Please help spot the high energy usage source

Gerry1

The two immersion heater system is intended for use on E7.  The lower heater only comes on overnight and gives you a full tank at cheap rate.  The upper heater is  on a 24h circuit and is only for emergency use, to give you half a tank of expensive hot water PDQ if you've run out in the daytime or have been away.  If you have E7 it's important to leave the upper heater permanently off and to make sure the lower heater is on a circuit switched by the meter.

Some cheapskate installations have only one 24h circuit and a local timer that tries to mimic the E7 times.  If it's set incorrectly or has drifted because of power cuts then you get big bills.

However, if you're on single rate then you need not worry because it will all cost the same.  With panel heaters, single rate probably works out cheaper.

Gerry1

Moskovite said:

Neon Riff however is marked with Energy Switch Guarantee whatever that means. The bad news is both providers are marked with "Review Only" red button on Which Switch site so I can't really choose them (at least not online).

If a comparison site won't initiate a switch (because a competitive supplier doesn't pay them commission), just go straight to the energy company's own site and switch there.  Also check the referrals board here first to see whether you can get cashback.

https://www.neonreef.co.uk/

Tallerdave

We really need to know if you're wired for E7 or not.  A true off-peak only circuit will only be live for 7 hours at night. Your lower immersion may be connected to such a circuit.  Any chance of a photo of the wiring where it enters the property and the consumer unit?

Tallerdave

We really need to know if you're wired for E7 or not.  A true off-peak only circuit will only be live for 7 hours at night. Your lower immersion may be connected to such a circuit.  Any chance of a photo of the wiring where it enters the property and the consumer unit?

coffeehound

OP stated the lower element is controlled by a timer switch.  Don't know if it's a E7 meter, but it probably is.

Tallerdave

coffeehound said:

OP stated the lower element is controlled by a timer switch.  Don't know if it's a E7 meter, but it probably is.

Yes, but bearing in mind the incompetence of builders, the timeswitch could be switching an off peak feed or a 24h feed, even if the timeswitch itself is on a 24h feed. Add to that the fact that it doesn't appear to be working and there's a lot of investigating to do. A picture or 3 might save a thousand words!

Tallerdave

coffeehound said:

OP stated the lower element is controlled by a timer switch.  Don't know if it's a E7 meter, but it probably is.

Yes, but bearing in mind the incompetence of builders, the timeswitch could be switching an off peak feed or a 24h feed, even if the timeswitch itself is on a 24h feed. Add to that the fact that it doesn't appear to be working (and possibly never has) and there's a lot of investigating to do. A picture or 3 might save a thousand words!

Moskovite

Attaching pictures of my hot water cylinder. Currently it's on Override On mode (the lower heater is always on). The other options are time programmed and Override Off (always off). The upper immersion heater is switched off via fuse. I have no idea if I'm wired for E7 or not. How do I find out?

Gerry1

It's certainly a cheapskate solution, not even a neon on the upper switched outlet.

The lower outlet is probably on a 24h supply instead of a separate E7 circuit, but it needs only a basic timeswitch, not one with a boost function.  For the boost, you'd need to switch on the upper outlet manually, but then there's the risk of leaving it on permanently which would be hideously expensive if you had an E7 tariff.

To establish whether you're on E7, look at the meter and the bills.

If you do have or go for E7, move the existing timer to the upper outlet and program it so that it's always off unless you select a 1hr or 2hr boost manually, then install an E7 switched circuit or (less ideally) a timeswitch that accurately mimics the E7 times set by the meter.

matelodave

Have a shufti here and download the time switch instructions and have a look at the video to see how to programme it. If the green light is on (indicating that the timer is on) then the bottom immersion heater should be energised and get hot. 

As its only a single circuit switch it doesn't control the upper immersion - the boost button just gives you an extra hour or two on the bottom heater without actually overriding the programme times. Over-ride causes the timeswitch to turn off if its on  and on if its off so ideally you dont want to use it.

https://www.timeguard.com/products/time/immersion-and-general-purpose-timeswitches/24-hour-fused-spur-timeswitch

You should set the timeswitch to provide hot water when you need it - say two hours between 4am and 6am and that should give you enough hot water for nearly all day. If you do actually run out then use the boost button to give it an extra couple of hours. TBH if you can use hot water intelligently you could probably get away with heating once every two days