Immersion Heater Confusion

Rathen

Hello all,

Moved into a new flat in November, and have just been stung with a major power bill. Turns out we have an (electric powered) immersion heater and, having known nothing about boilers or anything, we just left it on its default settings.

That was obviously very stupid. I can find no way to set it to a timer, there is simply no box. All there is is two seperate switches in the cupboard the boiler is in - one is "On Peak" and the other is "Off Peak". The On Peak is the one that has been on all this time.

What do I do with regard to these switches? What do they mean?

Thanks.

Wookey

They maybe controlled thru a timer which will switch the immersions on and off at the set times. Personally i would switch em both of and set the timer for the on peak to constantly being on, you then use the on/off switch as and when you are wanting hot water, this is provided you have no other means for providing hot water and assuming that the on peak heater should be switchable for any time of day. There is also the positioning in your tank to consider to.

Owain_Moneysaver

You may have two immersion heaters - the top one is for Peak rate top-up and the bottom one is for Off-Peak overnight heating - on dual rate / economy 7 tariffs.

You should really have one of these
http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/HOE7Q.html

to control the immersions if you're on off-peak electric heating.

ormus

make sure you look everywhere in the house for any meter like the above.
you can find them in the strangest places.
i found one last year inside a kitchen pantry!

rockin_plumber

I would assume you have ecomony 7 electricity
thus giving you cheaper electricity through the night.

So in theory the off peak should only work during the cheap hours.
Leave this one on and it should heat up the hot water overnight using the cheaper electricity. Once the water reaches temperature it will turn off anyway, so depending on the size of you hot water cylinder may take an hour to warm up.

Depending on size of cylinder, its insulation and water usage this may be enough hot water for the day anyway.

And just use the on peak should you run out of water during the day and make sure you remember to turn it back off again so you dont run up a big bill.

Rathen

There is no timer anywhere in the house, which is baffling. We've searched every cupboard, climbed on everything. It's truly bizarre.

Thanks for all the advice; just to sum up - I should have the Off Peak switch on at all times, and only put the On Peak one on when/if we run out of water?

I'm sorry these are such simple questions.

rockin_plumber

That is the way I would run it with no timer.

Economy 7 gives you cheap electricity for 7 hours overnight normally from midnight to 7am.

So get all those electric hungry jobs done in the small hours :rotfl:

Rathen

Many thanks for your advice, hopefully this will mean the bill is less frightening next time. What a waste of money (and electricity so far.. three months with the on peak switch on 24/7... fff)

rockin_plumber

You might need to check with your supplier about the off peak hours, not that it should make any difference though because the off peak immersion heater shouldnt work unless the meter has switched over to off peak electricity anyway.

Another site I looked at about off peak hours says...

The discount hours are usually 1am to 8am during winter, and 2am to 9am in summer.

rockin_plumber

I would assume you have electric storage heaters which build up thier heat overnight and release it during the day.

These would have a boost function on them and using this would 'boost' your electric bill as well

vaio

The timer will be built into the meter and will switch the off peak heater on in the early hours and off at breakfast time so you get a tankful of water heated at cheap rate. The on peak one is directly controlled by the switch so doesn't have a time clck and is used to top up the water if needed.

You can get units where the on peak one is controlled by a button, press it and the heater comes on for an hour and then switches off.