Cheapest way to use the immersion heater

kookie9105

I have been reading with interest about the cost of running an immersion heater. We have don't have gas but oil heating. The rest of our house is run on electricity. Can someone please advise about the cost of electricity v using oil. When we run just the water the heating seems to come on as well. Can someone please advise. Thanks.

Susan1942

I would like to ask about my economy 7 heating of my water. Obviously it is on during the night at the low cost electricity.
I have 2 immersers a top one which I can use to boost during the day. If I leave the top one on it does not heat and seems only to respond to the flick switch.
I am wondering if I should use this in preference to having the ecomony 7 one on all night?

Would appreciate some advice

Sue

Cardew

kookie9105 wrote: »

I have been reading with interest about the cost of running an immersion heater. We have don't have gas but oil heating. The rest of our house is run on electricity. Can someone please advise about the cost of electricity v using oil. When we run just the water the heating seems to come on as well. Can someone please advise. Thanks.

If the heating comes on, when you just have hot water on, you have a faulty system. There is a motorised valve that diverts the boiler output to hot water only, heating only, or both; and that is probably faulty. It will look similar to this:

http://www.hav.co.uk/products/shw-detail.asp?pid=12750&cid=1066

As a temporary measure you should be able to move the lever to Hot Water only and see if that solves the problem. Obviously it will need to be fixed when you want CH.

There are 3 factors that determine the difference in costs between oil and electricity for heating hot water.

1. cost of oil per litre

2. efficiency of your boiler - this can range between 55% and 90%

3. cost of electricity.

A litre of oil contains approx 10 kWh. If you pay, say, 50p a litre and your boiler efficiency is 75%, then the effective cost of oil is 6.7p/kWh. That will be cheaper than electricity.

Its_all_Dinx

Hello I am new to this

I have been going around the house trying to save energy, well money around the house

I have an eco 7 meter so during the summer months I have put a timer on the immersion heater so it comes on at 3.30am and turns off at 8am

I use to have it at 1am and noticed that the heater came on heated the water up and then it came on again at 3am as the water cooled down I thought this is a waste of money as no one in the house wakes up to use it at that time. We have a large house with 5 adults and first person wakes up at 4am so from 3.30am the water is heating up. Also we have an very old boiler (to expensive to buy a new one right now but saving up) but this comes on for 30min just to warm up the house in the morning and it also warms up the hot water as well. the boiler will turn on again in the evening for 10min for a short burst. I have to keep the boiler on as if its kept off for 6months the parts might not work risk of breaking down just like an old car.

I have the alert me system and a energy monitor so I can monitor when its turning on and off. gas bill was £90 for 3 months in the summer and electric well i think they forgot to bill me but the account is in credit and only £31 a month direct debit for electric.

we have put a VERY large hot water tank in the loft and to be honest we would still have hot water in the evenining if everyone would have a shower before 8am

am not an expert but I would recommend leave the immersion heater on all day as mine is 3kw and can use upto 2-3kw units a day . only when you need it and turn it off when you don't need it. during the winter months I turn it off as the boiler is on and that would make the hot water.

Cardew

Its_all_Dinx wrote: »

Hello I am new to this

I have been going around the house trying to save energy, well money around the house

I have an eco 7 meter so during the summer months I have put a timer on the immersion heater so it comes on at 3.30am and turns off at 8am

I use to have it at 1am and noticed that the heater came on heated the water up and then it came on again at 3am as the water cooled down I thought this is a waste of money as no one in the house wakes up to use it at that time. We have a large house with 5 adults and first person wakes up at 4am so from 3.30am the water is heating up. Also we have an very old boiler (to expensive to buy a new one right now but saving up) but this comes on for 30min just to warm up the house in the morning and it also warms up the hot water as well. the boiler will turn on again in the evening for 10min for a short burst. I have to keep the boiler on as if its kept off for 6months the parts might not work risk of breaking down just like an old car.

I have the alert me system and a energy monitor so I can monitor when its turning on and off. gas bill was £90 for 3 months in the summer and electric well i think they forgot to bill me but the account is in credit and only £31 a month direct debit for electric.

we have put a VERY large hot water tank in the loft and to be honest we would still have hot water in the evenining if everyone would have a shower before 8am

am not an expert but I would recommend leave the immersion heater on all day as mine is 3kw and can use upto 2-3kw units a day . only when you need it and turn it off when you don't need it. during the winter months I turn it off as the boiler is on and that would make the hot water.

