched back to the on position(the way the plumber originally moved it) and geyser started heating up again. I tested the wires myself with a multimeter and with the switch in the on position there is only power on one side. The side where wires appear to be going into the ceiling which I can only assume is going to the geyser has no power yet the geyser is working fine. Anybody out there know how this thing works and what the explanation of the above could be. My knowledge of electricity is very poor but I'm very curious to know how this thing would work with no power coming out out.

Normally the side that you found is without power and with power it times is normally wired via the DB and then straight to the geyser so that one has no access to bypass the ripple relay. Not sure that the on and off as you describe it is correct. On normally indicates the geyser is on. It could be that the munic controller is giving regular switch off carrier signals and that is why you find no power on the geyser.

Not sure if Jhb are still using the ripple relays. In Tshwane they have long ago stopped using them. More than 10 years ago consumers could have opted to have the relay never switching geysers off but paid more for every unit used.

How do I know if mine is on or off as I had hot water but all of a sudden I have nothing

1 hour ago, Marlize23 said:

How do I know if mine is on or off as I had hot water but all of a sudden I have nothing

Looking at the picture placed by Vin when the white toggle is in the up position it is set to take power to the geyser. Toggle down the geyser is switched off. Toggle is in the bottom half of pic.

Edited September 21, 20223 yr by Scorp007