Do I need to switch for immersion off

[mrbg07546]

hi.

I have a immersion heater for unvented cylinder

Do I neee To turn it off when my boiler is working and only turn on the switch when it’s not?

 

[stem]

They are two completely separate and different things.

Here's a scnerio. In your lounge you have a radiator connected to the boiler, and it heats up the room up. You also have an electric fire, which will also heats the room up, but is not connected in anyway to the central heating system.

In the same way the boiler will heat the hot water in the hot water cylinder, and the electric immersion heater will do the same thing, but the immersion is not connected to the boiler, it is a totally separate electric heater.

I would switch the immersion permanently off and heat the water with the boiler. Heating water with electricity costs about 3 times that of doing it with gas, assuming you use a peak day time tariff.

Immersion heaters are there traditionally to heat the hot water if the boiler fails. Most folks never use them.

 

[oldbuffer]

Assuming your boiler is connected to your unvented cylinder, then:

1. Heating with electricity (immersion) is about 3 times as expensive as heating with gas.
2. You don't need to turn it off when the boiler is working. There is a thermostat in the immersion which will turn it off when the water reaches a preset temperature.
3. However, it would make sense to turn it off permanently, and only use it in the event that the boiler is off.
4. Your system should be programmed to turn the hot water on maybe twice a day for, say, an hour. When in an "on" period, the hot water produced by your boiler will be sent round a coil inside the unvented cylinder and will transfer its heat into the hot water you use.
5. Depending on your boiler and controls it may be better to heat the water when the central heating is off. Never hurts to do it this way and some systems require it.