Discuss Help with hot water switches in the UK Electrical Forum area at ElectriciansForums.net

MAW_17

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Living in a flat that only has water for around 2 hot water showers and a bit of washing up in the kitchen a day.

There are 3 switches.. W/H CONTROLS.. W/H OFF PEAK... W/H ON PEAK.. and Grasslin Time clock..

I have tried to fiddle with the switches and keep on peak on but it doesnt help getting hot water after the allotted hot water for the day.

Could there be something I am missing? Any help would be great.
 
A photo for better purposes
 

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Could you take a pic of the controls and the hot water tank. It would help.
Also the tariff you are on can make a difference.
Thank you for replying.. This is my hot water tank and tariff is same all through out day and night
 

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So the off peak switch should control the bottom element on the cylinder via the timer, taking advantage of off peak night time cheap rate electricity to heat the whole tank from the bottom.
The on peak switch should be used to provide hot water once you have used up the water that was heated up overnight, making use of the top element. Obviously this will only heat the water above the middle of the tank, but should be enough for a boost.
If this boost isn't working, then it could be a faulty immersion element, or immersion thermostat, or the on peak switch, or the wiring from the switch to the consumer unit.
Without proper test equipment, you may struggle to diagnose the actual fault.
 
I'm not sure if I'm seeing this right, but the clock seems to be set not to turn the bottom immersion on ever.
Firstly none of the little tabs around the edge are set to make it come on (or is it off!).
Secondly the little switch in the middle of the clock seems to be set to "0", which is presumably 'off'.
As a minimum I suggest you move that switch to the "1" position to turn it on.

Then you might consider when you might like the immersion to come on, set the tabs accordingly, and set the little clock switch to the middle position.

All that assumes the clock is working correctly (It seems to think it's Wednesday?)
 
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The setup appears to be wired to make use of an off peak tariff - does the light on the middle switch ever come on? If you flick the switch mentioned on the timer clock to 1, does it come on?

If you are on just a standard tariff, then depending on how it's wired, it may be that the lower element is never coming on, which is meant to be the one that heats the whole tank. That would explain why you don't get much hot water, as the top element is meant only for boosting, as already mentioned.

I've had to replace one of those timeclocks before when it stopped working - some have a light on them which makes it easier to diagnose - otherwise you probably need a tester and some experience (or someone with both) to track down the issue - but I'd bet it's to do with the bottom immersion not being powered properly.
 

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