Is the Housing Association responsible for my water heater? Can I claim for them not replacing it?

antonybee

I'm in serious debt with my Housing Association for several thousand pounds. I won't say which one - but it's one of these: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G15_(housing_associations)

Perhaps the main reason I'm so far behind is my enormous electricity bill. I have, in my tiny flat, a large immersion heater. Totally unsuitable for my small flat, which just has two hot water sink taps, and no bath.

Since, September 2021, I've sent several emails and made phonecalls to ask them to replace this immersion heater. With no response.

For a small outlay, (On screwfix, they're £100-£200) they could have bought a inline heater - which just heats when water when used. That could have saved me money, which would have enabled me to pay the rent.

What are my rights in this situation? It seems absurd that I'm paying because they would not update the water heater.

macman

i very much doubt that an immersion is the cause of your debt. An immersion is thermostatic, and uses no power once it has reached the set temp. And a well-lagged immersion tank loses very little heat anyway-and in winter, any heat lost serves to warm the flat.
They should have responded, but I would expect that response to be 'no'. 
The vast majority of your electricity bill is going to be space heating, which, if electric, is always going to be very expensive, unless you have NSH's and are on an E7 tariff. presumably you have an electric shower in place of a bath?
Rent is a priority debt and you really should put this before your electricity payments if necessary.

Section62

antonybee said:

For a small outlay, (On screwfix, they're £100-£200) they could have bought a inline heater - which just heats when water when used. That could have saved me money, which would have enabled me to pay the rent.

What are my rights in this situation? It seems absurd that I'm paying because they would not update the water heater.

The retail cost of the heater is only part of it.  There would also be labour for the installation and certification (including visits by both a plumber and electrician), plus the removal of the existing hot water cylinder and pipework.  By the time they add overheads it could easily cost them a couple of thousand.

Also, inline heaters can't take advantage of cheap rate electricity, so although you probably don't use much hot water, it may cost you more to heat it at time of use.

Then what does the HA do when you move out and the next tenant finds the inline heater too expensive and wants to have stored hot water?

Does the flat not have a shower? Or is it an electric one that doesn't use water from the hot water cylinder?

They should have responded to your emails though, so make a complaint about the lack of any response.

babyblade41

I'm afraid your rent must come first before anything else, it's the most important thing you have. 

They should give you a response, have you directed your query to the right dept

deannagone

I would suggest turning off the immersion heater and if you only need hot water for the sinks occasionally, boil water in pans as needed. Then only heating water you need.  I do the same with my gas water heater.  Keeps my bills to a minimum.

HampshireH

Yes they are responsible. No they don't have to replace it if it is working properly .

It sounds like it is always on if you are suggesting that he cost is why you haven't paid your rent. And that's a user issue.

If your arrears aren't paid they could evict you. Your utility bills wouldn't be a sufficient defence

housebuyer143

Have you tried only turning it on for an hour or two a day? 
I have a gas heated water tank and we get enough hot water for 3 people only putting it on 2 hours a day. The cost if I left it on all the time would be ridiculous.

MultiFuelBurner

deannagone said:

I would suggest turning off the immersion heater and if you only need hot water for the sinks occasionally, boil water in pans as needed. Then only heating water you need.  I do the same with my gas water heater.  Keeps my bills to a minimum.

I suspect this person only has electric so maybe the better option and cheaper is to boil a kettle and not in pans. Especially if they don't have an induction hob.

All presumption of course. 

Section62

housebuyer143 said:

The cost if I left it on all the time would be ridiculous.

The immersion heater should be fitted with a thermostat - if it isn't then that would be a ground of complaint to the HA as an immersion heater without a functioning thermostat is a safety risk.

The thermostat will do the turning off when the water is hot enough - the immersion heater won't continue to use electricity once the hot water is heated to temperature, so this shouldn't be the cause of the OP's costs.

Assuming they have a cheap rate electricity supply, the immersion heater should be timed to come on during the off-peak hours.  Again, if there is no timer (or the timer is incorrectly set) the immersion heater may be consuming electricity at peak rate - but even in this case, the additional cost isn't going to be ridiculous.

Manually switching the immersion heater on and off is generally a bad idea if dual-rate electricity is available - it is easy to forget having switched it on/off, hence either needing to heat the cylinder using peak-rate electric the next day, or having the immersion heater working during the peak-rate hours because it hasn't been switched off again.

housebuyer143

Section62 said:

housebuyer143 said:

The cost if I left it on all the time would be ridiculous.

The immersion heater should be fitted with a thermostat - if it isn't then that would be a ground of complaint to the HA as an immersion heater without a functioning thermostat is a safety risk.

The thermostat will do the turning off when the water is hot enough - the immersion heater won't continue to use electricity once the hot water is heated to temperature, so this shouldn't be the cause of the OP's costs.

Assuming they have a cheap rate electricity supply, the immersion heater should be timed to come on during the off-peak hours.  Again, if there is no timer (or the timer is incorrectly set) the immersion heater may be consuming electricity at peak rate - but even in this case, the additional cost isn't going to be ridiculous.

Manually switching the immersion heater on and off is generally a bad idea if dual-rate electricity is available - it is easy to forget having switched it on/off, hence either needing to heat the cylinder using peak-rate electric the next day, or having the immersion heater working during the peak-rate hours because it hasn't been switched off again.

I only speak from my own experience with gas. I tested it many ways and it was cheaper to only heat it one hour in morning and one hour in evening. 

Yes we do on occasion run out during the day if we have two 15 min showers, but generally that's sufficient for our needs and minimises how long the boiler is running. 

GDB2222

One thing you can do that will save electricity is turn down the temperature on the thermostat. I think 50-60C is the minimum recommended to avoid risk of Legionella. However, you only need to turn it up to that temp one a month, say, to kill the bugs, and the rest of the time you can have it cooler.