Hot Water cylinder not heating enough hot water

[clegsr]

Hi everyone,
I saw that this question ( or a similar one) has been asked before but not sure if I have the same problem.

I have a one bedroom flat which has just a twin electric immersion heater hot water cylinder and the tenant is complaining that there is not enough hot water to fill the bath.

I am in the process of planning to renovate the bathroom which is how I discovered the problem.

The water is plenty hot enough, and there is plenty of hot water fo rthe shower ( and the water pressure from the shower pump is really good)


I think from the pictures and searching on the forum that the lower heating element or thermostat is at fault but not sure how to check

(the cylinder is 120 litres and says BS ref 7 or something on it which should be big enough??

Neither I or the tenant have ever adjusted any timers or switches - so I am not sure if any exist??

The previous owner has since told me that she never had any problems with hot water. - any ideas as to what I should check?

 

[waterworks]

Top immersion heats the top half of cylinder only, bottom one heats all of cylinder, you need bottom one working to get enough water for a bath so it is probably the bottom immersion which has gone wrong, you will need to check electrics to this.

 

[holty]

you havent said if your on economy 7 or something.but by sounds of it the bottom stat or element has gone.

 

[clegsr]

thanks, how do I know if I have economy 7 ?

 

[gas4you]

Have you got storage heaters?

Is there a large time clock at your meter? Are there 2 fuse boxes, one labled E7 or storage heaters?

 

[clegsr]

Ok, I will try and find out if I have economy 7 - but can I still have two immersion heater elements without economy 7?

The flat has electric wall heaters but they are quite slim and I dont think they are the storage kind?

Here is one:

 

[RigidRaider]

Looks like a storage heater to me.

I hate to say this but..... how can you be a landlord and not have a clue as to what supply and billing arrangements exist at your property?

 

[clegsr]

Thanks, I am unsure of the supplies because the all the utilities and billing are in the tenant's name and he was in the flat when I bought it and has paid them ever since, so I have never seen any of the bills.

I asked him the other day if there was any heating controls or a timer and he looked blank.

It sounds like I need to get someone in to check/replace the lower thermostat and/or heater element.

 

[Agile]

It also sounds to me as if you should get an electrical safety certificate and ask the electrician to tell you how it works.

If an element needs changing its usual to call a heating engineer as we do them rather than an electrician however some heating people dont understand the electrical connections so cannot wire them up. When I hear that I think of "jobs for the boys".

We used to charge £106 inclusive for replacing immersion elements but after a run of difficult ones we now charge £152 as thats more representative of prices in London but I still sometimes hear of them being changed for £75.

Tony

 

[D_Hailsham]

What are the pipes and motorized valve in the first picture for? Are they anything to do with your tenant's flat?

 

[gas4you]

Thats a shower booster pump isn't it?

 

[matt1e]

that looks like a panel heater not a storage heater to me
op the bottom immersion heater as already mentioned is the one needed to heat enough water for a bath you can have two without ecom7 if you have economy7 I would expect there to be a boost switch somewhere
if you take the cover off the immersion heater there should be a reset button on the thermostat you could try that but you need a multimeter really to check
matt

 

[clegsr]

if you have economy7 I would expect there to be a boost switch somewhere

Thanks for that, I guess that means the boost switch would be for the top heater only? or does the boost switch override the Economy 7 tariff for the bottom heater?

 

[clegsr]

Ok,

I went around last night and the flat DOES have Economy 7 - the Electricity meters are all in a group in the hall.

The two Immersion heaters have a switch each - one marked (low) and the other boost or something.

I went round about 8pm in the evening and there was no power going to the LOW switch so I had a look at the fusebox and the fuses were all ok and they had one of these:

which sat above two separate fuseboxes. and when I twisted the red switch from ON to OFF it switched the power on or off to the LOW heater circuit.


SO,

at that point last night I thought that it was simply that the Vennerette switch had been turned off and that was why the main heater wasn't working...

However after sleeping on it this morning I realised that the Vennerette timer was only doing its job and had turned the circuit off as we weren't after midnight!

So I guess after all that I still need to get someone to replace the lower heater element or check the thermostat on it as it has probably broken?

Do I need a heating engineer or an electrician?