Can I keep an immersion heater on peak when not on economy tariff?

jay421

Hi, I moved into a flat that's all electric with an immersion heater. I was wondering if it's ok for me to leave the on peak switch active because I'm NOT on economy 7?

In the summer I just used off peak, and I had enough hot water to get by. Now that it's hitting winter, sometimes my water is going cold in the evening. As it takes a while to heat up after I activate peak heating I'm wondering if it's worth just keeping it on? Am I right in thinking this will only reheat the tank when it drops below a given temperature? If that's the case would it work out the same as me having to manually flick the switch every night (but with the bonus of not having to remember to turn it off again).

QrizB

jay421 said:

As it takes a while to heat up after I activate peak heating I'm wondering if it's worth just keeping it on? Am I right in thinking this will only reheat the tank when it drops below a given temperature? If that's the case would it work out the same as me having to manually flick the switch every night (but with the bonus of not having to remember to turn it off again).

Yes, it works as you think it does.

You run the risk of heating water (or holding water hot) when you're not going to use it for several hours, which means you'll probably have slightly higher losses from the tank. As long as the tank is properly insulate, this extra loss hould be less than one kWh per day. The lost heat will most probably go into your flat and partially offset your space heating.

Which leads me to ask:

jay421 said:

Hi, I moved into a flat that's all electric with an immersion heater. I was wondering if it's ok for me to leave the on peak switch active because I'm NOT on economy 7?

It's unusual to have electrically-heated hot water but not have E7. What sort of space heating does your flat have?

Scot_39

How is the off peak immersion heater switched on / off ?

By own timer or by the meter itself (so an actual e7 meter but just billed at single rate).

How if your flat heated ?

How many meter readings do you supply or appear  on bills if smart ?

Swipe

If you don't need hot water every day you may find just putting it on for an hour or so before you need it works out cheaper. When I was on single rate with an immersion heater at my previous property I used to use the 1 hour boost button for my hot water needs so I wouldn't forget to turn it off again.

Lorian

Does it have two switches and two elements?

jay421

Hi everyone thanks for the replies.

How is the off peak immersion heater switched on / off ?

I've got two wall switches by the tank labeled off peak immersion and on peak immersion. As far as I can see I don't have a control panel (or a boost button)

It's unusual to have electrically-heated hot water but not have E7. What sort of space heating does your flat have?

The rest of my flat uses electric heaters. I'm not on an E7 tariff because I work from home, and consume a lot of energy during day hours.

Gerry1

Normally the lower immersion heater would be on an E7 circuit and left on, and the upper on a 24h circuit and left off.  You'd turn on the upper one for a short (and expensive) boost only if the water went cold during the day.

Donyou have panel heaters or storage radiators?

molerat

Might be worth getting something from this range for the top element, click on when needed, no need to switch off.

https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Main_Index/Timers_Index/Immersion_Heater_Timers_2/index.html

Jonboy_1984

molerat said:

Might be worth getting something from this range for the top element, click on when needed, no need to switch off.

https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Main_Index/Timers_Index/Immersion_Heater_Timers_2/index.html

We used a Horstmann 30/60/120 for many years and it worked a treat.