Replacing immersion heater.

John Kelly of

I unscrewed and removed the old heater from the cylinder no problem. When I tried to screw in the new one it gets stuck after about 2 turns. I pushed a bit with wrench but I don't want to use the wrench to force it for fear of damage to threads.

I tried using lube with no luck.

As far as I can see the threads look fine.

In the end I put the old one back and it went in fine as I could screw all the way using only my hand.

The heaters look identical but is it possible that there are different distances or angles between the threads for different brands ?

John.G

Is the new element the same length as the old one?

John Kelly of

Yeah looks exactly same

John.G

Strange one, maybe bring it, or both, to a plumbers providers and they may have a tapped flange to try the new one in. You could also try a light rub of a file to clean up the threads. The standard is, AFAIK, 2&1/4 ins BSP.

Have you any details from the box it came in?.

The Continental Op

I'd try the new immersion in another tank - easy for me as I've a couple of old ones out the back - but you might go back to the supplier and ask them to try it in a new tank as a test? Putting it in by hand isn't going to damage a new tank.

The only cheap test I can think of is to buy a 2 1/4 inch immersion heater blanking plug and see if that fits. If it does then the problem is more likely the thread on the element.

On a bank holiday you might find one in B&Q or Woodies?

John Kelly of

OK thanks guys. Fortunately I switched the thermostats and it solved the problem so it was actually the faulty thermostat on the first place

The Continental Op

That seems quite common. Only this morning fixed the thermostat on my mothers immersion. 6 months ago I replaced the thermostat but this time the thermostat needed "resetting" never seen a thermostat with reset marked on the knob for the temperature. Turned knob down to the reset position it clicked then tuned it back up to 55 and the immersion started heated again.