How to reduce water temperature?

jackieblack

Hi - sorry, I’m aware that this will sound like a stupid question to anyone who knows the answer... 😳

I have a hot water cylinder and use the immersion to heat the water when the boiler is off. The water is much hotter when heated by the immersion - too hot! I assume there is a thermostat that I can turn down to stop the water getting so hot, but I’m not sure what I’m looking for. 

Please can anyone advise?
Thank you

grumbler

I think your immersion heater has its own thermostat - like this one

What do you mean by the "boiler is off"? How often does this happen and why?

jackieblack

Thanks, that’s really helpful 🙂 I wasn’t sure if it is safe to remove that cap, but I’ll have a look

I turn the boiler off when it’s warm enough to not need the heating and use the immersion to heat the water - I live alone so really only need enough hot water for a shower and one bowl of washing up each day. 

nofoollikeold

If you take the cap off, all the exposed terminals are at mains voltage.  Make sure you turn the mains off before removing the cap, preferably at the main consumer unit switch which switches off everything in the property.  

jackieblack

nofoollikeold said:

If you take the cap off, all the exposed terminals are at mains voltage.  Make sure you turn the mains off before removing the cap, preferably at the main consumer unit switch which switches off everything in the property.  

Thank you! I’ll definitely make sure I do that! 😱

grumbler

jackieblack said:

I turn the boiler off when it’s warm enough to not need the heating and use the immersion to heat the water - I live alone so really only need enough hot water for a shower and one bowl of washing up each day. 

Is it some ancient set-up not allowing you to control hot water and central heating independently?

Jeepers_Creepers

Hi Jackie.

As asked above, won't your boiler heat your hot water tank without also heating your radiators? Heating by gas would usually work out cheaper than using electricity.

What kind of boiler do you have? And what type of controls? (Can you post photos of both?)

southcoastrgi

Using your boiler is way cheaper to heat your hot water, if you have a gas boiler an immersion heater is normally only used as a emergency backup 

ic

If you do adjust the temperature, don't go below 60 degrees - Legionella can thrive in water that's stored at 20 to 45 degrees, 60 will ensure its killed off.

grumbler

southcoastrgi said:

Using your boiler is way cheaper to heat your hot water, if you have a gas boiler an immersion heater is normally only used as a emergency backup 

Possibly, not -  "for a shower and one bowl of washing up each day". A low-pressure shower doesn't use a lot.

Boiler heats the whole cylinder as the coil pipe is at the bottom. Immersion heater heats only the top - where the hot water outlet is.

southcoastrgi

grumbler said:

southcoastrgi said:

Using your boiler is way cheaper to heat your hot water, if you have a gas boiler an immersion heater is normally only used as a emergency backup 

Possibly, not -  "for a shower and one bowl of washing up each day". A low-pressure shower doesn't use a lot.

Boiler heats the whole cylinder as the coil pipe is at the bottom. Immersion heater heats only the top - where the hot water outlet is.

A top entry immersion will be 27" long & a side entry will be at the bottom, a immersion is designed to heat the whole cylinder not just the top