Economy 7 immersion heaters

[themonkeypit]

I have economy 7 storage heaters and and old copper immersion heater tank, I do not know if the immersion heater is wired to the economy 7 system as it has one immersion heater element at the base of the tank.
The cable is wired to a 13 amp plug which plugs into a standard plug socket, I have this attatched to a 13amp digital timer to heat the water between 5-6am.
recently the plug socket has melted to the timer so I have unplugged it as I am to worried to try this in case it catches fire.
Is the cable supposed to be wired to a fused socket which should heat correctly on the economy 7 system?
I recently bought this property and discovered this problem, i now am unable to heat my water tank.

 

[simond]

If the element is 3Kw rated or below, it could be fitted using a 13a plug. Timers are often poorly made and the contacts overheat at full load.

Whether or not the immersion will be Eco7 fed is more complex. Sometimes the meter automatically switches tariff, other Eco7 installs have a dual output meter where only part of the load is switched on in low tariff times.

If you have two consumer units the latter is likely to be the system you have.

If the juice goes off at 6am your timer will obviously not work. Similarly, if the socket is not connected to the latter system it will be charged at peak rate all day and night.

So the question is a bit more complex.

 

[TicklyT]

If it is (was) a standard plug-in timer, it will be a normal socket, not economy 7, otherwise the timer would stop every time the E7 switched off.

You could confirm this by connecting a table lamp to the socket to see if it's permanently live.

Immersion heaters are usually hard-wired via a switched FCU and a suitable time clock, if necessary. Something like this would do the job.

 

[xr4x4]

If it is (was) a standard plug-in timer, it will be a normal socket, not economy 7, otherwise the timer would stop every time the E7 switched off.

You could confirm this by connecting a table lamp to the socket to see if it's permanently live.

Immersion heaters are usually hard-wired via a switched FCU and a suitable time clock, if necessary. Something like this would do the job.

ditto.. i would never allow a immersion heater be wired to a 13amp plug.

imo, 3kw is the max load for short periods for a 13amp plug.