immersion heaters

mirabella

Right you clever lot,is it cheaper to leave your immersion heater on 24hrs or just put on an hour before you need hot water :?: Mirabella

mellman01

Hmm?, make sure you have a good isnulated tank and put it on a timer in tune with your life cycle so you'll have hot water when you need it but don't over use the thing or stress it to much by going from really cold to hot, doing that will cause themal stress and it will crack the metal in time and the thing will blow sooner.

frogmorton

Hi Mirabella

Ours comes on am and pm as Mell says for all our washes and showers

Love

toni xx

livinglegend

Firstly, most heat is lost through the tank insulation, 3 cylinder jackets should be fitted, one on top of the other and closed properly at the top where most heat is lost, taping up any gaps on the top one. Check that the pipes are properly insulated as well for heat is lost during the water flow. Make sure that the water is heated to the right temperature, sometimes it can be adjusted to suit. It is no use overheating the water if you then have to keep putting a lot of cold water in with it. (If fitted there is an adjuster which can be altered with a small screwdriver on the end of the immersion heater cap.)

If you are on E7 tariff then heat a full tank during the night and shut it off for the higher rate during the day. With a washing machine, run it overnight on a timer as well. If properly insulated the hot water should then last all day unless you have the odd heavy usage, if needed give the tank a boost by switching it on manually for half an hour.

Make a note of what times you need hot water and how much. A cylinder holds 40 gallon and if you use less during the day then you can leave it off although some heat is always lost through the jackets.

People find that they use most hot water during mornings for baths/showers, etc. and early evening for washing up. Unless you need a constant supply of hot water during the day, put it on a timer and follow the information given above.

Joseph 8)

NinaKKang

Blimey Jospeph, you are SO knowledgeable! Is there anything you don't know about???

What would we do on this forum without ya?

Nxx

mellman01

Well Toni were like you I only have one thermal jacket on it though no more room certainly not for 3, also the out pip isn't insulated I would imagine 99% of peoples wont be but Joseph is right any unprotected pipe is a point of thermal loss,it's why you hear pipes clicking and clunking under the floor boards when the waters being used or heated, always wondered why they never cover themdown to money as normal!.
Ours is heated by gas first back boiler second and electric last if the other two have failed.
Oh one last thing of insulation, if you have a header tank the outside of the tank should be insulted on the sides and top but not underside, and if you have good loft insulation make sure the roof under the tank is less well insulated, last einter a lot of tanks froze and leaked due to to much underside insulation, a little warmth getting into the loft directly under the tank is a better than none.

Airwave!

I would have thought that in these eco times, a small water heater in your kitchen or bathroom should be a lot more efficient than the older style hot water tank and more convenient? You wouldn't want to heat a large tank every day.