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

Section62

housebuyer143 said:

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. 

Gas is different to electricity in terms of economic operation - assuming the OP has access to off-peak electricity.

In terms of gas, the potential for saving money depends on the type of system you have.  If you have a hot water cylinder with a thermostat as part of a system configured in something like a 'Y' or 'S' plan - then the situation is broadly the same as with an immersion heater.  I.e. once the thermostat indicates the water has reached the required temperature then the boiler will stop heating.

By timing the boiler so it only runs for one hour you are effectively overriding the thermostat, in the sense that if the water hasn't reached the required temperature after an hour then the boiler goes off and the required temperature won't be achieved.  You then have a tank of water at lower temperature than that you wanted (as per the thermostat setting) - the same effect could be achieved by setting the thermostat lower (although this isn't necessarily a good idea).

In a system without a (working) cylinder thermostat, or one where the water heating flow is by gravity, the length of time the boiler is set to run for does make quite a difference as it can go on heating the hot water cylinder for as long as the boiler system thermostat is on.  But someone with that kind of system would probably be better off upgrading the controls in any event, rather than just limiting the time the heating is on.

In theory there will be a small difference in gas or electic used due to heat-loss and/or hot water drawn off during the 'on' time... the longer the 'on' time then the more heat will be lost by the 'off' time.  But this isn't likely to make a vast difference between (say) one hour or two hours - unless a lot of hot water is used during that time.

theartfullodger

Does tenancy agreements state landlord is responsible for water heater??

You will obviously appreciate housing assoc landlord has the legal right to take you to court to evict & recover arrears of unpaid rent.