Economy 7 not working

[borax]

All of a sudden my economy 7 is not coming on overnight for the immersion on my water tank. I have a storage heater in the lounge which is coming on for econ. 7. so the econ 7 is timed OK (i live in a shared flat and the timing of it is controlled externally) I assumed the lower immersion heater was gone and it has just been replaced with a new item, however it still does not work, i have no cheap electricity to the boiler overnight. The issolation board is not tripped for the heating so this is OK. Anyone have any ideas,

thanks

MOD

moved as this is not really a plumbing problem

 

[mapj1]

Can you temporarily supply the E7 water circuit from the non-switched side of your mains supply to confirm (during the day) that the element and circuit fuse etc are all in order, and if not how far power is getting? (with the E7 consumer units isolator, and all other E7 loads firmly in the off condition of course.)

Is there a spare fuse in a switch fuse in the airing cupbord, in addition to the breaker by the E7 meter?

 

[borax]

OK, last night i put a meter on the new immersion and it is def. getting E& electricity. I cranked the thermostat up to 90 degrees and i now i have got hot water. My thermostat has always been set at around 60 and the water has always been really hot, why have i all of a sudden had to turn up the thermostat by so much ???. Looks like i got a new immersion heater for no reason!!!

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Looks like i got a new immersion heater for no reason!!!

No - looks like you got a new element because either the thermostat on the old one is on the blink, or the old element is so furred up that it thinks it's hot when the water isn't.

Now that you've got it, I suggest you install it - it is better to be doing this at your leisure in summer than as an urgent repair in winter....
Apologies - ignore the above - I didn't read the first post again..

 

[felix]

If I read the original post correctly the new heater has already been fitted but, for some unknown reason, it has to be turned up to near boiling point to get hot water. It's a pretty fair bet that the old one would have done exactly the same.

This is beginning to look like a plumbing problem after all. The first thing to do is establish whether or not that element is heating the water in the tank when the stat is set to 60 deg C. One way is to use your ear. In a quiet room you should be able to hear the water sizzling against the hot element. Another way is to measure both voltage and current. If power is going in then it must be heating the water (first law of thermodynamics). If this proves to be the case then the real question becomes "Why won't water at 60 deg C come out of the taps?"

There are many possible causes depending upon your pipework. Do you have one of those mixer things that regulates hot water temperature by mixing in cold AFTER it leaves the tank. I've never seen one in a domestic set-up but we have them all over the hospital. Failing that you might have some unexpected cross coupling from the hot supply to the tank's cold feed. This might be lurking in a defective mixer tap.

 

[Agile]

I wonder if this matter is best placed here as my experience is that electricians dont like changing elements because its a wet experience they think best befits plumbers.

The way I understand whats been written is that it all works fine except that the calibration of the stat is wrong and needs to be set to 90*C before it comes on at all.

The first question I would ask is whether the stat was changed together with the element? Its normal good practice to change it and ensures the latest type is used with a hand reset trip.

The second question is if the person who changed the element tested it first? There is a cowboy element who change whatever they are asked to without considering if its faulty. Probably a plumber the electricians would say!

I once saw a plumber wondering if an immersion element was working and all the test equipment he had was a neon screwdriver!

Tony Glazier

 

[kai]

Did the 13amp fuse in the fuse-connection unit inside the immersion cupboard (often marked "Night" or "Economy-Seven") blow at any time?