Hot water...when only the heating has been on

LCFC_Foxile

Hi fellow Moneysavers,

We have separate timer controls for our heating & hot water.

Recently, due to the cold weather, we have had the heating on for most of the day, but have not needed the water to be heated, as we have a power shower unit that heats the water for our showers.

However, we've also noticed that the water from our sink & bath hot taps is REALLY hot, almost if we've had the water on to be heated at the same time.

In fact, the water has been warm enough for both of our boys to have their evening baths, without us having to set the timers for the water, as we used to.

As a possible side-issue, we did replace our shower about 3 months ago, from one that required the water timer to be switched on beforehand, to the power shower that I've mentioned.

So - should I be concerned in anyway? Or should I count my blessings that, (during the winter months anyway), that I don't need the water timer to be on for baths, etc?

Thanks in advance.....

Cardew

I think you have an electric shower rather than a power shower.

A power shower uses water from a Hot Water tank with a pump to increase the pressure of the spray. An electric shower heats mains cold water.

You probably have a fault with the valve that diverts water to the Hot water tank.

LCFC_Foxile

Thanks Cardew...but should I be worried in anyway, in terms of bills etc?

I'm under the assumption that I'm using more energy if the water timer is on as well as the heating's timer as well...but this way, there is no need to...? Correct?

credit_crunch_victim

it is also possible that you have gravity system so the water would heat as well

LCFC_Foxile

credit_crunch_victim wrote: »

it is also possible that you have gravity system so the water would heat as well

Never used to be the case before we had our shower sorted...hence the reason why I mentioned that.

We did also have a problem a while ago, whereby it was impossible to have the water heated, without having the timer for the heating on as well. This was fixed (or so we were told) by the BG Homecare engineer.

So the situation we have now is different...in that water heats without us having to instruct the timer to do so!

Raksha

I've turned the 'heat water' part of our CH programmer off as all through the summer the pilot light was keeping it hot enough to wash hands, and that's the only thing we use hot water for - washing machine, dishwasher and shower are all fed from the cold water system. It will be interesting to see what difference it makes to the bill........

credit_crunch_victim

Mistryman wrote: »

Never used to be the case before we had our shower sorted...hence the reason why I mentioned that.

We did also have a problem a while ago, whereby it was impossible to have the water heated, without having the timer for the heating on as well. This was fixed (or so we were told) by the BG Homecare engineer.

So the situation we have now is different...in that water heats without us having to instruct the timer to do so!

thats why i mentioned the gravity system as that is what we have
when we have the heating on it automaticly heats the hot water as well but if we do not need the heating we turn the room stat down
have you looked to see if you have a motorised valve as mentioned above these are quite a common problem as well

Cardew

Mistryman wrote: »

Thanks Cardew...but should I be worried in anyway, in terms of bills etc?

I'm under the assumption that I'm using more energy if the water timer is on as well as the heating's timer as well...but this way, there is no need to...? Correct?

I am afraid you don't get 'ought for nowt'. If you could they would design the system that way!!

If your water is getting hot, you are paying for it in gas consumed.

At this time of the year it probably will not be costing you a lot more money. Don't forget that the heat lost, from having a hot water tank being heated for longer periods, isn't really lost as it will heat the fabric of the house.

However you need to get it fixed some time.

LCFC_Foxile

Thanks Cardew for your advice.

And I hope you have a very Merry Christmas!

allan673

Im tipping youve got a problem with the pump or the 3 port valve, probably the valve to be honest. the hot water shouldnt be really hot if youve got the programmer for hot water turned off???

i had a similar problem and got a new siemens 3 port valve from ebay at a fraction of the plumbers merchants prices and got a plumber to fit it for me.

owain.davies

This doesn't sound like a fault as much as the system working normally! I presume you have a hot water tank and as such you have a three-way valve controlling the direction of flow. The normal situation for these is that they have only two positions - (1) On for hot water only (2) on for hot water and heating. This is because the hot water heating loop through the tank is relatively small and therefore heating the extra is at minimal additional power compared to sending it to all the radiators through the house. You can get valves with a third position to shut it off, but in terms of additional cost, it should be minimal, presuming that your hot water tank isn't some enormous size.Personally at most houses i've ever lived in this has been the case and i've generally only activated the 'hot water' control for the summer when i didn't want heating, as the heating alsways provides more than adequate hot water.