Economy 7 - Hot water not working

Heely

Water Heater light on, with booster Only 

Gerry1

In the meantime you can get half a tank of cheap hot water by looking at the E7 meter and switching on the boost heater when the meter switches over.  Remember to switch it off first thing in the morning.  You might find it worthwhile to replace the lower immersion heater switch with one having a neon indicator.

Heely

avoidtheupsidedownbottles said:

What have you set the thermostat dial to?

It is set to 3. Thats what is was on the old one too

Heely

tim_p said:

Heely said:

@tim_p the element has a built in thermostat (I think). 

Maybe worth checking, and check it’s at a sensible setting while you’re at it. Thinking about it, if there wasn’t a stat in there then the thing should come on uncontrolled with the E7 and you’d hear the tank boiling at some point! How does the immersion get wired in? Through an isolator switch? Fused spur? Couple of extra things there to check. 

I think its through an isolator switch. The light doesn't come on during off peak, as it is meant to. (See Pic below)

Gerry1

What's your tariff?  Sounds like it may not be E7.

Heely

Gerry1 said:

In the meantime you can get half a tank of cheap hot water by looking at the E7 meter and switching on the boost heater when the meter switches over.  Remember to switch it off first thing in the morning.  You might find it worthwhile to replace the lower immersion heater switch with one having a neon indicator.

Noted & Thanks. Really would like to resolve the issue long term though

Heely

Gerry1 said:

What's your tariff?  Sounds like it may not be E7.

Its definitely E7. Lived here for a while now. Have storage heaters too. 

tim_p

If you’re confident with electrickery then you could swap the wiring to the upper element and see if it powers up the bottom element / stat combo. Obviously you need to take safety precautions and ensure everything is off before touching the wiring but that would be my next step in trying to isolate the problem. 

Heely

tim_p said:

If you’re confident with electrickery then you could swap the wiring to the upper element and see if it powers up the bottom element / stat combo. Obviously you need to take safety precautions and ensure everything is off before touching the wiring but that would be my next step in trying to isolate the problem. 

Not confident 😪😪

tim_p

Heely said:

tim_p said:

If you’re confident with electrickery then you could swap the wiring to the upper element and see if it powers up the bottom element / stat combo. Obviously you need to take safety precautions and ensure everything is off before touching the wiring but that would be my next step in trying to isolate the problem. 

Not confident 😪😪

Fair shout!  It’s not for everyone and it’s always better safe than sorry!