Range tribune he unvented help!!

Rachlp

Not sure I'm posting in the right area. I've just moved in to a rented flat which has a Range Tribune He unvented water tank. There are 2 switches, one to turn it on and one that says 'boost'. At the moment we are only getting enough hot water for 1 of us to have a bath and 1 of us to have a shower and 1 lot of dishes. The water then runs cold and we have to wait until the following day for hot water. Even with the boost on it seems to run out. Can anyone help?? Is this normal?? I've only ever lived in houses with combi boilers where you have hot water whenever. I suppose it's manageable but surely if we had children this wouldn't be enough hot water?? HELP!!

martinthebandit

Share a bath, jobs a good 'un.

.......and if you have kids, well in the 'old days' the eldest got the dirtiest water (last one in the bath)

Rachlp

Just want to know if it's normal or is there something im doing wrong? Never had one of these before.

nofoollikeold

It sounds as if you have an electric only unvented cylinder. There are normally two immersion heaters, one at the base of the cylinder and the other about 1/3 of the way down from the top. Normally, the lower heater is connected to the Economy 7 or similar "cheap" rate tariff, which only supplies electricity late night to early morning. So at night, the whole cylinder is heated. The top element is connected to the boost button, which supplies normal (expensive) rate electricity and heats the top third of the cylinder for a top up.

You need to check that the bottom immersion is working and connected to the cheap rate electricity. If not, you'll only get a 1/3 tank full by using the boost function.

Also, its possible you have a really small tank.

These cylinders must only be worked on by an engineer with a "G3" qualification.

EssexExile

In the absence of anyone who knows what they're talking about I'll have a go. I assume it's electric only heating, does the normal switch use off-peak (night time) electricity & the boost switch to reheat anytime?

The amount of hot water you'll get depends on the size of the tank. You wouldn't get a bath a shower & the washing up out of my hot water tank, but I'm on gas & it reheats when needed.

http://www.kingspanenviro.com/docs/default-source/product-docs/Kingspan-solar/hotwater_rangetribunehe_productbrochure.pdf?sfvrsn=0

Edit: Ah, someone who knows what they are talking about & types faster than me.

Rachlp

Thank you for your replies. Yes it's electric only. The switch to turn it on has a label 'economy 7' on it which explains that it's heating at night not through the day. How long would it take to heat after the 'boost' switch is turned on? It doesn't seem to heat anything sorry I'm so vague. It's all new to me and I have no clue what I'm doing! There's an immersion heater (I'm guessing) it's separate to the water tank and it's at the top. If that makes any sense?

unclebulgaria

Please describe the switch panel?
Does it have a small dial and a set of see through plastic panels, quite small on the right side?
If you press boost a number of times you may get a longer boost time, some go in 15 mins increments up to one hour.

Rachlp

unclebulgaria wrote: »

Please describe the switch panel?
Does it have a small dial and a set of see through plastic panels, quite small on the right side?
If you press boost a number of times you may get a longer boost time, some go in 15 mins increments up to one hour.

There isn't any panel that I can see. There's a boost socket switch and an socket switch to turn it on. As far as I can tell that's all there is does that make sense?

unclebulgaria

Rachlp wrote: »

There isn't any panel that I can see. There's a boost socket switch and an socket switch to turn it on. As far as I can tell that's all there is does that make sense?

Right so are you saying that there is what looks like a light switch for one immersion and one for the other and these are separate?

Rachlp

unclebulgaria wrote: »

Please describe the switch panel?
Does it have a small dial and a set of see through plastic panels, quite small on the right side?
If you press boost a number of times you may get a longer boost time, some go in 15 mins increments up to one hour.

Yes 2 separate what look like light switches one says 'boost' and the other says 'economy 7'

unclebulgaria

right the economy 7 will only come on during the night hours, probably between 12 and 7 that's if it hasn't been removed from your electricity supply! You might need an electrician to check this if you aren't sure.
The boost operates instantly, as soon as you turn it on its starting to heat the water, you can hear this sometimes if you put your ear to the cylinder you'll hear it hissing slightly.
There is the possibility that the immersion stat is faulty or tripped out due to over heating and this will need manual resetting because it fails to safe so that it can't reset itself.