immersion - dead thermostat?

loyatemu

our immersion heater died a while back - I called in the builders (who are still onsite in another part of the estate) and a guy came in, took the cap off the immersion and hit the "reset" button, which had popped out. He muttered something about it sometimes tripping if we use the immersion when the water has already been heated by the central heating.

Since then, any time I use the immersion I have to push in the Reset button afterwards or it doesn't work the next time. This to me suggests that the thermostat on the immersion is dead.

So, does anyone know if this is easily fixed? Can the themostat be replaced or does the whole immersion unit need replacing?

JamesM

I heard recently that there has been a problem with some make of immersion. If the reset is poping out, there is a fault and it has to be replaced. It had to be done in my mother's recently - they tried resetting it first, but eventually replaced it.
Jim

garyh3

We moved into our new house about a year ago and I snagged the Immersion as it wsa not heating the water on either of the settings. They replaced the Immersion 3 times (brand new in the box) until the 4th one worked.

The guy told me that he has had to relace a lot of these in the estate something with a faulty batch.

It took them about 15 mins per installation to replace the faulty unit.

Garyh3

Jackz

Yea there is a make of stat dark blue in color which goes faulty alot. I'll get the name and post it up.

Auslander

The thermostat on all immersions can be replace very easily, the proceedure is as follows,

****do insure that the immersion switch is off, and if you are unsure, trip the main switch-fuse at the consumer unit****

After you are SURE the power is off, go to the immersion element and un-screw the small nut which holds the plastic cap in position.

If you look at the top of the element you should see a little adjustable temperature dial, this little unit is the thermostat.

If you hold the unit you will see that it will move about, and it is only sitting in a thermowell.

The next thing to do is get a small flat terminal screwdriver to undo the connections going into the thermostat, remember, righty tighty, lefty loosey.

After you have disconnected the 2 wires going into the stat the stat itself can easily be withdrawn from the thermowell.(don't worry it can't leak water)

The next trick is to take the thermostat with you to any electrical suppliers, i.e. TOReillys, DEWL, NEW, etc look up the golden pages, the reason you need to take the stat is because they all come in different lengths.

When you are ready to replace the stat, firstly insure that the electrical connection terminals are fully open (not too much or the terminal screws will fall out)

Slide the Stat back into position, and re-insert both of the wires, this can be a bit fiddley, so take your time. Then tighten down the terminal connection screws, ensuring a good electrical connection, i.e. none of the strands are hanging out.

Set the temperature on the top of the stat to the desired level (should be factory set to 65deg) Don' t set to any higher than this value.

Replace the cap back in position and put back on the little fixing bolt.

Turn back on the Main switch downstairs, if thats what you did for isolation of the circuit originally.

Remember if you are unsure, or not confident in any way don't attempt this proceedure get a qualified person to do it for you

So there you go, thats how you replace a thermostat!

Auslander