Looking for smart immersion heater

I can't see why such a device would be part of the immersion heater. It would more likely be a switch which fits in the wiring to it.

Do you really mean "immersion heater", as in a device that heats the water in your HW tank? Very odd to fail so soon.

I think we need to know more about your present heating system (and requirements) to offer any advice.

Tim

Agreed, plenty of "internet enabled" switches about, might need an additional relay to switch 3 kW of immersion heater though.

An electrician who recently fitted an immersion heater to our new HW tank insisted that it had to be wired into one of those permanent electric points, not through a three-pin plug into a socket outlet as I had requested. He couldn't explain why, except "regulations".

The first thing I did (when the building inspection was done) was disconnect it and replace it with a socket, so that I can insert a timer.

It's just a standard immersion heater in the hot water cylinder in the bathroom. I thought in these days of austerity I might save a little by switching on heater when coming back from work.

Surely not a very original idea? I found a number of discussions of this on US sites, but very few in Europe.

Hum why not a proper hard wired immersion heater timer rather than pushing a plugin one close to it's limit? Not to mention two sets of plug/socket pins to get warm under load and the fuse in the plug top...

Immersion heater timer will do that for a wage slave. Do you work iregular hours or are away often so a time switch wouldn't really be suitable?

Well, if money is that tight, you ought to be able to get a refund or replacement on your last element because of it's premature failure.

Is electricity your only way of heating water? An expensive way to do it. Unless your bathing time varies enormously from day to day I would have thought that a cheap plug in time-switch would be adequate and spend the money you save on more tank insulation.

Tim

Insulate the tank and leave it on all the time. Any escaped heat heats the house anyway.

That's because someone told him to do this but he didn't understand why, so he couldn't tell you. However, it's not in the "regulations". The regulations require that it's on a dedicated circuit, not on your ring circuit (unless the cylinder is tiny, no more than 20l).

Actually, there is a good reason - many 13A plugs and sockets will not have a long life with the continuous 13A load of an immersion heater, and they won't ever get inspected to see when replacement is required until after they've failed, and the failure might start a fire.

I would have used a proper immersion heater timer (they are wired, not with a plug and socket), but again with the proviso that it is regularly inspected, and the screw terminals occasionally checked and retightened. They burn out too.

If you are going to use a plug and socket, make sure it's a very good make/quality. The connections need to be top quality too, both in the plug and socket. Check when it's been on for a while that it's not too hot. (It will be warm, because the fuse will be giving off up to 1W when running at 13A.) Unplug the plug and check the pins and not too hot (and be prepared to burn yourself if they are), and likewise with the timer. Check for no scorching around the socket holes.

Have you checked the thrmostat has not tripped?

A plug and socket is a perfectly acceptable means of isolation.

If you want to be as efficient as possible, the first thing to do is determine the minimum setting for the thermostat for your needs.

Next,determine how long it takes to warm the water up. Switch on the heater, that length of time before usage time.

Also add more insulation to the hot water tank. You can use loft insulation, fill the airing cupboard up and keep the insulation in place with a sheet of ply manouvered in behind the door frame.

Well that's useful.. tell you you shouldn't run it for long periods on a ring by restricting it to a small tank and ignore the fact that you can turn the tap on and run the immersion 24x7 if you do.

You *have* checked the overheat trip in the thermostat (tiny recessed button, about 1.5mm dia) haven't you?

I am in Spain at the moment, one of our apartments started tripping the RCD, looks like the immersion heater socket had a loose terminal!

So however it is connected, make sure the terminals are nice and tight!