Switch timer

Scot_39

We now think you are essentially keeping a whole tank of water hot to thermostat cut off (set to 60C by default in manual) 24/7.

Thats for most unnecessary. 

Others like with the ASHP example above - will only do that once or so per week for a couple of hours - then lower it - others like the 50C example - "never" do it - and probably wont heat to 50C 24/7 either.

But we don't know how much water you use and when - and how hot you need / want it - throughout the day.

For instance - if your tank is set to 60C - in reality you'll regularly be mixing that down into 40s - basin for dishes / hands, shower (if hot fed), baths for child etc.

The harsh truth is you need to find the minimum power on time and split it across the day if needed - that works for you and your family - based on your - and only your - household's needs.

And if want - that could include any changes to peak hW temperature - by cutting power with timing before thermostat does - or changing thermostat settings.

Edit: Couple of potential reasons other's cannot tell you exactly what to do

I used to have a hot water boost button on my old RTS meter - despite it powering HW immersion 3x per day. I never used it - the single mother next door - said she used it regularly - for "nightly" kid's bath - which fell in a long gap between heating slots(1-8pm GMT).

Some have cold fed showers, others have hot fed mixer showers fed from tank etc.

 

As above spec - it takes only c2 hours to heat a 120l tank from cold fill.  

Leaving the switch on for 3-4 or even E7's typical 7  hours in that scenario wouldnt really change edit or change significantly energy use if no water drawn whilst on.

Leaving it on for 24 hours would - as even without any use - the tank wouldn't be allowed to drop for losses if no flow (let alone for cold fill with use).

PS - Have you tried to guesstimate roughly your hot water usage ?

( I forgot to add running taps - upto 4-6l per minute - rinsing dishes, rinsing hands etc)

In summary

Re immersion as above posts - try manually to only have power on for limited times over a week or two - and see how little time you really need that switch on - and then see if makes a dent in the 33kWh.

If you were single - I'd probably even suggest just the mid tank heater - but a mix might work too.

The daily average electric TDCV for those with gas is now c7-8kWh per day - if we assume using a full small tank plus daily losses - around another 7-8 kWh  - you may have around another 15+ kWh to find.

So I'd keep up the hunt for other power hungry devices.

MultiFuelBurner

inigma said:

EssexHebridean said:

The first thing you can do I’d suggest is to start using the immersion heater as though you WERE on E7 - so switch it on before you go to bed, and switch it off as soon as you get up. The second thing is to be sure that people are running hot water unnecessarily - for hand washing etc when in fact chances are the hot won’t even have reached the tap by the time they’ve turned it off again. Does that tank supply water for showers as well as other hot water, or do you have an electric shower? 

But how would it matter when i switched it on, we do not have a smart meter (Live in a flat and Octopus won't install one), so if i use 15 kwh during the day or night what difference would it make?

Flats all over the country have smart meters.

So it's not that Octopus have refused you just haven't asked for one? This was explained on page 3 of your thread.

https://octopus.energy/blog/smart-meter-installation/

Robin9

inigma said:

...................................................... i am really confused as to what I should be doing right now.

I don't think I've had a response to "Hmmmm - mystery Can you give us the photos of the meter, consumer unit please ?" (we now have the meter)


and read those meters several times a day - keep a diary what equipment is being used, -  detective work, a room by room survey of what equipment there is and what's on -    .   I suspect there's more going on than hot water - but you could switch it off for 12 hours, reading that meter before and after.

PS comparing your bachelor days and family days is not a good idea - in olden days you may not have been in much, now you have a family !

Newbie_John

I've been on Octopus waiting list for a year with no hope, gave them a call and they had availability in the next 7 days.. or anytime after that - give them a call.

But as others said - write down some values of meter usage for a few days to show the actual use.

We also have a tank similar to yours, the bottom switch used to be scheduled to run with E7 tariff - goes on at 0:30 and switches itself off at 7:30 - 2 adults and one child and we never used the boost (top switch) maybe on very rare occasions when we had guests. So I would switch that one off permanently.

So many ideas here.. but if you could write down the usage for 2 full days with your existing set up and then for 2 days where you have switched off the top switch and with the bottom one - switched on before going to sleep and switch off first thing in the morning. If this shows major improvement to your electricity usage - then you could call an engineer to automate the process for you by installing some sort of scheduled switch (and I guess if you rent you should ask landlord for this).

But meter readings would solve this mystery 

inigma

Newbie_John said:

I've been on Octopus waiting list for a year with no hope, gave them a call and they had availability in the next 7 days.. or anytime after that - give them a call.

But as others said - write down some values of meter usage for a few days to show the actual use.

We also have a tank similar to yours, the bottom switch used to be scheduled to run with E7 tariff - goes on at 0:30 and switches itself off at 7:30 - 2 adults and one child and we never used the boost (top switch) maybe on very rare occasions when we had guests. So I would switch that one off permanently.

So many ideas here.. but if you could write down the usage for 2 full days with your existing set up and then for 2 days where you have switched off the top switch and with the bottom one - switched on before going to sleep and switch off first thing in the morning. If this shows major improvement to your electricity usage - then you could call an engineer to automate the process for you by installing some sort of scheduled switch (and I guess if you rent you should ask landlord for this).

But meter readings would solve this mystery 

Cheers I will give them a call shortly would love to have a smart meter in the flat. 

I switched the hot water tank off overnight and put the boost on for 45 mins this morning (enough hot water for us to shower) I will put it on for 45 mins later before little one has a bath.
In the last 18 hours I have used 10kwh, based on this projection i will be using 13kwh a day compared to last years usage this as a rough estimate would save me roughly 6,250kwh a year or around £1,800.
I have purchased a light switch timer which will sit over the hot water boost and i will program it to be on for an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening.

Thank you everyone for your patience and help.

Newbie_John

Could you show us what timer switch you purchased? This is just for safety - as water heaters are 3kW and lights much less so you need to be sure that it will cope with it.

Robin9

Hopefully not something like this 

Spoonie_Turtle

From the wording 'sit over the hot water boost' it could be something like the SwitchBot which can be programmed to press switches and turn them off again.
https://uk.switch-bot.com/products/switchbot-bot

victor2

This is something I'm considering for a heated towel rail, if you wanted to go smart...
CHOSRY WiFi Fused Spur Timer Switch for electric towel rails, heating, and lighting https://amzn.eu/d/aLvnL9W

inigma

Newbie_John said:

Could you show us what timer switch you purchased? This is just for safety - as water heaters are 3kW and lights much less so you need to be sure that it will cope with it.

Hey, my neighbour recommended this, I will tell it to switch on and off for an hour in the morning and afternoon.

https://mydome.co.uk/products/light-switch-timer/