HELP - Immersion not coming on to heat water.

ProudDUB

Apologies for the length of this post. Hopefully all the details will help get to the root of the problem.

I moved into my apt last autumn. It is a third floor apt in 20 year old apt bldg. I have had a lot of problems with the immersion not coming on over night to heat the water. It is set to come on around 4am to get night saver rates. We have had a plumber come out six times since October, but the problem comes back after a while.

Visit #1 October: No hot water upon move in. Called a plumber. He diagnosed that the re set button on immersion had been tripped. So as the system had shut itself down, no water was heating overnight. Plumber pressed reset button. Everything ok for a couple of months.

Visit #2 December: Reset button would trip about once a week. When it did, the immersion would not come on overnight to heat water. So we had no hot water in the mornings. If you put the small immersion booster on, it would heat water for a shower after about 30 mins. Had to check the switch at night before I went to bed, and re set it if need be. This is hidden behind wires behind a plastic casing, so it is kinda a big deal. Got electrocuted doing this once, so said eff that & had the plumber back out.

He drained the tank & replaced the two immersions in both tanks. They had new switches too. He said sometimes they can be oversensitive and if there is a power surge, they can shut the whole system down, as they think there may be a short in the system. I have had no power outages since I have lived here, but sometimes there is a weird buzzing noise from the fuse box in the hall, if that makes a difference.

Visit # 3 January: Reset button still tripping on a regular basis and we'd wake up to no hot water in the morning. Smaller immersion would come on if we'd turn it on, but as this has to be turned on manually, it wasn't much use to someone needing to take a shower first thing in the morning.

Plumber replaced thermostat as a small rubber probe (that takes water temp readings) was blown. It is supposed to be brown. It was blackened. Anyway, this causing the reset switch to trip again as it was getting incorrect readings or no readings at all from the probe about the temp of the water in the tank. All ok for a couple of months.

Visit #4 March: Water heating ok over night, but the hot water is coming out of the taps so scalding hot, it is a health hazard. Water coming out of the cold taps is warm too. Plumber comes over again. Says thermostats need to be turned down as the water is constantly "boiling" and the hot water supply is spilling into the cold supply. Every thing ok until this weekend.

Visit #5 May: No hot water last Thur & Fri morning. Reset button this time had not been tripped. Every thing ok there. I put the small immersion booster on to heat water for a shower, but for the first time, it did NOT heat the water. The dial will turn and the light will come on saying the booster is on, but it did not heat any water. So I had no hot water AT ALL for 2 days. Plumber comes out on Sat. As luck would have it, the water did heat over night on Sat morning (God knows why) so I had hot water when he was here.

He says he tested every thing....immersion switches, thermostats, timer clocks, everything and can not see what could have caused it not to come on over night 2 night in a row, but as I actually had hot water, there wasn't much he could do. So off he goes. Then this morning (Sunday) I had no hot water, and yet again, the smaller immersion booster is not coming on. So I had to have another cold shower, and have another one to look forward to in the morning. Yay !

I am at my wits end what to do. The plumber is on the payroll of a letting agency that has about 15 apts in my complex. He is here quite often, and knows the apt buildings and their plumbing set up well. He says he is baffled as to why my apt pluming is so effing retarded. My landlord lives overseas. He left it up to me to find this guy, and and he reimburses me the cost. Now he says it is time to find someone new, as is he sick of paying for the same guy to keep coming out but not fixing the problem. I hate the idea of having to flip thru the phone book, and have someone not familiar with the apt come out and we have to start all over again.


I got to know the plumber when I lived in another apt in the complex, and had the same issue with the water over heating to a dangerously scalding degree. The letting agent sent him out. He replaced the immersion switches/thermostats and every thing was grand. That is why I called him again when I had issues in this apt. Isn't the same problem happening in 2 different apts in the same apt complex within 6 months of each other just a bit odd?


If anyone has any ideas or suggestions as to what the problem could be, I'd be very grateful.

kerryplumbing

I would suggest that the problem is more to do with the electrics than the plumbing - perhaps it is time for an electrician to have as look at it as something is causing it to trip