My immersion heater was left on for 3 months HELP!

Yazz_comper

Can anyone help me?

I'm not very tech savvy when it comes to plumping. My hot water tank has been going off a lot for the past 3 months and tonight I opened my airing cupboard to find it boiling hot. I googled it and it looks like the immersion heater has been switched on by my 3 year old for the past 3 months or so...:mad:

How much is this going to cost me!? It's a megaflo heater. Also if anyone can please help me I usually have the hot water on a timer (for gas boiler) for once a hour every 3 days as that's all I need and now it's not working at all... any help please?

Very freaked out about what EDF are going to charge!

EDIT: Husbands just told me its been a month max and he only *thinks* it's the heater as it's the only electric switch (like a light switch) in the cupboard. Please help. Still freaking out!

PasturesNew

You could check your last bill .... and take a meter reading ....

How much it'll have cost will depend on loads of factors...... could be anywhere between £50-100/month, or even figures completely different to that.

Yazz_comper

PasturesNew wrote: »

You could check your last bill .... and take a meter reading ....

How much it'll have cost will depend on loads of factors...... could be anywhere between £50-100/month, or even figures completely different to that.

Oh jesus I hope its not that much. :eek: I rarely use hot water, only wash up once a day and 3 minutes showers for me and my son every other day. Supose I best avoid EDF taking a metre reading for a while haha.

Anyone have a clue on the boiler?

AbbieCadabra

wouldn't you rather know where you are with an accurate current bill & start paying a little bit extra now, if needed? i would, but obviously your choice.

info on your boiler? do you mean the Megaflo you've mentioned?

faineant

Submit a meter reading to EDF online and you should get a statement available online either right away or the next day or so.

For what its worth though, an immersion heater has a thermal cut out so should switch itself off when it reaches the set temperature and will therefore mitigate having it 'switched on' permanently. Also the gas boiler would be heating it at times too so it would reach the maximum set temperature quicker too, again mitigating because the thermal cut out would kick in sooner. Still, expect to be paying a bit extra but perhaps not nearly as much as you fear.

Cardew

It all depends on how much hot water you use, but I doubt you would use more than 10kWh a day to heat hot water.

Then deduct the cost of gas(allowing for boiler efficiency) and I would estimate an extra 50p a day would be an outside figure - probably considerably less!

comeandgo

If your hot water is not working at all then I suggest you put what you have switched off back on and see if it works then. I have a megaflow boiler and my immersion heater switch is nowhere near it. My switch is in the kitchen.

Hoof_Hearted

Remember that the immersion isn't on all the time. Once the water reaches the right temperature, it shuts off, otherwise the water would boil.

Yazz_comper

comeandgo wrote: »

If your hot water is not working at all then I suggest you put what you have switched off back on and see if it works then. I have a megaflow boiler and my immersion heater switch is nowhere near it. My switch is in the kitchen.

I think it's the immerison as when its on myHE15 boiler still doesnt heat the hot water, (normally I can hear it starting etc. but my boiler is doing nothing at all and its in the kitchen so I know its the boiler not the megaflo when I turn it on for HW.
However my centeral heating works fine!? Would you say I need a electrican or plumper to have a look?
When I rang the megaflo hotline they said to turn on the switch this morning for HW... but the switch is connected to a grey box attached to the megaflo which is screwed on?? Does that sound like a immersion?

Either way, No i dont fancy telling EDF as I still have arrears to clear. Would rather sneakily pay a lil extra on my payment plan so when they heck it's a lot lower as I'm only 2 months away from it being clear and would rather stick to that than have a heart stopping bill lol.

Pincher

Trade the 3 year old to Nike as a child labourer to make shoes until he makes the money back. If you have to keep him, remove the fuse from the immersion heater switch.

Third possibility is, send him to a school for geniuses, since he managed to work out:

1. The gas boiler water heating is not working,
2. The parents are clueless.
3. how the water heating system works to produce hot water
4. and by implication, washed himself for a month.

By age 18, I expect him to work out how the universe is created, and how to get energy for free.

faineant

Just a thought - I can recommend replacing a standard immersion heater switch with something like the Timeguard TGBT4 Boostmaster which lets you switch it on for up to 2 hours maximum in intervals of 1/4 hours so that you cannot forget to switch it off.