Not completely unrelated - during the replacement of the Linky, all of the power will have gone off - when Linky connected power back on which may have damaged it.
Oh dear, so itâs not a linky fault and you wonât be getting lots of money backđ ?
And I was hoping for a dramatic end to the story - a cable leading to a covert tomato farm, neighbourâs children sneaking your electricity to play unsuitable video games. That sort of thing.
But nice to know and not be left hanging.
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We donât know. It just seems like a huge coincidence. Need to do some more research on this.
It seems very likely that you have found the culprit - which is good as you can deal with the problem.
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That must be one hell of a pump youâve got, and why would it be pumping and using power when youâre not there?? I have a well and pump, and it has to pump from the end of my 150m drive uphill, and I use approx 5kwhr per day living here full time fir all my power needs. So I would definitely say something still doesnât add up. Have you calculated the actual loads of all the things you have connected and compared that to your consumption shown by the linky???
When the water pump is switched completely off, the Linky meter readings appear accurate. Weâre not drawing more than 100watts of electricity at any one time. As soon as the pump is on, it goes to full whack (1000watts of continual consumption) and we havenât noticed any problems with the pump itself.
At rest or just whilst pumping?
Neighbours had a pressure vessel on theirs that was old and leaked so the pump would cycle a lot more. We swapped the pressure vessel and the cycling stopped.
At rest.
I would suspect the pressure sensing switch that is supposed to cut the current once the desired water pressure is reached. Effectively the motor could be âStalledâ, meaning that it is trying to turn but cannot do so for some reason. In such a condition it is liable to substantially overheat. When not pumping the motor casing should be cold to the touch. Be careful when checking it as it could be very hot indeed and pose a burn risk to the skin.
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A pump like that should not be pulling 1kW continuously - it is there to intermittently raise well water to a pressure vessel when water is drawn off. If there is no water use it should not be operating.
I suppose that a water leak could lead to continuous operation, but I assume you would know about that.
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I changed my pump set up when I purchased the house to feed a tank with a float switch which now feeds the house by gravity. Less water pressure than when it was operating with the pressure vessel but perfectly acceptable. Two reasons for doing this a)I didnât want the pump continuously cycling on and off and b)I wanted to have a good water reserve in case any temporary issues with the water table, that, fingers crossed, there havenât been to date 
Yes, Iâm aware. Weâll have to do a test to see if there is a leak, but apparently, the motor should have died by now if it was running continuously for almost 18 months.
Didnât seem to be hot and nothing seemed unusual.
But you have traced the abnormal 1kW load to the pump, and exonerated the Linky?
Switching off the pump, the electricity consumption is now down to what it was up until the installation of the Linky meter. The timing of this incidence just seems a little odd. 30 years plus and this problem has never occurred before. Perhaps this problem occurred before the installation of the Linky meter, but the old analogue meter was unable to detect constant usage from the pump? I donât know. We have to do a test on the water pump to see if there is indeed a water leak or some other problem. Then weâll have a better idea. For the moment, as long as the pump is off, electricity consumption is minimal.
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Another step closerâŚâŚâŚ
Will be very very interested to know whatâs wrong with the pump, as I too have a well pump, and could be something to be aware of.
Can you not disconnect your electricity when youre not there. We do as dont have any internet or phone etc.
Not when you have neighbours that think itâs their right to break in when youâre away. Security needs to be maintained.
Anyway, an update for everyone.
The water pump has been changed and the electricity consumption is now at reasonable levels.
Initially the water pump company insisted that there shouldnât be a problem and when they came to inspect, they couldnât find any fault with the old water pump. Itâs only when I insisted that the electricity consumption drops significantly when the pump is switched off that they started to consider the situation.
It seems that there is some issue with certain old water pumps and the new meters. It could be that certain water pumps constantly consume electricity regardless of whether itâs pumping water or not and the old analogue meters were unable to pick it up. Hopefully this experience will be useful to anyone else finding themselves in the same situation.
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Can anyone explain this? Could it be a suppressor capacitor in parallel with the switch thatâs broken down?
Since the linkyvwas put in at my old holiday home we have no hot water. Its like the old has been disconnected. Does anyone know why and how can it be remedied?