Water heating system

Legacy_user

Hi

I have just moved into a flat which only electricity powered. For hot water (one tap in the kitchen, one tap in the bathroom and shower), there is an immersion boiler. This heats up water at night, so if there is insufficient heat in the day I was told that I should rotate the boost knob for water to be heated for 20, 40 or 60 minutes.

1. Will this be the most efficient way (cost terms) to have heated water in a small flat?

2. Will the immersion heater usually turn off once it reaches a specific level of warmth at night or will it function for all 7 hours? So is there is a specific level, what is this usually and how do I lower it? I don't really have super hot showers but just warm enough for me to feel comfortable.

3. The issue I am having is that I am the only occupant at the moment. I have a minimum of one shower a day and a maximum of two (more common). When I have one in the am, the one I have in the pm usually runs out of hot water halfway. So, most of the time I am having to turn on the booster for a shower in the pm. What I am thinking is that if I have a second occupant, the second shower is surely going to require a boost in the peak hours and this can be as early in the morning if both of us have our shower in the morning. Clearly, the third shower in the pm will require a boost but even a 60 minute boost will probably only give me a very short shower. Not cost effective. I am trying to find out if having an electric shower fitted will be better.
i. there is no heat loss through any storage
ii. you have hot shower when you want
iii. probably i can turn of the night heating for the boiler one in 3 days or so for the hot water tap in the kitchen and bathroom (as this usage of hot water is not that high). probably better to fit a smaller tank but i don't want to spend much as it will be ridiculous to change a functioning boiler.

What would you advise please?

getmore4less

Check the insulation on the tank
Check the position of the immersion(s)

Often with electric there is a top(top up heater) and bottom(full tank on cheap electric)

Check the temp settings,(they will turn off once its hit).


If you are running out of the cheap hot water because the tank is too small
one solution is to make it hotter overnight and dilute with cold
better insulation makes it last longer.
Use less per shower, get a water saving shower head.

System

thank you very much, when you say check the position of the immersion what is this exactly? sorry an amateur here

Jonesya

Look around the tank for a plastic casing fitted to the top or side of the tank with an electric cable connected to it.

There might be one or two, normally there's one around the top of the tank, which is used for boost heating the water, as it heats the water at the top of the tank. Some tanks, designed for Economy 7 heating, have a second heater at the bottom on the tank, designed to heat the whole of the tank upto temperature, over-night.

No one has mentioned it, but it's worth checking you're on an Economy 7 electricity tariff with your supplier.

Le_Kirk

Sometimes it is arranged so that the Economy 7 immersion is a long one and the boost is a short one. In this case both immersion elements are located on top of the dome of the hot water cylinder. See this link and look at picture on the right. The picture on the left shows a pair of horizontally fitted elements.

System

thank you very much

with the temperature, how do I lower the temperature cut-off? can't find any thermostat

coffeehound

Can you post a photo of your hot water tank? Also a photo of the electricity meter would help.

System

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1veYY9WVykr5Cdsf5HCmz-tu6O0WowaWx

Hi

Thank you

Here are the pictures, there is a timer which i can use to turn on the boost. There is a 'balloon' above it which I am not sure what it is supposed to do. Can't find any thermostat.

Regards

getmore4less

Looks you have two heaters they are the two sticky out bits below the big label.

both should be wired into your timer unit.

the timer unit should run the bottom one on the cheap rate and the upper one from the boost.

http://horstmann.securemeters.com/files/9414/7287/7937/Economy_7_Quartz_User_-_P81941_7_PRINT.pdf

check the timing for the main timer is set correctly for your metered electricity.

use the neon light on the unit(next to the on/off switch to check when the heater comes on and goes off
compare that to the cheap electric times.

if not then the adjustment needs the unit opening
(sounds like you may not be comfortable doing that)
http://horstmann.securemeters.com/files/8014/7287/7933/Economy_7_Quartz_Installation_-_P27956_15_PRINT.pdf

check the thermostats.

