What kind of water heater is this?

DarkShadow

Hi all,
Since we moved to this house, I've seen this different kind of water heater which always seems to be on. Here are the pictures of the heater :





I would like to know what kind of heater is this? It is always on. Am I using a lot of electricity by this ? Or does it work by gas ? Our electricity bills reach easily arond £140 a month (quite high for a 2 bed house) I feel this is quite high compared to others who get around 80 a month.


Also, could anyone tell me whether this heating is operated by above or does it have its own separate boiler ?


If someone could help me that would be great.

Also, if I go by the modern boilers, would it save me money in terms of setting the timers on, etc. We do not have central heating systems, we use oil filled heaters.

greenbee

The first picture is of a hot water tank. If there is no separate boiler, there should be an immersion heater inserted into it somewhere (hopefully at the bottom, it's a much more effective place to have it than at the top, as hot water rises). If you trace the electricity cable from the wall to the tank, you should find the immersion. I suggest that if there is no switch or time clock attached to this to allow you to turn it on and off/set it, you arrange for an electrician to fit a timer, so that you only heat the water you need.

The other picture is of the controls for an electric shower. This heats as and when you use the shower, and doesn't use the water from the tank.

You don't appear to have a gas boiler, unless you've missed something, but as you also don't mention getting a gas bill, you probably don't have gas.

Have you been checking your meter and submitting readings to your supplier regularly? If you know where your meter is, check whether you have a single rate or two rate (Economy 7) meter. If you do have a two rate meter, you should heat water and run appliances (e.g. washing machine) at night when it will be cheaper. If you have a gas meter as well, then I suggest that in the long term you look into the possibility of installing a gas boiler for water and central heating as it will be cheaper than heating via electricity.

DarkShadow

Thanks Greenbee for the advice. We do have gas, I get gas bill as well. I need to now look for the immersion heater as well, thanks I will now look out for it.

utigers

Are there 2 pipes connected to the back of the cylinder, where it is close to the wall?

Or how many pipes are connected to the cylinder?