2.7-3kw Immersion Heater via Plug In Timer

[JohnL79]

Background first.

After having solar panels fit recently i want to to be able to time my immersion heater to heat the water during daylight hours, there is a secondry coil in the tank in which the combi can heat the water which i will time to come on later in the night.

Immersion heater is on its own 16A RCBO protected circuit connected via an FCU, what i want to do is change the FCU for a single socket (labled) and feed the immersion via a plug in timer.
The timer i was looking at today says its ok upto 3120w but not to be used for immersion heaters.
Since the immersion heater is max 3kw i would have thought this to be ok.

Any thoughts?

Cheers, John

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Buy a timer which is suitable for an IH. You can get timed FCUs.

Mind you - the chances of ever getting your money back on it given how much actual energy you'll get out of your PV panels on average are not good.

 

[JohnL79]

Ah right, timed fcu sounds like a plan, cheers.

I understand on a lot of days it will consume more than the panels are actually producing but hoping using a combination of gas (night) and electric (day)it may prove to be a feasable option.

The past couple of days the panels were running at 80% giving out an instantaneous 3kw so on a good day free hot water and since the storage tank is a newish Dimplex unit it holds the temperature in well so wouldnt need to be on for hours to get back upto temp.