Turn off the timer.

Most likely these are under the white covers.
examples


First thing in the morning how hot is the water coming from the tank?

---

The big bubble thing is an expansion vessel safety device.

System

Thank you very much, this was one of the most comprehensive things I have read ever in terms of immersion heaters.

1. The timer is slightly off (I did realise this earlier when my day meter was recording usage when I am out most parts of the day). So it heats up between 3 to 9 am. I decided to turn the time two hours ahead. So it heats up between 3 to 9 however this is 1 to 7 in real time. As you suggested I wouldn't know how to deal with opening the Horstmann box so this was the only way I could handle this issue.

2. With the thermostats, I have attached two more pictures in the earlier link. The black coloured unit is the upper heater. The arrow appears to point to the hottest in the range (double dots). The white coloured unit is the lower heater. With the lower one I am not sure. How do I check to make sure they both heat to the maximum level permissible?

Thank you very much.

getmore4less wrote: »

Looks you have two heaters they are the two sticky out bits below the big label.

both should be wired into your timer unit.

the timer unit should run the bottom one on the cheap rate and the upper one from the boost.

http://horstmann.securemeters.com/files/9414/7287/7937/Economy_7_Quartz_User_-_P81941_7_PRINT.pdf

check the timing for the main timer is set correctly for your metered electricity.

use the neon light on the unit(next to the on/off switch to check when the heater comes on and goes off
compare that to the cheap electric times.

if not then the adjustment needs the unit opening
(sounds like you may not be comfortable doing that)
http://horstmann.securemeters.com/files/8014/7287/7933/Economy_7_Quartz_Installation_-_P27956_15_PRINT.pdf

check the thermostats.

Turn off the timer.

Most likely these are under the white covers.
examples


First thing in the morning how hot is the water coming from the tank?

---

The big bubble thing is an expansion vessel safety device.

coffeehound

pnat wrote: »

1. The timer is slightly off (I did realise this earlier when my day meter was recording usage when I am out most parts of the day). So it heats up between 3 to 9 am. I decided to turn the time two hours ahead. So it heats up between 3 to 9 however this is 1 to 7 in real time. As you suggested I wouldn't know how to deal with opening the Horstmann box so this was the only way I could handle this issue.

It is worth checking exactly when the Rate 1 / Rate 2 switchover occurs on your meter. Check either in the evening or morning and you will know the other change over is 7 hours earlier/later accordingly. That way you can confidently set your controller times.

pnat wrote: »

2. With the thermostats, I have attached two more pictures in the earlier link. The black coloured unit is the upper heater. The arrow appears to point to the hottest in the range (double dots). The white coloured unit is the lower heater. With the lower one I am not sure. How do I check to make sure they both heat to the maximum level permissible?

Looking at the manufacturer info

http://www.range-cylinders.co.uk/pdfs/technical/tribunehe.pdf

The upper (boost) thermostat is probably original and if so is set to the maximum of about 65 degrees C, which is fine.

It looks like the lower element and thermostat have been replaced. The maximum on that thermostat is potentially 160 degrees (!) but the safety device will operate before it reaches 90 deg C.

https://www.cotherm.co.uk/solutions/rod-thermostats/tsr-direct-plug-in/

The best thing to do as getmore4less suggests is use a thermometer to check how hot the water comes out of the tap in the morning and adjust it to about 65 degrees C if necessary.

==============================

On your original question, since you have a modern digital meter, all electricity used during the off-peak period is charged at the lower rate. So if you use an instant electric shower during the off-peak period, you can also have a full tank of hot water left to use in the evening, all at the cheap rate. It depends how early you take your morning shower. Don't worry about heat loss from the cylinder during the day; it is pretty minimal on a modern tank.

Bear in mind that the off-peak period changes by one hour between summer and winter due to the BST vs GMT clocks change. So it's an hour [STRIKE]later[/STRIKE] earlier from late October to late April.

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