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Faulty immersion boiler costing high bill

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  • N79
    N79 Posts: 2,615 Forumite
    theartfullodger wrote: »
    It is still an issue: To end a tenancy in Scotland a Landlord needs to issue an NtQ, an AT6 & A Section 33 notice: Yes, all three. see this guide...
    www.edinburghlandlordaccreditation.co.uk/.../Letwise_Guide_to_Ending_A_Tenancy.pdf

    (Page 5..)

    Its bad enough having one document (S21 Notice) that must be technically perfect - having three just sounds like overkill!

    I go back to my original comment - "weird";) Thanks for the link though!
  • michaels
    michaels Posts: 29,098 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Could the fuse in the fuse box for the immersion (it is likely to be on its own fuse) have been switched off previously and may be been switched back on maybe if you had to change another fuse or something tripped?
    JAN.1026 wrote: »
    No, as the switch is placed in a quite not obvious place, which me and my flatmate did not notice it was there and so we have leaved it on for 3 years.

    and don't know if it is true, but the engineer told us that even it is on, it still shouldn't use that much electricity.
    I think....
  • ILW
    ILW Posts: 18,333 Forumite
    JAN.1026 wrote: »
    No, as the switch is placed in a quite not obvious place, which me and my flatmate did not notice it was there and so we have leaved it on for 3 years.

    and don't know if it is true, but the engineer told us that even it is on, it still shouldn't use that much electricity.
    Have you been havong a lot of baths lately?

    Are you sure you have not been getting estimated bills for a while?
  • JAN.1026
    JAN.1026 Posts: 54 Forumite
    silvercar wrote: »
    When you left the switch off for 5 days were you still getting hot water?

    Well, not as much hot water as we used to have. It sometimes goes quite cold the water
  • JAN.1026
    JAN.1026 Posts: 54 Forumite
    ILW wrote: »
    Have you been havong a lot of baths lately?

    Are you sure you have not been getting estimated bills for a while?

    No, we never have bath, we have shower instead.

    I have estimated bill for a while but I am sure those I get from last month is the actually reading from November to December
  • JAN.1026
    JAN.1026 Posts: 54 Forumite
    michaels wrote: »
    Could the fuse in the fuse box for the immersion (it is likely to be on its own fuse) have been switched off previously and may be been switched back on maybe if you had to change another fuse or something tripped?

    No, I don't think so, as if the water heater fuse is off, the main boiler will off as well, there will be completely no hot water.
  • G_M
    G_M Posts: 51,977 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    JAN.1026 wrote: »
    No, I don't think so, as if the water heater fuse is off, the main boiler will off as well, there will be completely no hot water.
    I assume there is also a boiler in the house? For central heating as well as hot water? This is separate from the emmersion heater on the hot water cylinder in the cupboard?
    If so, the emmersion heater is likely to be on a separate circuit to the boiler, the the fuse might have been off.

    From what you say, I can see no indication of a 'fault'.

    The problem was that the emmersion heater used to be permenantly switched 'off' (and you probobly got hot water via the boiler), and then for some reason it was switched permemnatly 'on', causing your bill to rise.

    So who switched it on? If you or your flatmate, then you are responsible. If the landlord, his agent, or a visiting heating engineer or someone similar switched it on you could clim they were responsible and should pay.

    Difficult to prove though.
  • silvercar
    silvercar Posts: 49,528 Ambassador
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Academoney Grad Name Dropper
    JAN.1026 wrote: »
    Well, not as much hot water as we used to have. It sometimes goes quite cold the water

    If you are getting some hot water with the switch off it sounds like you have a main source of heating hot water and this immersion is a secondary source. This is how it should be, the immersion is there for back up. If it has been on constantly it would mean that every time any hot water is used and the main source is timed to be off, you would use up loads of electricity in running it. It would explain why you've always had hot water available.

    It may be that the tank is small and needs the immersion to provide sufficient hot water.

    Whichever way you look at it, you have had the benefit of the hot water and so the bill for its heating is yours.

    We had a similar electric expense when we moved home. Unknown to us a plug in a cupboard was unnoticed and left on constantly. We didn't know what it was for. It turned out to be connected to a 500w outside light hidden by ivy. No-one we could claim off and we had to stomach the large electric bill.
    I'm a Forum Ambassador on the housing, mortgages & student money saving boards. I volunteer to help get your forum questions answered and keep the forum running smoothly. Forum Ambassadors are not moderators and don't read every post. If you spot an illegal or inappropriate post then please report it to forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com (it's not part of my role to deal with this). Any views are mine and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.com.
  • ILW
    ILW Posts: 18,333 Forumite
    JAN.1026 wrote: »
    No, we never have bath, we have shower instead.

    I have estimated bill for a while but I am sure those I get from last month is the actually reading from November to December

    If you have been getting estimated bill for a while and have now had a reading for the latest one, it is likely that the previous bills were underestimated and now have caught up.
  • neas
    neas Posts: 3,801 Forumite
    yep... estimated bill basically they didnt read your meter for a looong time. And the immersion heater was on using energy across the years... building up debt.

    Basically you've been underpaying your elec and maybe gas bill for sometime and now had catchup bill.
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