water heater, element not wired and installing a timer

[macdog1982]

hi all,
right first quest ion is i have electric heaters in all rooms and for water for the pots and a bath a water tank with two heating elements. Now only the bottom one has a wire running from there to a switch on the wall with a red light. The higher element has no wireing from it and to remove the silver cover, nothing seems wired up.
it is a relatively small 2 bed place and is this the normal practice, (built around 2006) that the higher element is not really required, or has this been forgotton? there is a switch on the outside of the cupboard that appears to do nothing?
the installers no longer seem to be available...
secondly i want to fit a timer so have bought a standard st6100c honeywell timer, can this basicly be installed where the switch is or failing that at the blanking plate a little lower in the wall below the switch, between switch and heater? and if so can someone explain the wiring diagram as its live and neutral fed and earther, then the wiring running from the boiler to what will be the timer, goes into which ports and which order?
any help would be appreciated

 

[EFLImpudence]

The timer you have chosen is not suitable.

You need one that is specifically stated as being for an immersion heater - preferably 16A.

it should be fitted on the cable between the switch and the heater element.

There will be a wiring diagram with the timer.


As for the second heater, unless you have economy 7 or similar there is not much point connecting it other than as a back-up should the bottom one fail.

Obviously, I cannot tell from here but I would think the blanking plate may cover the cable for this heater.

 

[Aragorn84]

Typically the bottom heater would be connected to a special "night" meter, which would heat the tank at night using cheap rate electricity, usually called Economy 7 or 10. The upper element would be used with normal full rate electricity for a boost if you run out of water during the day.

By the sounds of things your property doesnt have Economy 7/10, and they've just wired the bottom element up to the standard supply. Theres nothing wrong with that, but i'd imagine it makes things expensive to run!

Are the electric heaters in the rooms storage heaters? or convectors?

Electric heating is bad enough on Economy7 with storage heaters, i can only cringe at the thaught of your electricity bills if its all on standard rate power.

Maybe a pic of the meter cupboard and consumer unit would help to see if you have Economy7 or not?