Economy 7 & Hot water

st76

Thanks for your quick reply.
OK, so we used to leave both switches on but still used to run out of hot water, why is that?

paul_h

st76 wrote:

Thanks for your quick reply.
OK, so we used to leave both switches on but still used to run out of hot water, why is that?

It could be a problem with your off-peak heater, you need to check that it's working OK.

Did you see my earlier post #10 - explains how to check

paul_h wrote:

One other thing which just occured to me, something I have seen before with an economy7 cylinder which wasn't providing enough hot water.

If the bottom heater fails, people often don't realise because the top boost heater takes over - the only difference being that there's not as much hot water available.

The way to test it is to leave the bottom off-peak heater ON overnight, but make sure the top boost heater is OFF. If you cylinder is still cool in the morning, then the bottom immersion heater has failed.

I've seen cases where the only time this has come to light is when the top heater has failed as well, and there's been no hot water at all.

Even if it's not the case with your's, it's something to watch out for...

st76

yes, the main boost heater (off-peak switch) is working properly I believe, the light comes on with kettle-like sound (but not that loud!). so may be a problem with the 2nd switch/heater? how would I check that?! IF off-peak switch is not working properly, then the 2nd boost heater would kick in and the water should be hot all the time?! but it's not. thanks

paul_h

st76 wrote:

yes, the main boost heater (off-peak switch) is working properly I believe, the light comes on with kettle-like sound (but not that loud!). so may be a problem with the 2nd switch/heater? how would I check that?! IF off-peak switch is not working properly, then the 2nd boost heater would kick in and the water should be hot all the time?! but it's not. thanks

If the cylinder is hot right to the bottom in the morning, then I would assume that the off-peak heater is OK. Note that if the off-peak heater had failed, and the boost was switched on, the water would still be hot but not right down to the bottom of the cylinder - the boost heater will still work overnight and take over the job of the bottom heater as this is on 24 hrs.

If you run out of water during the day, switching on the top boost heater should provide half a cylinder of hot water within an hour or so. If it does not, then something's wrong - could be a faulty immersion heater and/or the fuse could have blown.

If you do replace a fuse or reset a trip, do it only once - if it goes again then it is likely that the immersion heater is kaput.

st76

right, so we just have to wait and see. I'll change the fuse just in case, it could just be the fuse, couldn't it!

keep in touch, will be back. thanks so much, you've been extremely helpful and I am learning something!

paul_h

st76 wrote:

right, so we just have to wait and see. I'll change the fuse just in case, it could just be the fuse, couldn't it!

keep in touch, will be back. thanks so much!

It could be, but fuses don't normally blow without a reason

Hope you get it sorted, don't forget to let us know how you get on...

See you later! :wave: