PLEASE HELP Regarding immersion heater and electricity

_bankrupted

Some terminology

Boiler : Powered by gas or oil, heats water that is used as a heat source to transfer the energy to some other part of the building.

So a boiler "somewhere" is heating water which is then pumped to your SysteMateSP. At the SysteMateSP this hot boiler water transfers it's heat to a separate cold water supply, which heats up and then comes out of your taps. If this supply of hot water from the boiler fails then the system reverts to electrical power.

It does seem strange that your system is being powered by electricity only if you really don't have a boiler elsewhere in the building.

The electrical heating element in the SysteMateSP will be around 3k Watts, so this means it uses 3kwH (3 units) for every hour that it is on.

1 day = 72 Units = £13 (approximately).

Which seems to match with your figures. But if there was a fault and the electrical heater was on all the time then the water in the system would reach 100C and you would know about it!!

If when you leave the system on and THE HEATING TO THE RADIATORS IS OFF you are still using 72 units a day then you DEFINITELY have a fault, as this means the electrical thermostat of the heater is not working. You would also have boiling water in the system and a real safety hazard. But I really doubt this could happen.

Come back here and tell us how many units are used in 1 day (24 hours) when the HEATING IS OFF.

JAN.1026

_bankrupted wrote: »

Some terminology

Boiler : Powered by gas or oil, heats water that is used as a heat source to transfer the energy to some other part of the building.

So a boiler "somewhere" is heating water which is then pumped to your SysteMateSP. At the SysteMateSP this hot boiler water transfers it's heat to a separate cold water supply, which heats up and then comes out of your taps. If this supply of hot water from the boiler fails then the system reverts to electrical power.

It does seem strange that your system is being powered by electricity only if you really don't have a boiler elsewhere in the building.

The electrical heating element in the SysteMateSP will be around 3k Watts, so this means it uses 3kwH (3 units) for every hour that it is on.

1 day = 72 Units = £13 (approximately).

Which seems to match with your figures. But if there was a fault and the electrical heater was on all the time then the water in the system would reach 100C and you would know about it!!

If when you leave the system on and THE HEATING TO THE RADIATORS IS OFF you are still using 72 units a day then you DEFINITELY have a fault, as this means the electrical thermostat of the heater is not working. You would also have boiling water in the system and a real safety hazard. But I really doubt this could happen.

Come back here and tell us how many units are used in 1 day (24 hours) when the HEATING IS OFF.

I am 100% sure that all heating ( which is the radiator in our flat ) is off.. I mean every single one in the flat.. As we NEVER turn it on this test has been carried out already as the electrician told us to do so.

So the result is :

According to scottish power's statistic (in a letter that o recede from them on Saturday)since 17/1/2011 until 28/1/2011 we have used 7 unit in average per day (actual reading). In these 11 days the immersion boiler is off, boiler is on , radiator has never been on at all.

I am not sure though if the water was boiling hot when we Had the immersion boiler on..

_bankrupted

Jan,

Ok now I am really confused about your last post!!! I am not sure what your problem is now as you have made a post that implies you don't have a problem!!!

Look I have done a quick example guide of what electricty you might typically use in a 24 hr period



You state you have used on average 7 units a day in January WITH NO HEATING on. So it's almost half of my example guide. Ok you aren't in the flat much so it looks like 7 units MIGHT be about right. But it is still on the low side.

This is where I have a problem with your last post...

You said the heating has been off during the period 17/1/2011 until 28/1/2011 BUT YOU HAVE HAD HOT WATER and in this period you are using about 7 units a day.

So you are back to your normal electricty usage and as you never have the heating on in the flat you are also back into the normal way you live in the flat (well you style of living never changed)

So where is the problem?

All your other posts implied that this problem was ongoing?? And you didn't know how you were using so much electricty. Well from your last post your electricty usage is back to normal and you have hot water and do all the things in the flat that I assume you used to do.

So is the problem that you want to know how you have had ONE really large bill?

OR do you think these large bills are going to continue?

Maybe I should let you answer the above before I reply.

