We recently had a new thermostat fitted to our immersion tank. The water is now that hot that it melts the plug when I run a bath. Also I went to run one tonight and the water is absolutely filthy, a mucky brown colour.
Can anyone help with what the cause of this may be?
Many thanks Jay
First things first,,if you isolate the power supply (best to do this at the "fusebox" to be sure),whip the cover off the immersion heater and you should find a thermostat adjustment,just tweak it down a bit and see how it goes .
second,mucky water,,
do you have gas central heating by any chance? if so you might have a"primatic" brand cylinder with a displaced airlock or defect.
If not,it may just be that the immersion is running that hot that it is stirring up turbulence and muck in the bottom of the cylinder..
joe
Sounds like a duff part or the plumber #-up puttingit in. Tell him to replace it. It is a coincidence the dirt all came at the same time. Probably cleaned the shit off the sides of the system. In the meantime switch the system on only a few minutes at a time. It shouldn't need that much time to warm a bath. A thermostat has very limited adjustment range I believe. It certainly shouldn't be boiling the water.
Can you clarify a little, perhaps?
How is your hot water heated? Just immersion heater (in which case was it the thermostat or the immersion heater that was replaced) or via a central heating boiler?
What was the thermostat you have had replaced connected to? What heat source did it control?
If it is via a boiler, what kind of bolier? Gas, solid fuel? Traditional or combi?
Is the water heated by a pumped supply, or by direct convection (gravity)?
Brown water is normally a sign that the water has been boiled, and thus stirred up all the rust and other detritus in the system.
Several things should stop this happening:
(1) The thermostat on the hot water tank should turn off the boiler and/or close a valve once the water is up to temperature - assuming you have a pumped system. (2) The thermostat on the boiler should limit the temperature of the water flowing through the circuit - it should never be close to boiling because you could scald yourself from hot taps and radiators. (3) If you are using an immersion heater the thermostat on the immersion heater should prevent the water from boiling.
Assuming you have the above mechanisms to prevent the water overheating, they should be checked and replaced if defective.
One obvious fix is to turn down the boiler thermostat (if you have one). The water in the tank and radiators cannot get over hot if the boiler thermostat is set low.
We used to have this problem, but this was because we used an old solid fuel Raeburn cooker with a back boiler and a gravity fed circuit to heat our hot water. Every now and then we would forget to close down the draught overnight and the water would boil at about 02:00. The result was rust coloured water for a bit. Thermostat? Don't have new fangled devices like that!
HTH Dave R
Presumably a faulty or incorrectly wired thermostat, or the new one's set too high (there should be a 'block' attached to the tank, with a flex attached; on the block will be a little dial which you adjust with a screwdriver). Should be set to 60-70; if it already is, something's wrong.
More info needed. Hot tap, cold tap, or both? All taps in the properety, or just the bath? Do you have a cold water storage tank (eg in your attic)? Or is the bath tap fed direct from the mains?Does the colour eventually go away if you run the tap long enough, and then reappear next time you run it?
David
Sorry for the lack of info.
I'll do my best to clarify, the mucky water sometimes comes from the cold tap (this is normal for summer apparently? so the neighbours tell me)( I am in Somerset) but lately just from the hot tap. We have an emersion heater and that is heated by switching it on from downstairs. We have no GAS central heating but have radiators heated by our coal fire, which also heats the water when the fire is lit.
When he came to replace the thermostat he said the wrong one had been fitted before, because our tank isn't very big depth wise they had got the wrong element and folded it over itself, in effect doubling it up so it fitted in and didn't touch the rear of the tank. He apparently fitted the right one but said our tank is a sealed unit and if the heater was removed again it would probably split the tank as there was a thin layer if skin and if it splits a new tank is required.
We get bits in the water not just dirty but looks like some kind of rust/sediment. Thanks for the help, novice this end so sorry if the message seems a little vague
Jay
Hot tap now since the new element, cold tap in summertime which I am told is normal. I haven't noticed any colour downstairs, so mainly upstairs. No cold water tank nothing in the loft just one box in the bedroom cupboard for the hot water. Yes it eventually goes but by that time the hot water has been drained off and I have to reheat the water, if you know what I mean. Our tank doesn't hold a great deal of water. Thanks Jay
That's the problem, the heater has emerged.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.