No hot water

bluenun20 · 27 Aug 2020

I have lived in this home for 5 years and have economy 7.
I use the timer and set the water heater to come on at 3am and to go off and 8am. I think the 5 hours is pre set.
The power light on the socket is still illuminated, the timer light still illuminates from 3am to 8am but the water is not being heated.
When it all worked fine I could hear a kind of hissing sound as the water was being heated.
The Immersion/boost still works and I hear the hissing sound.
I checked the consumer unit and not fuses and tripped.

3 pictures attached of,
The control unit with the timed light on.
The control unit with the boost light on.
The cylinder.

Any help would be appreciated.

terryplumb · 27 Aug 2020

You would need electrical testing equipment ,such as a multimeter ,to establish where the problem is. Could be the immersion heating element has failed in the lower one. Could be there is no electric supply reaching it ,or even a loose wire / connection.

CBW · 27 Aug 2020

At a guess I’d say the top one has failed, or does this work on boost also?

bluenun20 · 27 Aug 2020

terryplumb said:
You would need electrical testing equipment ,such as a multimeter ,to establish where the problem is. Could be the immersion heating element has failed in the lower one. Could be there is no electric supply reaching it ,or even a loose wire / connection.

I see, not something I am comfortable with.
I have 2 questions if you don't mind.
1) On the picture of the cylinder, you can see there are 2 black objects, are they both called Immersion heating elements?
2) When I use the Boost, does it use one of those 2 immersion heating elements?

terryplumb · 27 Aug 2020

Chris_W said:
At a guess I’d say the top one has failed, or does this work on boost also?

The boost does not work on economy seven ,and the top one is the one that's working Chris.

bluenun20 · 27 Aug 2020

Chris_W said:
At a guess I’d say the top one has failed, or does this work on boost also?

Like I wrote, "The Immersion/boost still works and I hear the hissing sound."
I tried it and was surprised how well it works, less than an hour from stone cold and enough for long shower and washing up.

Are you saying the Boost uses the top one?

terryplumb · 27 Aug 2020

bluenun20 said:
I see, not something I am comfortable with.
I have 2 questions if you don't mind.
1) On the picture of the cylinder, you can see there are 2 black objects, are they both called Immersion heating elements?
2) When I use the Boost, does it use one of those 2 immersion heating elements?

Yes ,both are immersion heaters.
Boost operates the top element.
EcO7 operates the bottom one ,but only in certain time frame ( twilight zone)!!

bluenun20 · 27 Aug 2020

terryplumb said:
Yes ,both are immersion heaters.
Boost operates the top element.
EcO7 operates the bottom one ,but only in certain time frame ( twilight zone)!!

Thank-you.

I had always assumed when using timed it used both elements so I have learnt that only the bottom is used in that instance.
The top element is only used when on Boost, and that is working.

terryplumb · 27 Aug 2020

The lower element will heat a greater volume of water ( all above it) so it is used on EcO7 as the electricity is cheaper off peak ,early hours of the morning)
The top one is connected to your peak rate electrics , and will only heat a small amount of water in comparison ,it will not heat water below it in the cylinder ,hence the term boost. So if you used all your hot water generated off peak ( say had two baths) you can do a top up with the boost.

bluenun20 · 27 Aug 2020

terryplumb said:
The lower element will heat a greater volume of water ( all above it) so it is used on EcO7 as the electricity is cheaper off peak ,early hours of the morning)
The top one is connected to your peak rate electrics , and will only heat a small amount of water in comparison ,it will not heat water below it in the cylinder ,hence the term boost. So if you used all your hot water generated off peak ( say had two baths) you can do a top up with the boost.

Thank-you for the explanation.
I live alone and take showers, never a bath so I may be able to manage with the boost element.
My off peak time is 12:15am to 8:15am. If I were to turn the boost on at 7am for 1 hour would it be charged at the off peak rate?

terryplumb · 27 Aug 2020

No. The top element is wired into your peak supply. I assume you have two consumer units ( what you may refer to as fuseboards) show pics of both of them please.

CBW · 27 Aug 2020

terryplumb said:
The boost does not work on economy seven ,and the top one is the one that's working Chris.

Thanks Terry, I wasn’t 100% sure how economy 7 worked

, thought it was for both immersion’s with boost being available.

bluenun20 · 27 Aug 2020

I see, what a shame, I was hoping I could use boost on the lower rate if used before 8:15 am.
There are 2 consumer units next to each other, the smaller one on the left is for the lounge, hall and kitchen storage heaters only.

terryplumb · 27 Aug 2020

bluenun20 said:
I see, what a shame, I was hoping I could use boost on the lower rate if used before 8:15 am.
There are 2 consumer units next to each other, the smaller one on the left is for the lounge, hall and kitchen storage heaters only.

Are you sure ? I would expect one immersion heater to be on the EcO7 consumer unit with the storage heaters ,that also use the benefit of off peak ?
I can't read the labels ,on the right hand consumer unit ,that identify what each circuit breaker relates to. Can you please tell us.

bluenun20 · 27 Aug 2020

This is a 1988 bungalow if that helps.
I had a look at both consumer units.

Small one =
Lounge heater
Hall heater
Kitchen heater
Main switch.

Large one,
Garage
Sockets
Bathroom/Utility heater.
RCD
Cooker
Immersion heater
Bedroom heater
Lights
Main switch

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No hot water

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