Boiler Thread

oridiusmorphius

Hi,

i couldn't find a thread specific for boiler help, so just tell me off if this is in the wrong place.

I have been having issues with my boiler, 5 visits and still no luck, i just have a few questions:

1- When my day time switch is on, the place where the electrics of the element stick out, the metal casing gets warm, expected as the water is being heated.
2- When the economy 7 is on this is cold.

The boiler guys said they changed something called the stat, but no luck, what is this? What is a stat.

This morning water was running out of the overflow with the economy 7 on but the element casing and boiler itself was cold, usually this is hot and the airing cupboard is hot.
I am pulling my hair out at the moment as i dont know what the STAT is and after 5 visits nothing.

Cheers

System

For STAT read thermostat. This is usually the device that limits boiler heating to a certain temperature ( which can usually be changed by the user).

I would change my heating engineer.

Cardew

The title of the thread is misleading. A 'boiler' uses gas/oil/LPG/electricity to heat the hot water for Central Heating and Hot Water for taps etc.

You appear to be talking about a Hot Water tank with an immersion heater. The immersion heater(there can be two) actually heats the water and the thermostat(stat) fits on the top and is where 'the electrics of the element stick out'

The principle of Economy 7 is that your Hot Water tank should be heated during the 7 hours off peak electricity, and the water only heated during the day when you need extra hot water.

Could it be that you have two immersion heaters - the one in the top being for use during the day(if needed) and one in the bottom that uses off-peak electricity?

You appear to need an electrician rather than a plumber.

oridiusmorphius

Hi, thanks for the reply.

Apologies if the title is misleading.

The house is heated by storage heaters run off electric, nothing to dow tih the boiler

The boiler only provides hot water, there is one tank and it is 210L in size, we have a small flat so i can guarantee there is no other boiler, there are two elements with wires and casing coming out of it.

When we use the day time switch on the wall, the top element gets very warm and gives hot water.

The bottom one seems to be broken, the casing doesn't get warm but the weird thing is, if i turn that thermostat to 5, too high, hot water floods out of the overflow.

I cant figure out what is going on as, if the casing is not getting hot, shouldn't that mean it is not working, not sure why i get water pouring out.

At the moment we are 2 visits in by the electricians in the beginning and 3 for the plumber.

I was told to contact my energy supplier as there could be something with the meter that needs to be adjusted, the clock might not be set correctly with the economy 7, my supplier has offered to change the meter but had no idea what they were talking about. This is pretty confusing, but i am still left with no hot water...

Totally confused now...

Alter_ego

The stat is the thermostat as mentioned above. It is nothing more than a switch operated by heat.

The bottom immersion heater is usually connected to night time cheaper electricity.

You do not have a boiler- just a hot water tank.

oridiusmorphius

Hi,

thanks for that, i have a hot water tank.

I will investigate further online.

cheers.

UK_Saver

Usually when there is no hot water the thermostat has kicked in to prevent overheating.
Sometimes there is a reset button you can push on them to reset it.

It may be your element or thermostat on the bottom is faulty.

Type into youtube -

HOW TO CHANGE IMMERSION HEATER - Plumbing Tips

For a tips video.

Usually you need to isolate the elecricity turn off so nothing is live, empty boiler of water and replace immersion heater element and thermostat.

You can get replacement elements with thermostats on ebay.

Cardew

The top immersion heater appears to be working as designed, i.e. it works when switched on, albeit it it uses daytime electricity and is meant to only be used when you run out of hot water heated by the bottom immersion on off-peak rates.

The bottom immersion heater is either faulty - but you say the 'stat' was changed - or supply is not getting to the immersion heater. It should take an electrician minutes to establish the which of those choices are causing the problem.

If the meter clock was not correctly set for E7(a common problem) it would simply heat the water at other times of the day/night.

oridiusmorphius

Thanks Cardew, i am still working through some tests, when i called the company that fixed it they said the guy had logged on the call that he had changed the stat, i took that to mean the thermostat although it doesn't look new to me.

So i am doing some testing:

1) On Saturday 11th Mar - no hot water, found they had turned both both thermostat settings down to 1, so i turned it up to max (5) on Sunday.

2) On Monday 13th Mar - Found hot water pouring out of the overflow pipe at 6am so turned the dial down to 4

3) On Tuesday 14th Mar - still water pouring out, turned the dial down to 3 at 6am

4) Didn't pay attention Wednesday as i had a day off but Thursday 196th Mar, got up at 6am still found hot water pouring out so this morning turned it down to 2 and will see tonight/ tomorrow what happens.

If i have hot water pouring out again i will try setting 1 and then see.

If all this fails then i will give them another call.

Thanks

Karl

molerat

Adjusting the thermostat sets how hot the water gets, it should have nothing to do with water pouring out of the overflow. If the water was getting hot enough to cause that problem you would most certainly hear it boiling and banging. Possibly one of the other valves is faulty. I assume it is one of these fancy tanks so can you tell us the make and model, if it is many regular plumbers have not got a clue. Unusual to have the stat marked 1-6, normally marked in degrees, are you sure that is what you are adjusting ? Maybe contact the manufacturer and see if they have a company in the area that knows what they are doing.

oridiusmorphius

It is about 12 years old, i am not at home at the moment but will get the make and model tonight, i should be able to post an image also.