Immersion heater reset button

Keeps popping up and switching the damn thing off basically. It was a new immersion fitted in November and worked fine until a week or so ago at which point I found no hot water and the button up. I reset it to get a bath but a couple of days later it was up again and so on until now. I imagine all this can be is a separate thermostat from the adjustable one with a single upper limit temperature at which it deems things to be too hot. I've now tried reducing the dial setting down a bit from the max (70c) I'd had it set at to see if this helps.

Is there any adjustment inside these things or any likely reason why it might have started playing up so soon?

Reply to
Dave Baker
Loading thread data ...

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "Dave Baker" saying something like:

Too soon for limescale build-up, so it might simply be the safety cut-out is too low and it's probably non-adjustable. Try another one, if it's removeable.

Reply to
Grimly Curmudgeon

What makes you think it's faulty? It's a safety device to protect against overheating. My first assumption would be that it's doing exactly what it's designed to do, before assuming it's faulty.

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

Well something is faulty by simple logic or it wouldn't be switching off like this. Either the variable dial thermostat has failed so the overide is cutting in to genuinely prevent the water getting too hot or the override has failed, or is set too low, causing it to cut in when in fact the water isn't too hot. It makes sod all difference to me which of these it is because it still ends up with me having no hot water until I press the reset button back in and then wait another couple of hours which is hardly a long term solution.

Anyway with the dial set at 65c instead of 70c it's still working ok for now so maybe it's that the override is set a bit too close to the max 70c of the dial and cuts in when it shouldn't. If so I can live with it because the last immersion only had a 60c stat which was a bit too cold really and didn't let me run a full bath. 70c was a vast improvement and I could have a full bath plus just a tad of hot water left over. 65c as a middle ground will probably just about do but if still keeps cutting out at that I'll have to look at getting another stat under warranty. I'll see how it goes for a few more days at 65c and if it's stable try tweaking it up a degree at a time until I find the break point. I might also try running it with the cover plate off the top of the immersion which should keep the top of the stat a bit cooler. Got to try thinking out of the box with these things.

Reply to
Dave Baker

I had a thermostat fail on our heater a while ago - the contacts basically welded themselves together such that the heating element was jammed permanently on up until the "over temperature" 'stat tripped.

Not sure what prices are like on your side of the Pond (I'm in the US) but it's about a tenner here for a replacement thermostat (they're of a standard design here so all the DIY stores stock them - not sure if that's true in the UK?)

cheers

Jules

Reply to
Jules

If you have an open vented system and your header tank in the loft is either metal or fully supported plastic the overheat stat is simply a bit more of nanny state setting new rules. In my house it would be a case of bypassing the overheat stat. I think I am wise enough to recognise when the control stat has failed if only by the bumping and banging of a boiling cylinder. Mind you I wouldn't have my control stat set that high to avoid scalding the unwary.

Reply to
cynic

The message from "Dave Baker" contains these words:

Had this happen with a new immersion heater I fitted myself a few months ago.

Stat was replaced foc without problem by the importers, but I reached the conclusion that the problem was basically that it was a very cheap immersion heater (the cost of a replacement stat was almost the same as the cost of a IH+stat) and the latency on the main stat was probably considerable. Just turned it down until the limit stat it no longer tripped. Water was still amply hot enough. Replacement stat is in storage awaiting a more dire need.

Reply to
Appin

replying to Dave Baker, kalmius wrote: I've had the same problem, new heater and thermostat fitted and 3 or 4 times a week the safety button pops up. Water temperature is about 55c so what I've done is to remove the cover from the heater and hey presto no more trouble! What it needs is a ventilated cover to let the heat out so I've drilled some large holes around the circumference of the cover and had no problems since.

Reply to
kalmius

Ok - so it was 2010 - but what a brilliant idea... You used to be able to buy bare copper tanks without all that nasty insulation.

Reply to
Geo

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.