Going to replace my immersion stat

[AdamW]

I noticed a sound like birds tweeting coming from my airing cupboard this evening. Coming from the hot cylinder. So, I tried turning the immersion off and the sound stopped. Took the lid off, thermostat was at 65 (always thought they should be no higher than 60, but heh). Turned it down to 50, just to check. Fired it up again but still it was heating the water. Checked a hot tap and the water was unbearably hot.

So, I reckon my thermostat has gone. However, I thought I would check here in case it could be anything else. I thought it might be due to scale, but the water is getting hot still. Can anyone think of any other things it could be?

Won't be doing it until the weekend. Cheap and easy job, I just want to have some gauge of what my probability of solving the problem is! I really don't want to have to replace the whole element, looks like it is a theoretically simple job that could easily turn into a nightmare!

 

[ArtfulBodger]

Assuming that this is exactly as you have said then this is one job that really cannot turn into a nightmare, unless of course you electrocute yourself.

As the heater is still heating all you need to do is change the thermostat. The regs have just changed and now you should only be able to buy the resettable ones that fail to safety.

About 12 quid & 3 wires - what can go wrong?

Hee hee

 

[AdamW]

Glad to hear it! I thought maybe it could be something like scale on the stat probe causing it to register colder temperatures.

But I suppose, changing the stat would solve this anyway!

 

[ChrisR]

Just 2 wires - make sure you get the same length thermostat as the old one. 55 is plenty hot for me!

 

[AdamW]

Righto, got the stat out (possibly the easiest plumbing/electrics job in the world!). 18" long, for a 27" immersion.

Now I have been trying to get hold of a new stat. TLC want about £4 for one, my local plumbing merchant wants £15+VAT! So I thought I would try the sheds... they only sell the heater + stat for £40.

£4 sounds rather cheap to me. Does it sound TOO cheap to be a reliable stat? £15 is s*d all over the lifetime of the heater, but I have noticed that the price of anything to do with electrics is WAY over the odds in this merchant.

 

[ChrisR]

Cheap at bes.ltd.uk too I daresay.

 

[AdamW]

Turns out the guy at the Plumb Center gave me the price for a whole immersion, the stat is about £4+VAT there too.