Emersion Heater Nightmare Et Al

[Dormouse]

In fear and trepidation I ask (as a long term tenant which leckies/plumbers seem to dislike) .......

So far this year we had the switch burn out a few months ago and element replaced yesterday. The 'boiler' bit is only a couple of years old. My partner, an intellectual type, not practical, has worked out that dead switch = switch burned out, trip switch going off = element; not bad for tenants hey?!

The plumber calls it a 2 man emersion. I appreciate the plumber always does the job, maybe they are cheaper than leckies ? We only run it for an hour at a time, two times a day (excluding Saturdays); except when I am on my own and occasionally fall asleep and it runs for six hours or so. I know this is bad; lad just out of college explained why to my partner yesterday - alarm set for me now.

Question - should the switch box heat up a lot? My partner tested it after 15 mins and it was 'hot' the first day; I tested it after 1/2 hour (later that day) and it was 'warm' but so was the water too Needs to run for an hour tonight - surely it should be able to cope with that???

As an aside to anyone still humouring me .....

When we had the house rewired, maybe 10 years ago, the leckies said the power/strength of electricity coming in was too powerful but not powerful enough for the leckie board to do anything about it. The element in our cooker blew every year for ten years; the service guy taught me how to replace it but it hasn't blown since. If we turn the TV and connected laptop off and press the socket switch off, the trip will go if we don't turn button off on back of TV and wait for laptop to power down. Kettles and irons last 18 months (at best) before they trip the system and have to be replaced.

I'm going mad with all this; if/when the emersion plug burns out in the next 6 months, should we demand the leckie board come and inspect or should I just never press the button to anything again?!

Please see this post with the humour intended and don't go all PC; an answer to the two questions would be very appreciated by a long experienced person in the UK electricity system.

Yours

The (as always, but not meaning to be) troublesome, female tentant!

And sorry if I painted the same picture last time I was here

 

[telectrix]

hmmmm. possible that you have a higher than usual voltage supply.if over 245V, then that could cause problems. the other issue might be hard water causing elements immersed in water to corrode away. this would affect the immersion heater and the ketle and washing machine. first call would be to get a local sparks to check the electrical side. it's only a call-out fee and this should be passed on to your landlord ( who, incidentally, should have a properelectrical (EICR) nspection every 5 years or on change of tenant). the overvoltage could be tackled with a voltage optimiser, and hard water by fitting a filter or by installing stainless steel clad elements. if you post your approx. location, one of us may be close.

 

[HandySparks]

Is the immersion heater supplied via a plug and socket?

Any immersion heater should be installed so that it can safely be left switched on for as long as you like. The built in thermostat should turn off the heater to limit the water temperature to a safe level.

The electrical cable, switch etc. will get quite warm while the heater is working, but shouldn't get so hot that it's uncomfortable to touch and shouldn't make a 'hot' smell. When the water is up to temperature, the heater will switch off and all the electrical bits will cool down.

 

[Wilko]

All covered by others

 

[Dormouse]

Thank you for replying. We have no decision making authority unless we do something on the QT and pay for it ourself. Hard water may be a prob as we are in SE. I personally replaced the inners of our downstairs toilet (it was overflowing) but don't tell anyone as the plumber will go ballistic if he ever finds out!

No prob with washing machine - on surge protection and independant cover which has never been used in the 3 years we've had it. The agents for the landlord won't give a flying monkey for anything electrical other than the emersion, sockets and the lights (ex bulbs).

So according to your post, we should insist someone come to inspect our voltage supply when the emmersion blows for whatever reason. I get that the water hardened thing may be a problem but having been here 20 years, I know the plumber/agent would laugh at me for suggesting it

I'm at RH 13 and sorry, not paying anyone to do what a landlord should do but a tenant won't do, in order to keep a roof over their head!

DM

NB: I think as we have been tenents for some 20 years, many new rules don't apply - the fact we can still smoke indoors is one of them

 

[telectrix]

you've always been allowed to smoke indoors in your own home, and home means either owned or rented. the only rule against it would be if it were forbidden in your tenancy agreement. and what is RH13? is it a blood group? :mangry:ah.my bad just googled it and it's a postcode in the badlands south of brum.

 

[ruston]

As Tel has alluded to hard water , to check look in your kettle , you will see a lime like substance sticking to the element.

 

[Dormouse]

@ Handysparks: Great, good to know, thank you! No plug, just switch with fuse box and red light for on (known to be dead when red light not on and black marks around fuse box indicating it burnt out).

DM

 

[telectrix]

a 20A D/P switch would be a better solution than a fuse connection unit. the cable is then protected by the MCB in the CU. probable cause of the over heating is that the FCU fitted is a cheap crappy one., and possibly poor terminationswith no ferrules on the flex, caused by a limp wristed Electrical Trainee.

 

[Dormouse]

@tel and rus: RH13 is down SE and me's don't have a kettle long enogh to gain scale - I use filtered water in it!

DM

 

[Dormouse]

a 20A D/P switch would be a better solution than a fuse connection unit. the cable is then protected by the MCB in the CU. probable cause of the over heating is that the FCU fitted is a cheap crappy one., and possibly poor terminationswith no ferrule on the flex, caused by a limp wristed Electrical Trainee.

Assume that is leckie talk? If I were a wealthy home owner I would probably kiss you; as a humble tenant maybe I have to ignore you? Will you fit the back boiler on my fire place when the money comes in too?

 

[telectrix]

@tel and rus: RH13 is down SE and me's don't have a kettle long enogh to gain scale - I use filtered water in it!

DM

yep, i googled that rh13. it's down horsepig way.

 

[Guitarist]

Tel and others have pretty much covered it regarding your voltage possibly being too high. Just out of interest, when the immersion element gets replaced, do you know if whoever replaces it is checking that it's not sitting in a mass of slushy scale in the bottom of the tank? Also, if you're in a hard water area it really needs to be an incoloy or titanium element rather than the traditional copper for maximum lifespan.
Regarding immersion timers...it's possible that you have simply been unlucky, as there are many on the market these days which from various reviews seem to be of pretty poor quality.
It's really hard for us to assess over the internet, and to really get to the bottom of it all you would need to have a qualified and experienced electrician check it all out I'm afraid.

 

[Dormouse]

Hi Guitarist. Sorry for missing this; I only seem to come back here when I have a problem. As it happened, usual leckie didn't come, some 'young college upstart' did. He didn't gossip, he wasn't nosey and he said something along the lines of 'we need to get rid of this cheap crap and put something decent in place' - off he went, back in 10, job done in 10. Fingers tightly crossed but it hasn't gone since. Maybe old leckie gone and youngster will for back for our light fitting; don't know how much he charged, could be a deal breaker and a one shot wonder.

Sorry don't know if element was in slushy stuff, he was/is the sort of chap that would imply we were trying to accuse him of bad workmanship so not a wise question for us to ask (usual leckie).