How To Use The Immersion Heater

Roosterreid

I moved in with O/H just over a year ago... she owns a reasonably new (10 years old) house with gas fired central heating.

Much to my surprise, I recently discovered that she keeps the immersion heater on permanently so that she always has hot water for showering / washing machines etc etc. This seems an hugely expensive way to heat water. Also, I believe that this could be a fire risk.

How do we best get hot water for showering etc without using the immersion constantly. Can I get a timer fitted to the immersion so that it comes on every morning? Should we fit an electric shower?

We have a gas central heating, which I don't think heats the water.... also a gas fire in the living room.

Any suggestions on how best to manage this situation?

Dardania

Christ, sounds expensive...

Most electric immersion elements have either built in, or coupled to them, over temperature thermostats, to switch the off when the water temp is high enough. So safety shouldn't be an issue...

You can of course get a timer fitted, and if you go down that road, get one with a boost button for out of the norm operation also

THe best way to keep hot water is to do it with the gas boiler - you can look at the cylinder to see if there's pipework additional to the cold water in / hot water out - usually the heating coils are on side, one above the other (~400mm apart ish)

THere are grants available to sort out such setups:
http://www.seai.ie/Grants/Better_energy_homes/homeowner/Step_1_Decide_on_work_to_be_done/

The Diddakoi

Roosterreid wrote: »

I moved in with O/H just over a year ago... she owns a reasonably new (10 years old) house with gas fired central heating.

Much to my surprise, I recently discovered that she keeps the immersion heater on permanently so that she always has hot water for showering / washing machines etc etc.

Is she English by any chance ??

In England they NEVER turn the immersion off, ever.

When I moved here I couldn't believe how mad everyone is about the immersion....and how much Irish people panic if you go out and leave it turned on

megafan

Roosterreid..... It would depend how many times a day you would need hot water.... But if the tank is well lagged it might be more efficient to keep it on all the time.... it takes a lot of energy to heat a tank from scratch & if you only have a shower & then switch it off again you may have used a small fraction of the water heated ant then your letting the balance cool again.... you'll have to look & see how much hot water you would actually use during a day??? maybe an instant power shower is what you need... but another expense to fit one??

Roosterreid

alf66 wrote: »

Is she English by any chance ??

In England they NEVER turn the immersion off, ever.

When I moved here I couldn't believe how mad everyone is about the immersion....and how much Irish people panic if you go out and leave it turned on

She's Dublin born and bred. We'd certainly have been given a slapping for leaving the immersion on as kids.

Roosterreid

megafan wrote: »

Roosterreid..... It would depend how many times a day you would need hot water.... But if the tank is well lagged it might be more efficient to keep it on all the time.... it takes a lot of energy to heat a tank from scratch & if you only have a shower & then switch it off again you may have used a small fraction of the water heated ant then your letting the balance cool again.... you'll have to look & see how much hot water you would actually use during a day??? maybe an instant power shower is what you need... but another expense to fit one??

The tank is well lagged..... but I know our hot water use would be low. We both shower every morning, but outside of that it would be for other minor cleaning chores around the house. I would go with the cost of fitting an electric power shower if I thought we'd gain it in return in the long run.

Dardania

Roosterreid wrote: »

The tank is well lagged..... but I know our hot water use would be low. We both shower every morning, but outside of that it would be for other minor cleaning chores around the house. I would go with the cost of fitting an electric power shower if I thought we'd gain it in return in the long run.

Be aware then that you wouldn't be able to use the hot water in winter from gas heating...

cerastes

Dardania wrote: »

Christ, sounds expensive...

Most electric immersion elements have either built in, or coupled to them, over temperature thermostats, to switch the off when the water temp is high enough. So safety shouldn't be an issue...

You can of course get a timer fitted, and if you go down that road, get one with a boost button for out of the norm operation also

THe best way to keep hot water is to do it with the gas boiler - you can look at the cylinder to see if there's pipework additional to the cold water in / hot water out - usually the heating coils are on side, one above the other (~400mm apart ish)

THere are grants available to sort out such setups:
http://www.seai.ie/Grants/Better_energy_homes/homeowner/Step_1_Decide_on_work_to_be_done/

Didn't realise there were immersion timers with boost buttons? is this something digital or mechanical?

Dardania wrote: »

Be aware then that you wouldn't be able to use the hot water in winter from gas heating...

Why not? wouldnt it depend on the setup? if the gas boiler is feeding a coil in the tank?

Robbie.G

cerastes wrote: »

Didn't realise there were immersion timers with boost buttons? is this something digital or mechanical?

The horstman e15 & e30
Are what your looking for

K.Flyer

cerastes wrote: »

Didn't realise there were immersion timers with boost buttons? is this something digital or mechanical?[...]

Its a mecanical boost, which can be easy adjusted from 15 mins to 2hr.

Grasslin EcoSave

Dardania

cerastes wrote: »

Didn't realise there were immersion timers with boost buttons? is this something digital or mechanical?



Why not? wouldnt it depend on the setup? if the gas boiler is feeding a coil in the tank?

If OP went with an electric heated shower (eg a Triton or Mira) it wouldn't be able to use water heated in the cylinder

Robbie.G wrote: »

cerastes wrote: »

Didn't realise there were immersion timers with boost buttons? is this something digital or mechanical?

The horstman e15 & e30
Are what your looking for

K.Flyer wrote: »

Its a mecanical boost, which can be easy adjusted from 15 mins to 2hr.

Grasslin EcoSave

These are good ones - they and some others are on: http://www.heatingcontrolsonline.co.uk/immersion-heater-controls-c-27.html/immersion-heater-timers.html

K.Flyer

Anytime I am asked to fit a new immersion time clock I will use the Grasslin. Its a lot more user friendly than the H.E7, as you can set the main timer to your own choosing as compared to the H.E7 which is pre-set and difficult to adjust.

cerastes

Robbie.G wrote: »

cerastes wrote: »

Didn't realise there were immersion timers with boost buttons? is this something digital or mechanical?

The horstman e15 & e30
Are what your looking for

I dont actually have an immersion , just interested to know, while I didn't think there was any electronic and quitre few it seems mechanical immersion switches, I looked these up and they appear to have a rating of only 13amps, I didnt think that was sufficient for an immersion?