Immersion heater only heating up couple minutes worth of how water?

Lafleur_2

My immersion heater over the last few days seems to only be able to heat up a couple of minutes worth of hot shower water even if i'm leaving it on for around an hour (which previousy would have given me tons more hot water). The hot water produced by the central heating system is fine though, although i'm not sure if it would normally use the same heater for heating the water. i've felt the element when its on (the copper cyander attached to the tank?) and it burns when you touch the top of it but at the bottom is simply warm.

If anyone could suggest any ideas on how to find out whats wrong i'd be greatfull, sorry if my info is a bit spotty on these things

Myser

Single immersion elements in hot water cylinders are designed just to heat one half of the cylinder for short-term use.

If you have a second larger element in the cylinder, that with the other element will heat the whole tank.

If you have a multimeter and know a bit about electricity/ohms law, there are some tests you can do to check if your element is faulty.

Lafleur_2

Thanks for your help. I could get a hold of a multi meter of someone who knows how to use it alright, what kind of tests would you suggest?

I apparently have an indirect tank, which i've found a manual for online with a basic diagram

Myser, are you describing a "2 element system" then? Would the 2 elements be attachted to one another to form one big element?

I previously thought that copper cylynder was the primary element but it looks like it isn' (From looking at my boiler that copper cylinder is connected to the "Probe thermostat connection" shown in the 2nd link). So i guess this is connected to my immerison thermostat switch on my bathroom wall, although i'm still not sure how this is connected to the heating elements inside the tank (if it is at all).

keystone

Myser wrote: »

Single immersion elements in hot water cylinders are designed just to heat one half of the cylinder for short-term use.

If you have a second larger element in the cylinder, that with the other element will heat the whole tank.

If you have a multimeter and know a bit about electricity/ohms law, there are some tests you can do to check if your element is faulty.

Myser - OP is describing their entire HWC as an immersion heater. Its quite common for peeps so to do. Perhaps you could help them by detailing the way in which the primary circuit works and that its probably their HW zone or three port valve (whichever is fitted) which is causing the problem.

Cheers.

Myser

Lafleur - If you could post some pictures of what you are referring to, that would be useful.

Lafleur_2

Was about to post a couple of images but i can't post links cause i'm new, but i'll try and be as easy to understand as possible lol

My dad's now told me that the copper looking cylynder on the front contains a heating element in it. Judging by the white wire running out of its it's almost certainly connect to an on/off switch on the wall nearby, so i guess this is the independantly controlled immersion heater that's not functioning properly, as opposed to the element with the hot water from the central heating running through it in the big tank, as i've mentioned before that the central heating still produces hot water

@Keystone: HWC being the hot water cylinder? Cheers for the contribution btw

Myser

You can upload pictures to a free temporary hosting site and then post the links to them on here:

http://imageshack.us/

http://www.freeimagehosting.net/

However, I understand what you mean now! What you are saying is that your electric immersion heater element (the one with the white cable coming out) isn't heating up water in the hot water cylinder (HWC) sufficiently.

This could be a number of things - either the element insulation has begun to break down, faulty thermostat or even loose wiring at the switch. Do you know someone who has a multimeter and knows about electrics?

Lafleur_2

Enter imageshack.us into your address bar and copy and paste the following text in: img838/53/dsc00120ny.jpg

Yea i know someone who has a multimeter and has a good knowledge of basic electronics

closed

got one of these anywhere?

if your cheating system provides hot water - an immersion is an expensive way of heating up a tank

what type of shower is it, what is this switch on the wall in the bathroom?

Lafleur_2

Myser- I would post a direct link to the image of my tank but as a new user i'm prohibited to make posts with direct links in them, so instead do the following:
1- type imageshack.us into your address bar
2- copy and paste the following text into the adress bar straight after imageshack.us with no spaces: /photo/my-images/838/dsc00120ny.jpg/
3- Hit search/press enter

Although i made a mistake in my last post anyway, the link was incorrect so I apologise

By the immersion heater switch you mean the switch on the bathroom wall that turns it on? (I've uploaded a picture of this too, to get this follow step 1 above and copy+paste the following text in instead: /photo/my-images/716/dsc00119kc.jpg/)

@Closed- I most probably don't, what exactly is it? I've provided a link to the photo of the switch i'm describing

closed

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/716/dsc00119kc.jpg/