Have you considered that it might be better not to be on an Economy 7(E7) tariff?

Are you aware that you pay considerably more for your daytime electricity(for 17 hours) when on an E7 tariff.

Even with an old inefficient gas boiler, it is probably cheaper than using your immersion heater on E7 rates.

It is very difficult to make E7 pay when you have gas CH.

Also if you have your hot water tank in a loft, it is essential that it is lagged with as much insulation as possible.

Its_all_Dinx

cardew, I understand what you are saying and yup its true I might be better off with a single rate meter, but all over the house I have timers from charging the house cordless phones to even mobile phone chargers I pods and thing that can be turned on at night is turned on and the energy hungry washing machine is usually to switched on in the early hours.

so come 1.30am the whole house turns on i worked out at times I am using around 30% electricity at night and 70% during the day.

and with the hot water tank I couldn't find the correct size jacket for the tank so when homebased had 15% weekend and they sent me vouchers I brought 2 jackets very cheap of course and the tank has now its own form jacket plus the two I brought. All pipes in the loft are also insulated heavly

Cardew

Its_all_Dinx wrote: »

cardew, I understand what you are saying and yup its true I might be better off with a single rate meter, but all over the house I have timers from charging the house cordless phones to even mobile phone chargers I pods and thing that can be turned on at night is turned on and the energy hungry washing machine is usually to switched on in the early hours.

so come 1.30am the whole house turns on i worked out at times I am using around 30% electricity at night and 70% during the day.

It will depend on your electricity company/tariff but even at 30% E7 usage you might be better off on a normal tariff.

That is especially true as a large percentage of your E7 usage will be for your immersion heater, which is almost certainly costing more in running costs than heating your water with your gas boiler.

misterb1ff

scattycat wrote: »

Bestyman, I was referring to Dual -Element immersion heaters, one short and one long element combined, that only require one boss on the top of the tank.
Santon used to do one with a switch on the top labelled "Bath" on one side and "Basin" for the other switch position.
The modern versions seem to be aimed at Economy 7 users, or electronic timers, but I dont see why they cannot be used with a simple suitably rated manual changeover switch.( 3kw= 13 amp). They had been replaced over time, by two seperate short side mounted heaters, but seem to be making a comeback. I have seen a lot of ads for new properties highlighting the fact that the hot water tank has a dual element heater.

Re central heating a small combi might do and the bits should be a little less than one thousand, its the installation that costs, unless you can persuade boyfriend to become Corgi registered as well.

HTHs Scat

Just moved house and our hot water is heated by immersion heater. The switch is permanently on (red light indicating power) and there is a timer with pins for when we typically require hot water (an hour in the morning and a few in the evening). However the hot water is really hot and I am worried my young daughter could scald herself if she turns the taps on (it's too hot for us too). I want to turn the thermostat down to around 60C as a safety precaution and also to save energy (and money) but don't know where it is. Can anyone help? I have a Santon Dual Immersion Heater (as described by scattycat above) fitted to the top of my hot water tank with a switch for either bath or sink. I removed the casing but there does not seem to be a thermostat just electircal wiring. Appreciate anyones thoughts. Thanks

Cardew

misterb1ff wrote: »

I want to turn the thermostat down to around 60C as a safety precaution and also to save energy (and money) but don't know where it is. Can anyone help? I have a Santon Dual Immersion Heater (as described by scattycat above) fitted to the top of my hot water tank with a switch for either bath or sink. I removed the casing but there does not seem to be a thermostat just electircal wiring. Appreciate anyones thoughts. Thanks

http://www.diydata.com/problem/immersion/immersion_adjustment.php

roxalana

Hi,

I'm having problems applying this thread to my circumstances:

I have economy 7.

I have no gas supply.

I have storage heaters.

I live in a medium sized 2 bed flat.

I've never had an immersion heater before (I've always had the instant hot water kind). It has a timer. I am typically out of the house 7am-7pm but my husband works shifts. We want hot water for (usually evening) baths and washing up. I think the shower may heat itself but not sure.

Firstly, the insulation on the tank is woeful and I will rectify this.

In my circumstances, am I best to a) have it on 24/7 - if so, where will i find the setting that cuts it off when it reaches a certain temp b) heat it for a few hours offpeak (3.30am-8.30am) - if so, how long for and will it still be hot enough in the evening for a bath? or c) set the timer for when I actually want to use it and leave it cold the rest of the time?

I don't think it is the dual kind - how would I know? I only have one timer. Where would I need to look to know for sure?

Thanks!