Is my immersion heater kaput?

JoJoB

Hi, my hot water tank took a very long time heating up water the other day (about 3 hours to get lukewarm), and now has stopped heating up the water altogether. The tank and immersion were only installed 6 months ago (Can I find a warranty or guarantee or receipt - no!). There have been a couple ofoccasions where I have forgotten about the heater being on and it has been on continuously for 2 days - would this have caused the immersion to burn out?

How much would be a fair price for a plumber replacing the immersion? Thanks in advance for any advice!

jennifernil

First, it should last years, not 6 months. Leaving it on will not cause it to burn out.

Is there a reset button ? Turn off the power, remove the cover where the wire goes in, there should be a thermostat in there and also possibly a tiny red reset button on the thermostat.

Otherwise I would complain strongly to the original installer.

If you need to pay to replace, I would get an electrician rather than a plumber.

amarg

Firstly I would check the fuse is ok, there could be two fuses- one at the consumer unit and one in a fused connection unit (if there is one).


As already pointed out an immersion heater element should last years.

These pages might help
testing a fuse

http://www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk/plumb_immersion_heater.htm



If the immersion heater is broken then replacing it is difficult and is a job for a plumber. Removing the old immersion heater element can be extremely difficult.

peeedoffandskint

jennifernil wrote: »

If you need to pay to replace, I would get an electrician rather than a plumber.

i wouldnt, as it cant be changed without draining down.

cost of a new one is less than £20 getting it changed isnt hard just can take some time. if you decide to call a plumber. drain the system down first, that'll save a few quid off his bill as he wont be getting paid to sit and wait for it to drain!

Canucklehead

Hi

If you heat your water by immersion alone and the new immersion was a standard copper one (say £20),then it is possible that the element has failed.
As the water heated to luke warm then stopped I would suspect the element as if it were to be a fuse or over heat stat tripping ,it would stop heating immediately.

Buy a Incaloy or Titanium immersion and it will last longer.
You could buy yourself an immersion spanner and DIY, six months old , it should come out easily.

Corgi Guy.

PS Is the switch burning out?

baldelectrician

Get an electrician in.

It may be one of these new fangled immersion heaters that have a built in thermostat AND a over limit thermostat.

It is quite common for these to give problems.

The other thing could be faulty / poor / loose connections, this is why I am suggesting an electrician. It unlikely to be a faulty eliment after 6 months.

Only the newer immersion heaters have these over limit cut outs (and new thermostats)

JoJoB

Thanks for all the replies, I will get a plumber round next week by the looks of things. The lighting is poor by the tank so I will check tomorrow if there is an override button on the thermostat. The immersion is a heatrae pullin I think - tbh, the thermostat looks very confusing to me. Are there not supposed to be numbers on it so i know what temperature it is set to? It just has a + and - sign and an arrow which can be pointed to either which is fully turned to the + sign at the moment. Didn't notice a button to press on it but will check tomorrow.

leftfield20

Look carefully near the + and - as you say the light is not good so you could be missing some numbers (in °C) that range form say 40 to 80. Mine is (i think) set at 50. Perhaps yours is too high and is tripping before its heating (as others have said).

baldelectrician

JoJoB wrote: »

I will get a plumber round next week by the looks of things.

I would still suggest an electrician
An electricain should be able to use a ohm / Meg ohm meter to check if the element is intact and if it is burst, in about 5 minutes

Or you could a plumber who could take up to 2 hours to drain down the tank to SEE if the element is faulty
You should use a competent person for the work, links below
In Scotland:
Individuals regitered;
http://www.sbsa.gov.uk/register/ListAC.asp
Companies
http://www.sbsa.gov.uk/register/SearchCo.asp?T=Construction&ID=2
In England and Wales:
http://www.competentperson.co.uk

JoJoB

Ok then.

Electrician it is!

Canucklehead

baldelectrician wrote: »

Or you could a plumber who could take up to 2 hours to drain down the tank to SEE if the element is faulty

Good morning: Or a plumber who has electrical qualifications and can conduct appropriate tests without a drain-down eg. my OH:D Visit http://www.trustcorgi.com/findinstaller/findaninstaller.htmx for more info

HTH

Canucklehead