Immersion heater timer help

peachesdelight2k

Hi all,

I have recently boughty an all e,ectric flat which is on economy 10. I have storage heater which I have finally learned how to work although it is still crap.

But I am not sure how to work what I assume is an immersion heater. There is a switch next to it which simply says water heater and I have a Horstmann electrisaver E30 timer switch next to it which says boost and I have three periods of time starting from 30 minutes which I can select a bost from.

What I want to know is does the water heater work on the same premise as the storage heater i.e. leave it on all the time and it heats water overnight but if I ran out ofg hot water I use the Horstmann timer to warm more?

I am confused as to how to work this. I do not use much hot water at all as I have an electric shower anyway.

I would just like to know the cheapest way to use this.

At the moment, I have the water heater switched off and only turn it on about 15-20 minutes before I need hot water and I don't use the Horstmann thing at all.


Please help!

Premier_2

User instructions available here:

http://www.horstmann.co.uk/downloads/ElectronicDocuments/Electric-Water-Heating/Electrisaver-UserandInstallationGuide.pdf

Effectively it appears to just be a countdown timer i.e. it prevents you from leaving the imnmersion on too long by accident.

How it works for you depends on your set-up.

Does your tank have 1 or 2 immersions?
Is the immesion top or side entry?

It could be that the timer only controls the upper immersion in the case of 2 side entry ones.
In that case, it may be that the lower immersion only runs on off peak electricity (but it might not do). You can easily check this when the water is cold by turing off all electricity supplies (the meter will be stopped) and then turning on the lower immersion during peak rate. If the meter spins like crazy, your immersions are live 24/7.

If the timer connects to the lower immersion, then it's pretty safe to assume your immersion heater is not restricted to off peak rates.

The fact you are turning an immersion on without the Horstmann, suggests you have 2 immersions and you are using the one not connected to the timer. As it appears to be heating the water, it appears neither immersion is restricted to off peak times.