Economy 7 Water heating

[manyin]

Hi,

I have recently bought a flat and it has economy 7 water and also storage heaters. I have managed to test the storage heaters and they appear to work fine.

The problem I have is that when I moved in, the booster switch for the water was the only thing that was working, so for a week I had to turn on the booster switch for an hour before I went to bed in order to get enough hot water in the morning for a shower. I got an electrician in to look at the off peak switch and it appeared that the wiring was burnt out which caused the fuse switch to blow.

He managed to fix it and the off peak switch works and the light even comes on, however I have left it for two days and both mornings I have no hot water, its barely warm, I then have to put the booster on, doesn't this defeat the object of having economy 7.

Anyway, I'm not too sure whats wrong with the water heating now as I have checked the thermostat and it is turned the same way as the booster switch, does anyone have any ideas of what could be wrong with it?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[stem]

Often there are two immersion elements. One at the bottom of the cylinder for off peak and one at the top for the daytime boost.

As the off peak one is normally on every night that element normally fails first. Can you check to see if there are two elements, or post a photograph?

Sometimes to be difficult, the two immersions are combined in one at the top. if so have a look at any writing on it and let us know what you find.

 

[manyin]

Hi,

There are two elements, one at the top, which is the booster element which works fine and the bottom one is the off peak element, where the switch works and the thermostat is turned on, but there doesn't seem to be any hot water after being switched on overnight for three days.

Any idea how much a new element would cost and would I get a plumber or electrician to fit it?

 

[stem]

If the bottom one has failed, a new element will cost about £50 plus fitting. It shouldn't take more than an hour or two to replace and much of the time will be taken emptying and re-filling the cylinder.

It may only be the thermostat that has failed, but unfortunately you would need to have a multimeter and know how to use it to fault find specifically.

Some have an overheat reset button under the lid, so you could have a look just in case.

Plumbers usually fit immersions, as the wiring is a straight swap, but some sparkies will fit them too.

 

[manyin]

I just got a quote from a plumber and they said that it would cost £120 minimum charge and that it takes 3-4 hours.

Is it quite a straight forward process to change the element for the off peak switch?

Will I have to ask an electrician to check it with the multimeter?

 

[stem]

Click here for instructions to check and replace an element. The hardest part will be removing the old element, they can be very tight.

The plumber will also charge for his travelling time, and fetching the part.

It doesn't specifically have to be an 'electrician' that checks with the multimeter, but it would have to be someone who is competent to use one.