Immersion

harr

Hi
The heating Element went in the water cylinder ..not sure if it's something I could manage swapping over myself....I rang our plumber who told me I needed electrician as well as he cant do the wiring , so rang the electrician who said I would need plumber ...so do I need electrician and plumber to replace the water heater ?

sky6

I think the problem is the job is not big enough for them. You could do it yourself if your any way handy. How old is the Cylinder.Generally the longer the Immersion is there the harder if can be to get out and you can damage the Cylinder.

Robbie.G

harr wrote: »

Hi
The heating Element went in the water cylinder ..not sure if it's something I could manage swapping over myself....I rang our plumber who told me I needed electrician as well as he cant do the wiring , so rang the electrician who said I would need plumber ...so do I need electrician and plumber to replace the water heater ?

There are some plumbers & electricians that will do the job themselves
Personally I do
All you can do is ring more till you get what your looking for

harr

sky6 wrote: »

I think the problem is the job is not big enough for them. You could do it yourself if your any way handy. How old is the Cylinder.Generally the longer the Immersion is there the harder if can be to get out and you can damage the Cylinder.

Maybe your right, no problem getting lads to do small jobs during the down turn but it seems to be gone full circle again.
Any way back to problem at hand the tank is about 12 years old but the immersion was replaced about 6 years ago because of a lime scale problem...I don't want to **** up the cylinder...I won't go near it if there is a chance I could make a balls of it..

Robbie.G

harr wrote: »

Maybe your right, no problem getting lads to do small jobs during the down turn but it seems to be gone full circle again.
Any way back to problem at hand the tank is about 12 years old but the immersion was replaced about 6 years ago because of a lime scale problem...I don't want to **** up the cylinder...I won't go near it if there is a chance I could make a balls of it..

First you need the correct spanner to take out the immersion and you need to be very careful putting the new one in that you don't go on a wrong thread and wreck the cylinder

Calahonda52

The cylinder can also be wrecked if the old one is stuck tight and you apply too much torque, the joint holding the whole unit in the cylinder will shear and thats that.

harr

Thinking about it now I might be better off leaving it to a pro...if I can get one to do it....so who do I need a plumber or a electrician ? Any of the plumbers I rang have said they are not allowed install anything electrical anymore🤔 Probably just giving me an excuse why they can't do it....
Another quick question how long should a cylinder last ...we are in an area with very bad lime scale...

K.Flyer

harr wrote: »

Thinking about it now I might be better off leaving it to a pro...if I can get one to do it....so who do I need a plumber or a electrician ? Any of the plumbers I rang have said they are not allowed install anything electrical anymore🀔 Probably just giving me an excuse why they can't do it....
Another quick question how long should a cylinder last ...we are in an area with very bad lime scale...

Immersions are one of the cross over points, there is nothing wrong with a plumber or an electrician doing the complete job. Same as Robbie G, myself and most other Plumbers I know would do the job including the reconnection.
To use an old cliche, they don't make them like they used to.
I'm changing out cylinders and elements that are quite often less than ten years old, when ten / fifteen years ago I would be taking out cylinders and immersions that would be 30 plus years old. Nothing made to last nowadays.

Sleeper12

It's really not a diy job at all. It is very easy to end up with pin holes in the cylinder even when the professional do it. If this happens you will have to replace the whole cylinder. It's a job I always hated. I never fancied telling the homeowner that the job I quoted 130 Euro for was now going to cost over 400 because of leaks. Didn't happen often but I hated it. There's quite a few plumbers and electricians won't quote at all for it.

_Brian

Personally I'd note down the wiring on the immersion, disconnect everything, get the plumber out to replace the immersion, then reconnect the immersion as per the details you took first, few snaps on your phone is always good.

If the tank has been there a while and if there is any lime in the water there is alot that can go wrong changing the immersion in the tank and if the tank is scrap during taking out the immersion then you'll be calling in the plumber to change the tank anyway.

Sleeper12

_Brian wrote: »

Personally I'd note down the wiring on the immersion, disconnect everything, get the plumber out to replace the immersion, then reconnect the immersion as per the details you took first, few snaps on your phone is always good.

If the tank has been there a while and if there is any lime in the water there is alot that can go wrong changing the immersion in the tank and if the tank is scrap during taking out the immersion then you'll be calling in the plumber to change the tank anyway.

Be aware that sometimes the black & brown are different on different immersions. In most cases the black goes to the sink but some manufactures use the Black for bath

harr

Thanks for all the advice , I have a plumber coming out today and he has advised me that changing the immersion on an older tank might be hit and miss and he did talk about a few issues that might come up.. Most of which has been discussed in this thread..hopefully it goes to plan and I don't need a replacement cylinder...but I have a feeling the cylinder is on its way out...

Sleeper12

If you do have to replace the cylinder make sure you get an insulated one. At least you'll end up with something better at the end of it all

harr

Went in today ,all went good but I will need new cylinder in the very near future...at the moment when I heat water for a bath I only get barely a half full tub...would a new cylinder sort out that problem? Or is that a different issue

Sleeper12

What happens when you have it on sink?

The cylinder doesn't heat the water, the element heats the water. If you have a new element and it is wired correctly you should be able to get a full tank of hot water

SCOOP 64

harr wrote: »

Went in today ,all went good but I will need new cylinder in the very near future...at the moment when I heat water for a bath I only get barely a half full tub...would a new cylinder sort out that problem? Or is that a different issue

If you dont mind me asking how much was the cost , my one needs replacing , trips electric when turned on.

harr

The new element is heating the water fine on sink, it heats the water for a bath but I would be lucky to get it half full before it runs out of hot water...so the element heats the water ok both on sink and bath but I am not getting enough hot water. Now it was like this before old element went bust..
It cost me 120 quid to get done ...

Sleeper12

harr wrote:

The new element is heating the water fine on sink, it heats the water for a bath but I would be lucky to get it half full before it runs out of hot water...so the element heats the water ok both on sink and bath but I am not getting enough hot water. Now it was like this before old element went bust.. It cost me 120 quid to get done ...

120 Euro is a reasonable price. Some electricians on another thread think a couple of hundred Euro is the going rate. Having said that quality is more important than price.

either the thermostat is set too low and the water isn't getting hot enough to fill the bath or the cylinder isn't big enough for your size bath.