2 Hour time delay switch

[ARW]

You can do the same on most company links. Or even get rid of the bollocks.

[Steve Walker]

As the problem is caused by running out of hot water, getting it hotter and so using less of it, may solve the problem.

SteveW

[The Natural Philosopher]

She might have it installed in her freezer, too

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Perhaps you need to find a qualified tech to replace it? ;-)

A poorly insulated hot water cylinder is a good way of wasting money.

[Clive Arthur]

How about a button which turns the heater on only until the thermostat switches?

Easily feasible of course, but does anyone make such a thing?

[tabbypurr]

Relays/contactors aren't hard to find.

NT

[Max Demian]

Put the relay coil in series with the load with a push button that shunts the relay contacts. You switch it on with the button and the current through the load keeps the contacts closed until the thermostat cuts the current through the element.

[tabbypurr]

Only downside of that setup is it takes all year to heat the tank :) Put the coil across the load side & it'll work. I'd ensure that one of the stats is not bridged by the switch.

NT

[Andrew]

It is usual to leave it set at 60 centigrade. Too much higher can be dangerous to an unsuspecting user.

[Andrew]

Is this flat in a hard water area though ?. A timer that gives two periods of 30 mins per day, set to occur just before the most common usage time, with a boost override might seem a better idea.

[Andrew]

If you had a cylinder lagged with the equivalent of 4 inches of celotex (I believe you can get them), you could consider leaving it on all the time, and use the stat to keep the temperature at a slightly lower temp, like 50 C

[tabbypurr]

Your post has had 433 thumbs up from deadly bacteria.

NT

[RJH]

Water kept at 60C in a 20C room for 2 days? Things have moved on since my day

- do you have a link to a cylinder that can manage that?

[alan_m]

Not a solution to your problem but I had a spare back box and blanking plate next to my immersion heater switch (upstairs hallway outside bathroom where the tank is fitted).

I fitted a high intensity blue flashing LED that comes on when the immersion heater switch is on. The LED, with the integral 1.5 Hz flashing circuit) gets its 5V supply ( LED plus series resistor) from the innards of a mains to USB converter. It is a very small circuit board that I enclosed in a small plastic box to isolate it from the metal back box.

It's now virtually impossible to notice that the immersion has been left on.

[The Natural Philosopher]

What a result!

<snigger>

[alan_m]

That's assuming no water is used during the day. The immersion heater could kick in during non economy 7 periods.

[The Natural Philosopher]

When it will be somewhat less.

which makes no difference to it's heat loss

[alan_m]

Yep it would have helped with the word "not" in that sentence.

[RJH]

Ah and again - my inability to understand heat loss - 50W standing loss is not untypical for a decent tank. Fore example:

[Martin Brown]

How much of a problem it is may depend on the quality of insulation around the tank. Might be worth using an Owl power monitor to see if the consumption from leaving it on is enough to be worth worrying about.

A well lagged one won't actually lose that much heat ~50W or probably less until you draw water and add fresh cold water from the mains.

Likewise in our VH. Otherwise someone will leave it on and the big old tank was not especially well lagged. It got really interesting when the immersion heater thermostat failed closed once and it boiled the tank. A jet of steam and hot water came out of the overflow as it bumped.

We also have an Owl monitor so that when leaving you can see if the base load is unexpectedly high. People do tend to leave warming cupboards, outside lights and other equipment on if not reminded to switch off at every opportunity. The most thirsty are now all on countdown timers (ours do 1/2,1,2,4 hours) and a slightly eerie blue LED glow.