Incyder

Has a problem on this site ever got to the point where one of the contributors has said
" I'm going to come round and have a look"

_bankrupted

Actually I have read all the post again!!!! As this thread certainly is causing confusion.

Here are the facts... As of Today

Immersion heater off.
Boiler on.
Electricty usage NORMAL = low
Hot Water available ....... (but might run out)


OK lets invent a heating system. Lets power it by energy source X... Because X may break down or be cut off lets have a backup system and power it by energy source err X..... Errrrr hang on a minute.


Jan,

Your water is being heated by the boiler and this is powered by gas/oil. It has a back-up immersion heater that is powered by electricty.

When the immersion heater is OFF as it is now, how is the water being heated?????? By electricty.... OK what do you do when you turn the immersion heater on, Errr more electricty!!!!! How is it that one electricty (the boiler) is cheap and the other (immersion) 10 times more.


Here's a test.

Immersion heater off
Run the hot water cold
Look at electricty meter is it running fast (at least 3kwh)
When does water get hot again???

Answer those questions

_bankrupted

Incyder wrote: »

Has a problem on this site ever got to the point where one of the contributors has said
" I'm going to come round and have a look"

Where is Jan???

Incyder

I think I read London, way, way, back somewhere.

_bankrupted

Ok (yes I really have nothing to do this morning)

Another test.

Go and put the heating on.

DO NOT SWITCH ON THE ELECTRICAL IMMERSION HEATER

With the radiators starting to heat up go and look an the electricty meter.

How fast is it running???

Is it running a lot faster than before you switched the heating on?
Is it running at 3kWh or more?

G_M

Bankrupted is right that there should be a boiler somewhere heating the water that is stored by the SysteMate. In addition

Your SysteMate 2000 is fitted with Gledhill’s unique ‘SWITCH’ emergency electrical back-up system. You have an instant fail safe should your boiler cease to operate. The ‘SWITCH’ system will be clearly displayed on the front of your Thermal Store Appliance.

This is what caused the high electricity bill - the boiler was on AND the 'SWITCH' was on.

Of course this asumes the Systemate 2000 is similar to the SystemateSP. I cannot find any reference to the SP on Gledhill's website or on the internet.

It might be worth phoning Gledhill to ask if the SP is different, and if they have a user manual.

Care should be taken when your SysteMate 2000 is operating under ‘SWITCH’ conditions as the hot water temperature will be higher than in its normal operating condition.

JAN.1026

_bankrupted wrote: »

Actually I have read all the post again!!!! As this thread certainly is causing confusion.

Here are the facts... As of Today

Immersion heater off.
Boiler on.
Electricty usage NORMAL = low
Hot Water available ....... (but might run out)


OK lets invent a heating system. Lets power it by energy source X... Because X may break down or be cut off lets have a backup system and power it by energy source err X..... Errrrr hang on a minute.


Jan,

Your water is being heated by the boiler and this is powered by gas/oil. It has a back-up immersion heater that is powered by electricty.

When the immersion heater is OFF as it is now, how is the water being heated?????? By electricty.... OK what do you do when you turn the immersion heater on, Errr more electricty!!!!! How is it that one electricty (the boiler) is cheap and the other (immersion) 10 times more.


Here's a test.

Immersion heater off
Run the hot water cold
Look at electricty meter is it running fast (at least 3kwh)
When does water get hot again???

Answer those questions

I thought that is what I am asking why the immersion boiler use so much electricity that is 10 times of my household usage..

I don't understand if my boiler is using gas / oil...why i am not paying for it then?...and there no meter for the gas anyway..

and yes, now the immersion heater is off and in these two weeks we always run out of hot water, so i managed to reset the timer just yesterday¬ but yes, I will try you test tonight when i get back home...and let you know¬

one thing that i can sure of is that my immersion boiler was not 24 hours boiling the water.

because as what we observed (before we actually been told by the electrician that it is the immersion heater that cause the meter ran fast) was that the meter ran very fast particularly at night and morning it could constantly run fast for hours. It ran fast in the afternoon sometims too, but on and off only for like 10 or 20 minutes. so I think the immersion boiler only works at night and morning most of the time, but then it still used 70 units per day!

anyway! will let you all know the result after the test tonight!