Boiler gone, only immersion heating left

raxx99

Hi everyone,

So my boiler went kaboom couple of days ago and im waiting on bosch to come and sort it in a few days.

Problem is, especially with young children, having no hot water for such a length of time is just horrible. We have a small electric shower but its completely useless.

I have a airing cupboard with a water tank. I notice there is a switch in the airing cupboard that connects to the top of the tank on a red cap thing. I also notice there is a switch for the water heater downstairs in the kitchen. 

Im trying to understand why there are 2 switches. Do they both need to be on? Also how long should i leave the switches on for to get 55-60c temperature water?

Any help would be great as I have no idea how these things work..

Thanks

plumb1_2

The switch in the kitchen will be a on/off switch, the one in the airing cupboard will be a local isolation switch, make sure both are on, the heater should be set about 65 .
Just use the kitchen one to operate the immersion heater

post pics for more detailed responses 

raxx99

Brilliant, thanks for the quick response. Do you know how long it takes to heat up to desired temp?

This is the size of the tank:

FreeBear

That is a (poorly insulated) small tank. Probably 6 hours from cold.

Get yourself one of these - https://www.screwfix.com/p/hot-water-cylinder-jacket-18-x-80mm-x-1219mm/43483 - Wrap it round the tank (you can leave the old one in place). Make sure it is fixed well around the pipe coming out of the top and tuck it in where the pipes stick out at the side. The jacket will slow the heat loss and mean the water will stay hot for longer.

raxx99

FreeBear said:

That is a (poorly insulated) small tank. Probably 6 hours from cold.

6 hours? Surely can't be right 😳 ive read tanks take around 1.5 to 2 hours. But i assumed this were for bigger tanks. I was thinking maybe an hour max.

Also thanks for the link, ordered.

McKneff

6 hours wow. You need a modern boiler. 
Even our 7 year boiler takes 25 minutes to heat a tank for a bath if water 

Bendy_House

I suspect an hour will get it nicely hot enough for showers and stuff.

Good photo - nicely missed out the important bits like the switch for the immersion, and the cap on the immersion itself  

Very good chance that the immersion unit will contain a thermostat which will turn off the element when the desired temp is reached, but you shouldn't rely on it. If the water becomes scalding hot after being left on for a couple of hours, then good chance the 'stat is faulty or set too high.

That's bare copper visible behind the jacket? Wow. Unless you really want that airing cupboard toasty, it's really worth getting a proper jacket as suggested above.

FreeBear

raxx99 said:

FreeBear said:

That is a (poorly insulated) small tank. Probably 6 hours from cold.

6 hours? Surely can't be right 😳 ive read tanks take around 1.5 to 2 hours. But i assumed this were for bigger tanks. I was thinking maybe an hour max.

Depends on the rating of the immersion heater, the temperature rise desired, the size of the tank, and the level of insulation. With a 3KW element and a target temperature of 60°C, one minute per litre will give you a rough idea of how long it will take.