No Hot water only from Immersion

leonj

you can leave it on if you turn the thermostat on it down

Scot_39

Buzza01 said:

Hi Newbie here,
                          I recently bought a flat with these awful Storage Heaters, but i only have hot water if i turn on the Immersion which costs so bloody much!. Is there a way of having water overnight on the economy 7 tarriff?, so i have hot water to wake up to?...

My hw tank only has one heater - and that is switched by the meter at same time as my nsh. And has a local on off switch as well in airing cupboard next to tank.

It has its own thermostat of course - so doesn't run for full time slot.  Often as little as 10-20 mins - in my case 3x daily on e10 - with light use (my main hw use is cold fed electric shower)

I used to have a meter boost facility - a button in kitchen - that activated the power during peak times at a third boost tariff rate - but lost that when lost two meter RTS heatwise supply years ago. 

But some smart alcs meters for e7 do have own boost buttons, and activate circuits at day rate - iirc for 1 hour in posts here..


Many with e7 have 2 heaters in tank.

Day rate normally mid level and often wired to a manual switch but sometimes a boost timer switch (press for 15 min, 30 min on time etc).

AND e7 at base level to heat whole tank.  Normally switched on just for e7 hours etc ( via a spur 16A rated timer switch if not using meter alcs switched supply timing alone).

Piccies of switches and tank etc will help.


As to your ihd use.

Immersion heaters are typically 3kW rated.

But won't run for ever.

Assuming a fairly typical 10- 65 C temp rise on a full small 100-120 l tank from fully cold fill might take 7-8 kWh to heat.

About 2.5 hours.

However unlikely to be that cold unless really used a full tank full ( baths or very long showers daily)

How long did you leave switch on for ?

If that activated during day rate - sounds like you activated the day rate heater.

I suspect there should edit ideally be another heater and switch etc.

Edit - before fitting a combi at parents house the hw was het by gas back boiler normally - but had an immersion heater as a back up.  

QrizB

Gerry1 said:

Have a look at the hot tank.  How many 'top hat' bulges does it have?  Follow the wires.

If there's only one immersion heater and there's no timer, then switch it on after the lower rate has kicked in and off first thing in the morning.

Exactly this. Yout tank should have two immersion heaters. The lower one should be switched to run on E7 with your storage heaters, but might've been turned off at the wall by a previous resident.
Or they might've been switched over, with only the top one working on E7, if the last resident was a very light user of hot water.

Buzza01

I just have an imersion heater that i have to switch on when im home from work, which costs a fortune, i will need a timer switch fitted i presume?

QrizB

Buzza01 said:

I just have an imersion heater that i have to switch on when im home from work, which costs a fortune, i will need a timer switch fitted i presume?

If you only have one immrsion heater (have you checked?) then yes, the longterm solution is to fit a timer.

The short-term solution is to switch it on just before going to bed, and off again when you get up.

PZ19

Your storage heaters and water tank (one immersion heater) should be wired up to economy 7/10.  Inside the cupboard housing the tank on the wall there is an on//off switch next to my tank, that is for the cheaper E7/10 circuit.  On the wall outside the cupboard housing the tank is another switch marked Std Rate Immersion which is what you appear to be using, and is charged at peak rate.  Have a look all round near your tank inside the cupboard for another switch