Immersion heater/Wiring Issues

Andrea85

I have recently moved into a new build flat (approx 2 years old) We have an immersion heater to heat our water.

The immersion heater has 2 immersion elements on it. I recently discovered that the bottom immersion heater was not working, so i had to use the top one to get any hot water. (I read that the top immersion heater is a booster and shouldn't be used unless neccessary).

I rang up the letting agents who sent a plumber round to look at it.
In the end, the plumber has switched the wiring so the timer is connected to the top element, leaving the bottom one redundant and advising me to set the timer for 1-2 hours a day and that the top one will heat over 2/3's of the tank(?)
They told me this was the better option as fixing the broken one could take up to 3 weeks (?!)

Am I not in my right to demand they fix the broken immersion heater so it is working as it should????
Afterall I pay rent for a fully functioning flat.
Or does it actually take up to 3 weeks leaving me with no hot water at all and I am best to leave it as it is??

Also, does it cost more money/use more energy to use the top immersion heater alone?

Thanks in advance

lomb

It wont cost more money as electricity in equals heat in cylinder assuming its WELL insulated. The top is for fast heating water for quick shower/ do dishes rather than heat whole tank as hot water rises and the hot water is drawn off from the tank top. It wouldnt worry me to be honest. Have you tried if it works for you with quantity of hot water and time to heat?

greyteam1959

It won't take 3 weeks to do the actual repair but it might take them 3 weeks to get round to doing it !!!!!
It really only a matter of getting a new immersion heater ie go to plumbers merchant get one.
Drain down cylinder replace test etc etc.
2 to 3 hours time ??

Pincher

I dealt with this scenario two years ago.

A Gledhill Pulsacoil started shorting and tripping the breaker.
The top immersion element was still working, the bottom one was tripping. The bottom one was on the timer, as per usual.

So, bought the best quality immersion elements Plumbcenter had, £150 for two (hard water area, made of tungsten or titanium). The plumber had a pig of a time trying to get the old ones out, and I helped, but the cylinder was twisted a lot.
Two elements replaced, all seemed fine, refilled, life goes back to normal.

A week later, down stairs rang up, they had water dripping, causing thousands in damages (original parquet flooring).
All the twisting had introduced leaks in the cylinder portals.

If I had simply done what this "3 week to change an element" plumber said, we would still be using that Pulsacoil, with a happy downstairs neighbour.

Gloomendoom

I can second that. I twisted the boss completely out trying to remove a furred up immersion heater element. Unfortunately, it was my own house.

dogshome

Hi Andrea85 - You are being shortchanged by your L/lord -

The two heating elements in your H/water cylinder give you the choice to heat either a small amount of water,(1 shower?, Washing up? ) or a lot of water for a bath or several showers, and this equipment is part of the benifits you are paying your rent for.

As mentioned here, changeing the Immersion heater can lead to tank distortion & leaks, which is why the plumber fed the you garbage about a 3 week lead time, but I'm wondering if the plumber was under instruction from the L/lord to do the cheapest possible fix, or was perhaps not a very good plumber - The correct method to change an Immersion is to drain down and use the proper spanner, which when fitted should be repeatedly and very lightly tapped at the end, so that the seals are broken by vibration and not brute force.

kayleighm1986

I would be very WARY of this indeed. My Gledhill boiler is rubbish, it never stops boiling water even though with these two elements it should know when there is and is not hot water. They think the bottom element of mine is broken and that the thermostat in there does not work but nobody knows for sure and nobody wants to say 100% it is faulty as it is new build property and the seller, developer and engineer will all end up in litigation with one another. I am in the process of losing my temper and suing the company I bought it off. The developer and the engineers at Gledhill, suprise, surprise, found no issue (as if they did they would be liable to put it right and award me damages) and now I am having to try and find a specialist who is not linked to the developer (Miller Homes) and Gledhill who is independent and capable of telling the truth so that I have sufficent evidence to take it to court. It turns out not many people are qualified to deal with these boilers..... so I have extortiante electricity bills that nobody can help with. My advice is check your electricty metre if they have messed with the wiring as it may well be you are clocking up huge volumes of electricty (like I am). I managed to use 1500 kwh in a month, suffice to say I received a huge bill. My argument has been ongoing for 5 months, I hope yours is resolved sooner!

Pincher

The Gledhill is not classified as a pressurised device,
so no need to provide secure high pressure release plumbing.
This means the developer did not put the plumbing in (to save money) for a regular pressurised cylinder.

If you try to put the plumbing in, you will probably have to rip out half your FITTED kitchen. Fitted means you then have to rip out THE OTHER HALF, because you can't match it with the new units.
All because the developer wanted to save £200 on plumbing.

Developers should be surgically implanted with a GSM connected grenade, so they are accountable to their home buyers. If you are not happy with his house, you send SMS "PULL PIN" to the grenade.

So you should only buy houses from people with contact details like this:


TEL 01555 9876 5432
[EMAIL="john.honest@apartmentsRus.co.uk"]john.honest@apartmentsRus.co.uk[/EMAIL]
Grenade 07755 345678

Our motto: "Never knowingly out of signal range"

Premier_2

To all those with faulty immersion heaters, get them fixed.

There are 2 immersion heaters fitted to the Gledhill for specific design & operational reasons ... and that is not for the top one to be used as a replacement when the bottom one fails, and especially not for a cowboy to rewire it that way.

It's not difficult to replace the immersion*, although it is time consuming watching the water drain out of the tank to allow access to replace the lower one. (2-3 hours is about right)

If the water immersion is still heating when the water is already boiling, that indicates a thermostat is faulty or incorrectly set (and will cause the early failure of a heater). A very simple fault to correct - you don't even need to drain the water.

You don't need any special qualifications to deal with a Gledhill (above the usual electrical/plumbing knowledge) ... but admittedly there do seem to be a significant number of people who class themselves as plumbers who, on one look at a Gledhill obviously haven't a clue and so start to make up horror stories.

* assuming the cylinder is not damaged. If it is, then probably best to replace the whole unit as it'll likely leak soon, if not already. What can sometimes occur is that the immersion heater itself becomes distorted, but that can usually be overcome by careful manoeuvring. Remember, the immersion heater is damaged anyway, so always sacrifice that rather than the cylinder if extreme measures are needed to remove it.