Water temperature tepid

patg

Hi - will be grateful for advice

The temperature of our hot water supply has dropped to tepid at best. The immersion light comes on and the clock timer is working.

I don't know what brand the boiler is - I searched this evening but couldn't find any identifier on it - it was here when we moved into the house 2 years ago.

As the water is heated (albeit barely) I thought the problem may be linked to temperature guage / thermostat however I don't know where the thermostat is and have been searching for this also tonight - is it actually in the copper boiler or in the tank in the attic or elsewhere?

There is a sticker on the boiler saying the heater is "fitted with a manually resettable safety cut out. To reset depress small button on thermostat." Could this be the answer? and if so how do I locate this.

Its all very unusual because all was working fine until I moved the timer forward when the clocks were wound on. Could this have triggered the problem or just an unlikely coincidence?

I would be most grateful for advice.

ART6

patg wrote: »

Hi - will be grateful for advice

The temperature of our hot water supply has dropped to tepid at best. The immersion light comes on and the clock timer is working.

I don't know what brand the boiler is - I searched this evening but couldn't find any identifier on it - it was here when we moved into the house 2 years ago.

As the water is heated (albeit barely) I thought the problem may be linked to temperature guage / thermostat however I don't know where the thermostat is and have been searching for this also tonight - is it actually in the copper boiler or in the tank in the attic or elsewhere?

There is a sticker on the boiler saying the heater is "fitted with a manually resettable safety cut out. To reset depress small button on thermostat." Could this be the answer? and if so how do I locate this.

Its all very unusual because all was working fine until I moved the timer forward when the clocks were wound on. Could this have triggered the problem or just an unlikely coincidence?

I would be most grateful for advice.

Are you saying that you get no hot water if either the boiler or the immersion heater are on, or are you saying it's the immerser that isn't heating the water? The boiler is in a different circuit to the immerser and so they are not connected in any way.

If it's just the immerser, there's probably a reset button on its top cover. Alternatively it may simply have failed. I can't see what advancing the timer would do to cause your problem unless you have inadvertantly reset it to turn on and off within a few minutes. In any case, I would have expected that the timer would be for the boiler rather than the immerser.

patg

I hadn't relaised that the immersion was separate to the boiler - I presumed they were all connected.

I am keen to find the "manually resettable safety cut out" as is stated on a sticker on the boiler as I hope this may be the solution. This supposedly is to be found on the thermostat. As below - any idea where I should be looking to try and locate a thermostat?

Thanks

ART6

patg wrote: »

I hadn't relaised that the immersion was separate to the boiler - I presumed they were all connected.

I am keen to find the "manually resettable safety cut out" as is stated on a sticker on the boiler as I hope this may be the solution. This supposedly is to be found on the thermostat. As below - any idea where I should be looking to try and locate a thermostat?

Thanks

The safety cut out on the boiler is an entirely different thing to the safety cut out on the immersion heater. On the boiler, if it's oil fired, there will be a red button on the burner unit that has to be pressed in to reset it. If it's gas there would normally be a reset button somewhere in the casing, possibly under a flap that gives access to the burner controls.

Immersion heaters sit in the top (usually) of your hot water cylinder. There is a plastic cover on top that is held on by a single screw. If you take off the cover you will see the thermostat inside it with an adjusting wheel that allows you to set the water temperature. If it has a safety cut out (it should have unless it's old) then that might be a red button sticking out through the cover or it could be inside the cover.

Serious warning though -- if you want to take off the immerser cover MAKE SURE that you turn off the power to the immerser first. Unplug it if you can, or get yourself a testing screwdriver from a DIY shop -- the ones that have a neon light in the handle that lights up if you touch the blade on a live electrical connection with your thumb on the metal ring on top of the handle. Use that on the exposed terminals to make sure the power is definately off. There is more than enough power in an immersion heater cable connections to kill you.

Sorry if I'm preaching, but your post suggests you might not be familiar with electrics.

Martron

its not preaching. better safe than sorry.

patg

Hiya Art6 and Matron - no offence taken at all. Thanks for the advice including the words of warning.

It would seem I have only confused the issue by talking about boiler. The issue is to do with my hot water cylinder (copper tank)

I actually had the power cut at the fuse box yesterday (switch marked immersion) and removed the cap (single screw as you describe) but could not find any reset or even anything that would appear to be a temperature guage. Sounds like I got quite close but no cigar.

I have called in the cavalry and am expecting a plumber tomorrow - thanks again for the advices.