Boiling hot Water from cold taps?!

jhsam

peachyprice wrote: »

You should be able to set the timer on the boiler just to heat the water. We have this on for a few hours in the evening and a few hours in the morning which gives plenty of hot water for 4 adults and a child. The boost/override button is only if you run out of hot water outside of these times. This is completely independent of the immersion.

If the timer on the boiler isn't working so that you can get enough hot water for your daily needs you will need a heating engineer. If it's just the immersion you will need a plumber, but there is no reason whatsoever why you can't just turn the immersion off and leave it for now, it's not something that needs fixing urgently and should only be there as a back-up if the boiler breaks down, not to provide daily hot water. Fixing the immersion shouldn't be too costly at all.

Thank's for this peachy, a great help, I have not actually tried the timer yet, I will set it up tonight and check it works and then set the water on a timer to heat up, and at least if it's not working I know that I need a heating engineer for that. Also thanks for advice about the immersion - we will probably have to wait till Sept to get someone out to it anyway so at least I know it's just a back up and doesn't need to be used....hopefully we won't have any problems with the boiler before then ha!

macman wrote: »

Why do you need BG? There is no fault with your boiler-the only problem you have is a failed thermostat on the immersion heater.
However, BG will doubtless find a lot wrong with it, and tell you parts are not available, so they can give you a quote for a nice new one (typically at a 40% premium). BG pay a referral commission for this, BTW.

I dunno why....I just though that as the boiler is over 10 yrs old it might be due a new one anyway before the winter. However, with your comments, I think I will just cancel them anyway as can't be bothered with all the sales pressure.

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

If you need any tradesman it's an electrician to replace the immersion heater thermostat.

In 99% of cases this is a simple job with no need to drain down the system as the stat simply slides into a pocket inside the heater.

Get a new one with a secondary overheat cutout requiring a manual reset.

A baby died in 2006 from this exact cause.

The cylinder thermostat (strapped on the outside of the cylinder, which controls the gas boiler) should also be checked for setting and safe operation.

thanks for the information, it's a great help - least I know now I don't need a plumber :rotfl:that would have been a waste of time & £££. FIL is an electrician, I will ask him if he knows any that specifically deal with Immersions (don't know if he could do it, or if they have specilised area's, I know he works with Alarms and that's all i know )

Biggles

ed110220 wrote: »

Not necessarily, our house from the 1940s does not appear to have ever had cold water from the tank. It only provided pressure for the hot water cylinder, the cold taps being fed from the mains.

My house is older but, for various reasons, the current plumbing also seems to date from the 40s and water is direct to all cold taps.

It looks as though indirect cold water has, more recently, become the commoner method; apparently, since 1991, loft tanks must have a close-fitting lid, which does go a little way to answer concerns about water quality and pigeons!

ed110220

Biggles wrote: »

My house is older but, for various reasons, the current plumbing also seems to date from the 40s and water is direct to all cold taps.

It looks as though indirect cold water has, more recently, become the commoner method; apparently, since 1991, loft tanks must have a close-fitting lid, which does go a little way to answer concerns about water quality and pigeons!

It did seem to confuse the gas engineer who came to fit the new boiler. I had to ask why he had left all the (mains) cold taps running, turned out he was trying to drain the cold water tank

I never understood the idea of taking cold water from a tank, duplicating the pipework, risking dirt, insects, the Fawlty Towers pigeon etc getting in the drinking water. Was it because mains pressures were very low? They wanted to have a store of water in case the supply was cut off?

I thought maybe this house never had it because the pipes need to pass through factory-drilled holes in the steel floor beams and they wanted to limit it to two holes rather than three.

peachyprice

Biggles wrote: »

I guess you mean 'installed after about 2000', to which the answer is no, I'm not. It does look like some new installations can be the indirect system, where cold water is supplied from the loft tank, which would explain why the upstairs cold taps could get hot. But I certainly wouldn't want to brush my teeth in such a bathroom. Just think of Basil Fawlty and the dead pigeons in the tank....

Oh dear. This is how 99% of houses in the UK built pre-2000 are. :rotfl:

southcoastrgi

at least some of the comments gave me a giggle

Owain_Moneysaver

jhsam wrote: »

Also thanks for advice about the immersion - we will probably have to wait till Sept to get someone out to it anyway s

FIL is an electrician, I will ask him if he knows any that specifically deal with Immersions (don't know if he could do it, or if they have specilised area's, I know he works with Alarms and that's all i know )

You should get the immersion made safe now, or at least disconnected, There remains a risk that someone could switch it on accidentally and leave it running.

Any electrician used to mains wiring should be able to change an immersion stat. It's only 2 wires. Take the old one out, see what size it is and get a new one from screwfix/B&Q/etc.

jhsam

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

You should get the immersion made safe now, or at least disconnected, There remains a risk that someone could switch it on accidentally and leave it running.

Any electrician used to mains wiring should be able to change an immersion stat. It's only 2 wires. Take the old one out, see what size it is and get a new one from screwfix/B&Q/etc.

It's off in the main cupboard so the switch in the kitchen doesn't work. Only me or my husband would turn it on in the main cupboard and we both know not to do this now due to the issues.

Thanks for the info re the electrics, I will have a word with FIL at the weekend and see if he can change the immersion stat for us and see if this rectifies the issue.

Thanks

lstar337

My mum always used to tell me off for filling my drinking cup from the bathroom tap, saying it was dirty and only to drink water from the kitchen tap.

I'm only 31 so this would have been roughly 20 years ago.

I think it was probably passed down as something her mother used to say to her as I'm pretty sure the bathroom taps were mains pressure.

Didn't bother her when it came to brushing teeth though.

lstar337

Well done MX5huggy!

This could have ended very nastily for the OP.

eamon

I manage a housing maintenance stores and circa 2007 I had to dispose of loads of stats that didn't have an emergency cut off function. Its one of the first things our electricians check when they visit a property.