Hi,
Anyone know how long failsafe non resettable cutouts have been mandated for immersion heaters?
I would have thought for the last few years at least since that tragic case in 2006 of the baby being killed by a boiling over HW cylinder causing the plastic cold water tank to fail.
Just wondering, because my mate's rented house is exhibiting apparant boiling of the cylinder due to the upper heater - and he says the landlord's agents had the lement replaced only a few months back.
Cheers
Tim
There was a change over period af about 4 years where you could use either, however the date it became compulsory was April 2004. The death of the baby led to some councils changing all their stats for safety ones.
I wonder if a new element was installed and the old stat used.
ARWadsworth ( snipped-for-privacy@blueyonder.co.uk) wibbled on Friday 04 March 2011
09:20:
Hmm - earlier than I thought - thanks Adam.
The landlord's agents are cheap tarts who only respond to having public liability claims pointed out...
I am not sure that the new stats need to be non resettable though. They are "non-self resetting".
Tim Watts ( snipped-for-privacy@dionic.net) wibbled on Friday 04 March 2011 09:09:
Hmm - curious...
Went round earlier - took some tools and popped the cap off the end of the top immersion. It did not appear to be obviously a type with a non self resetting secondry trip in (they often have a little button) but it may or may not - have a thermal fuse hiding inside - no easy way to tell.
Anyway, by the dial, it appeared to be set at 70C - rather on the hot side for HW. Tested the stat and it was operating if the adjustment screw was turned.
So we ran it at 70C for a few minutes (it had already heated up to that recently) - and I could hear what my mate was on about.
After the initial kettle-singing that's to be expected, there was a curious burping sound from the top of the cylinder and some odd weird noises from up in the loft. It *did* sound like it was "pumping" over. Not sure how exactly, unless the bottom fill pipe was blocked, but that is not so as HW comes out of the taps happily.
So I threw my hands up, set the thermostat down to 50C an told him to keep an eye on it and call the landlord in.
Any ideas what might cause a "pumping over" effect at 70C - I felt the tank and the top pipe - very hot, but I would say around 70C - certainly not boiling. Certainly did not sound healthy and I would not expect problems operating a cylinder at 70C (apart from it is too hot for HW IMO).
Plumbing is less than 15 years old and looks conventional - no gas/oil boiler, it's all electric.
It's flummoxed me completely.
harry ( snipped-for-privacy@aol.com) wibbled on Saturday 05 March 2011 08:45:
Hi Harry,
Yes, I used "pumping" as a loose term.
I do wonder if that could be a possibility. When I'd finished, the stat was operating (as in click and power interruption). Can't vouch for its accuracy which is why I set it on the low side.
I wonder, also, if the blurping might have been dissolved air in the water being driven off due to the high temperature. Sound likely???
I personally would probably just swap the stat for one with a definate secondarly failsafe, but as it's not my house...
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