Economy 7 water heater problems, help please!

coffeehound

rosamy52 wrote: »

Forgive me for forgetting as I already explained!

I'll ask re the RCD or wiring fault possibilities. I'm about to email the landlord.

It would be the breaker at position 6 on DB2 that is suspect. Perhaps they could swap it with another breaker to test it overnight and see if you have a proper tank of hot water the next morning.

coffeehound

According to the questions tab here

https://www.heatingcontrolsonline.co.uk/thermowatt-tbs-thermostat-p-843.html

The maximum is 65 deg C

PeterGr

If circuit breaker No.4 is also labelled Bathroom it is likely to be the heated towel rail. Turn the circuit breaker off during the summer would be the best way to stop this coming on.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

rosamy52 wrote: »

Or do you mean the loose screw at the bottom left? Which I only noticed looking closer, seen better here. I'm not sure what that is or where it's supposed to go.

Just to clear up the 'loose screw', it's the cable grip.


If you look at post 9, the brown thermostat, you will see it at left hand side, properly fixed gripping cable,


whereas the white thermostat white cable should be at the 7 o'clock position and fixed by 'loose screw'.

EachPenny

rosamy52 wrote: »

Yes the 6 is labelled Imm for immersion heater I assume.

Can you tell us the exact wording as there is another word between "Imm" and "Heater".

coffeehound wrote: »

So, assuming we can credit the ‘electrician’ with the nous to spot a failed element, that would point to a duff RCD/breaker, or some wiring fault between the dist board and the element

DB1 Position 6 claims to be "16A"....

If the 'night' circuit is not working at all, then presumably the OP should only be getting any hot water at all if the boost element is switched on.

Is this what is happening OP? You have no hot water at all if the boost is off? I understood you got some hot water each day, just not enough.

rosamy52

No worries, I probably reacted too quickly!

😁

rosamy52

The other word on the label is bathroom but it's scribbled out.

Re meter ticking over I don't know, the meter is down several flights of steps in the entrance way and it goes on after midnight so I'm usually asleep by then! I guess I could stay up and find out.

I have a little bit of hot water, which only lasts a couple of minutes, without the boost being on.

rosamy52

It doesn't have a switch so I just took the fuse out to stop it being on. It's pretty pointless as it doesn't retain any heat so it's only vaguely useful if you're in the bathroom for more than ten minutes early in the morning, which I'm not!

rosamy52

So is there anything I need to do about the loose bit? Sorry if I'm being a bit dense here!

Cornucopia

EachPenny wrote: »

If the 'night' circuit is not working at all, then presumably the OP should only be getting any hot water at all if the boost element is switched on.

Is this what is happening OP? You have no hot water at all if the boost is off? I understood you got some hot water each day, just not enough.

From the symptoms described by the OP, I would have thought that there are only two likely scenarios:-

1. A conflict between two competing timers, so that the overlap during which current is supplied is very short. If there is only one timer, then that tends to rule that out, although I suppose it could be faulty. It would be useful to have a power indicator within the property attached to the lower element to rule this in or out. Ideally, the outlet for the cable to the lower element would have a neon indicator for this purpose, but it doesn't. It might be worth the Electrician fitting such a thing(they only cost a few £s).

2. A problem with the thermostat on the lower element such that it is turning off the supply before the water has had a chance to warm up beyond a few degrees. Hence suggesting moving the thermostat position to see if it makes any difference.

Anything else is likely to mean that the circuit would not work at all, and there wouldn't be any hot water.

It seems like the colour of the thermostat dial relates to different products with different temperature ranges, although Green is not on the list...

https://www.heatrodshop.com/technical-faqs

Q. What are the temperature settings on a Thermowatt RTS3 Thermostat?
A. Operating Trip – Single Dot is the lower limit and Double Dot is the higher limit.

Red Dial 52° – 60°C (75°C Safety Cut-Out)

Blue Dial 63° – 71°C (85°C Safety Cut-Out)

Yellow Dial 52° – 60°C (70°C Safety Cut-Out)

RTS Plus 52° – 60°C (90°C Safety Cut-Out)

This also mentions the single and double dots, although I assume when they say "Operating Trip", they mean maximum temperature and nothing more significant.