Faulty Boiler advice please!

Honey9036

Hi there

I'm hoping for some advice from anyone with knowledge of electric hot water boilers.

My hot water suddenly stopped heating up a few days ago. I usually time it to go on overnight (at the cheap rate) so that the tank is full of toasty hot water for during the day. But now all of a sudden the water is tepid, at best.

The light still comes on at the control panel in the kitchen at the alloted time. And there does seem to be a little bit of heat from the tank itself when I touch a part of it that has a big metal bolt attached. So something is obviously happening - but certainly not full hot water!!

What do you think could be the problem? Do I need a new boiler? If so, how much would I expect to pay for one?

Thankfully my central heating and shower are electric, so I'm not totally stymied. But I obviously do need to get this sorted out.

I just wanted to get some advice on here before I spend lots of money calling out tradesmen (perhaps unnecessarily).

Thank you in advance for any help you can give me!!

Lori
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ianeverton

I guess you mean a standard immersion heater?

If so there are four possible and three probable problems.

The unlikely one is a wiring problem, it is unlikely unless something has been disturbed or tampered with.

Next it could be the timer/controller which although appears to be working correctly it could be the contact in the controller (at the end of the day it is just a switch which can fail)

Then it could be the thermostat which enters the tank at the top and keeps the water at a preset temperature (pretty good chance its this if you are sure there is definitely some heat in the water from the tank).

Finally it could be the actual heating element but again this is unlikely if you are getting some heat.

Prices are just guesses but £20 controller, £15 thermostat, £30 heating element. The tank itself wont need replacing just the failed part.

Do you not know an electrician with a tester? this would take about ten minutes for a decent spark to determine the cause of the fault.

Honey9036

Thanks Ian for your advice!! At least I know where to start in sorting the problem out. And I'm less panicky now at the thought of the costs involved.

Thanks very much for taking the time to reply.

Lori
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