Question regarding electric water heaters

banmido12345

Andy_WSM wrote: »

It's not an Economy 7 meter.

The theromostat is inside the cover on the round box with the cable going in to it at the bottom of the tank.

And, yes, definitely buy it an extra jacket

Thanks for your advice lol but one big problem is this heater is inside a cupboard at chest height so don't think it's possible to fit a jacket.

Andy_WSM

Might not be the easiest, but can likely be done. The jackets usually come in 4 pieces, so you can drop them down from the top - there is then a wire that goes around the tank (that will be the tricky part) that ties them all together.

If there is a flat above you they'll be benefitting all your lost heat

banmido12345

Andy_WSM wrote: »

Might not be the easiest, but can likely be done. The jackets usually come in 4 pieces, so you can drop them down from the top - there is then a wire that goes around the tank (that will be the tricky part) that ties them all together.

If there is a flat above you they'll be benefitting all your lost heat

There are no flats above, I will see if I can manage to fit the jacket lol.

McKneff

If you cant fit a jacket, just chuck a spare duvet round it, it will work the same way....

macman

No E7-so how is the flat heated? All electric heating on a single rate tariff is going to be expensive.

lstar337

McKneff wrote: »

If you cant fit a jacket, just chuck a spare duvet round it, it will work the same way....

That's what I did with our old tank.

lstar337

Andy_WSM wrote: »

The theromostat is inside the cover on the round box with the cable going in to it at the bottom of the tank.

Make sure you isolate it at the consumer unit before you remove the plastic cover!

lstar337

banmido12345 wrote: »

But the problem is the hot water pressure isn't exactly great, but if I mix with cold water then the temperature is too low.

Probably gravity fed and the tank is too low. It's cheap-!!! solution used in flats everywhere.

Cornucopia

I suspect that the answer to the question is still correct, but I am not sure about the maths/logic employed.

Two main issues:

1. When the Immersion heater is switched on continuously, it is not drawing electricity all the time. It will switch off using the internal thermostat once the preset maximum temperature has been reached.

2. The heating process is inherently inefficient, and there will be a loss factor that means that not all of the electricity drawn is available later in the form of heated water.

Smiley_Dan

On (1) the fact is that it is still drawing electricity *some of the time*. And not just some electricity, but probably 3kW, overshooting the thermostat by a way each time.

On (2) it's not the heating that's inefficient, it's retaining the energy in the tank which leads to overall system inefficiencies of transfer of energy from coil to used hot water.

The plumber's advice would only be correct if there was such a thing as perfect or near perfect insulation. Of course, there is not.