economy 7 immersion heater help!!!

Eco7

Hi everyone,

I've never posted on one of these before but help is needed! Me and my partner have just moved in to an all electric 2 bed house. We understand how economy 7 works however I am completely lost on the best way to run our immersion heater.

We have been here for two weeks and we have found turning the heater on for 2 hours gives us plently of hot water for the whole day. The heater has two switches on the wall and I have only been switching on one. I assumed this is the economy 7 heater as it only works at certain times of the day. I have been getting up and turning on the swich at 6am and turning if off at 8am.

However I am getting fed up of getting up at 6am everyday just to turn on the hot water it is a pain in the butt! My Dad is an electrician and he said to just leave the economy 7 switch on and it will turn itself on and off during the economy 7 hours. Is this the cheapest way of doing it? It makes no sense to me as we have plenty of hot water having it on for just two hours. Can you get timers for this? My dad said mine is already on a timer? But all I can see is two switches on the wall and nothing else!

HELP! I'm clueless!

Wywth

Eco7 wrote: »

Hi everyone,

I've never posted on one of these before but help is needed! Me and my partner have just moved in to an all electric 2 bed house. We understand how economy 7 works however I am completely lost on the best way to run our immersion heater.

We have been here for two weeks and we have found turning the heater on for 2 hours gives us plently of hot water for the whole day. The heater has two switches on the wall and I have only been switching on one. I assumed this is the economy 7 heater as it only works at certain times of the day. I have been getting up and turning on the swich at 6am and turning if off at 8am.

However I am getting fed up of getting up at 6am everyday just to turn on the hot water it is a pain in the butt! My Dad is an electrician and he said to just leave the economy 7 switch on and it will turn itself on and off during the economy 7 hours. Is this the cheapest way of doing it? It makes no sense to me as we have plenty of hot water having it on for just two hours. Can you get timers for this? My dad said mine is already on a timer? But all I can see is two switches on the wall and nothing else!

HELP! I'm clueless!

Yes, I'm really surprised your dad, being an electrician, doesn't know about the availaility of such a timer.

If your dad says there already is a timer, why doesn't he show you how to set it?

Eco7

because it takes my Dad weeks to do anything! I can't see a timer just 2 switches on the wall.

Wywth

Eco7 wrote: »

because it takes my Dad weeks to do anything! I can't see a timer just 2 switches on the wall.

Well we can't even see the switches! :cool:

macman

One is the normal (long) E7 element in the tank. The other is a 'boost' to be used if you run out of hot water during the day. Probably...
Using the boost will heat the top part of the tank only (it's s shorter element), but of course this will be much more expensive, as it's charged on the peak rate.
Get a timer to run the cheap rate element for a couple of hours overnight, betweeen midnight and 8am (check with the DNO what your E7 hours are).
A well lagged tank will keep the water hot all day. Leaving it on 24/7 will increase your consumption.

HappyMJ

macman wrote: »

One is the normal (long) E7 element in the tank. The other is a 'boost' to be used if you run out of hot water during the day. Probably...
Using the boost will heat the top part of the tank only (it's s shorter element), but of course this will be much more expensive, as it's charged on the peak rate.
Get a timer to run the cheap rate element for a couple of hours overnight, betweeen midnight and 8am (check with the DNO what your E7 hours are).
A well lagged tank will keep the water hot all day. Leaving it on 24/7 will increase your consumption.

It doesn't increase consumption by very much. I leave mine on 24/7 at the moment and there is no increase in consumption. I also later dropped the temperature of the water to 50 degrees to compensate for immediate reheating of the water and it's using less than reheating the water to 70 degrees overnight then having it cool down by the evening to still be a useful temperature after drawing off hot water in the morning for a bath/shower/etc...

rogerblack

HappyMJ wrote: »

It doesn't increase consumption by very much. I leave mine on 24/7 at the moment and there is no increase in consumption. I also later dropped the temperature of the water to 50 degrees to compensate for immediate reheating of the water and it's using less than reheating the water to 70 degrees overnight then having it cool down by the evening to still be a useful temperature after drawing off hot water in the morning for a bath/shower/etc...

Leaving it on 24 hours increases the consumption considerably - it takes around 1kWh minimum to keep the cylinder hot for a day.
If you have E7, where the electricity costs a third or so the day rate, it's _dramatically_ cheaper to just heat at night.

Cardew

rogerblack wrote: »

Leaving it on 24 hours increases the consumption considerably - it takes around 1kWh minimum to keep the cylinder hot for a day.
If you have E7, where the electricity costs a third or so the day rate, it's _dramatically_ cheaper to just heat at night.

From the below quote, it appears that the OP has the old system of wiring for Economy 7 where only storage heating and immersion heater are on for the 7 hours.

I assumed this is the economy 7 heater as it only works at certain times of the day.

If that is the case, I wouldn't bother with a timer, just leave it on permanantly and it will be live for the 7 hours. Using it for two hours(say 6kWh) will probably heat enough water for the thermostat to cut in, so 7 hours will not use much more.

In any case, at this time of year, any heat loss from the tank(assuming well insulated) of 1kWh to 2kWh warms the fabric of the house and is not wasted. Which is why we usually have HW tanks in an airing cupboard.