immersion heater problems!!! all 7 of'em!

[UKMeterman]

Not just scalding, if it is an unvented cylinder and the mechanical temprature / pressure valve has also been tampered with you have a bomb with several 100KG of steam at high pressure on your hands..........

 

[Marvo]

Surely any safety cut-out device would be set considerably higher than the normal operating temperature. I would test thermostat calibration then run the heater up to the temperature the thermal safety is rated, if the thermal trips prematurely I would replace it with a new item.

 

[boberty]

some of the new immersions have a cutout on the immersion base itself then one on the stat. only found this out when heater at wifes shop packed in,

 

[poppypiesdad]

Judging buy the fact the waters look warm , has the thermostat been set too low , or a dodgy batch of heaters or a plumber fitting 6" heaters instead of 12" heaters

not like plumbers to get it wrong or try to save some cash.

jamie

 

[JD6400]

We always let clients with back boiler fires that are linked into their HW system , know where the reset is on the elements .
The worst culprits for tripping them are log burners !
I admire your honesty Taffy , but you are dicing with a potential prison sentence in my opinion .

 

[GLENNSPARK]

could even be a faulty batch of double pole switches....not closing right.....

 

[oldtimer]

Taffy,
Would you be able to defend your bypassing of the cutout to this family? BBC NEWS | England | Somerset | Scald death family meet minister

Yep well highlighted plus this is a classic example of what they call progress ie we used to get our earth from the gas and water pipework but they got changed to water and the incident with the baby was heartrendering as the old galvi tank would have been changed to plastic with the expansion pipe of the immersion being vented into this tank add a thermastat that has had its contacts welded on and essentially you end up having a boiling kettle of an immersion tank. Although I am not sure but in Scotland (what I have seen anyway) we vent the pipe externally but all in all NO and I mean NO safety equipment should be shorted out because there is a reason why they are fitted.

 

[i=p/u]

mines doesnt heat up all that well, so i dont use it, if i take the cover/cap off will there be a rest button, only goes luke warm

 

[GLENNSPARK]

We always let clients with back boiler fires that are linked into their HW system , know where the reset is on the elements .
The worst culprits for tripping them are log burners !
I admire your honesty Taffy , but you are dicing with a potential prison sentence in my opinion .

yeah....if owt happened then an external verefyer will be looking to see if any bypassing/tampering has gone on.....as these cutouts are a known nuisance

 

[Dcf]

I agree that these cutouts are a pain in the ---.that wee babythat got scalded to death would beg to differ tho .i got a call to a place complaining that the dhw was too hot.three phase immersion controlled by 1 stat at the bottom of tank set to 65 was working correctly.trouble was it was about a 500 litre tank n by the time it got to the top it was 108 degrees! It was mor like steam coming out of the taps.after that one I err on the side of caution with immersion heaters

 

[TaffyDuck]

I appreciate what you guys are saying however for 15 years I have fitted immersions with nothing but the normal thermostat with no problems. These thermal cut-outs come in and they constantly trip out, so much so that several customers source the non thermal cut-out variety which are still available ( not sure if they are still being made or not). Accidents are tragic and I my heart goes out to the parents of that baby but if we are to cover this potential hazard we need something more akin to a quality tank stat fitted instead of a 1p bit of chinese tat as a safety measure.

 

[GLENNSPARK]

but fitting a non thermal cutout imersion heater is one thing Taffy.....interfering with an imersion heater that has a thermal cutout inbuilt/fitted is entirely another......

 

[TaffyDuck]

but fitting a non thermal cutout imersion heater is one thing Taffy.....interfering with an imersion heater that has a thermal cutout inbuilt/fitted is entirely another......

Point taken, although they would of course be exactly the same after. Is it a British standard that all immersions must have these fitted now?

 

[GLENNSPARK]

not 100% on that Taffy but i would imagine so yes....

 

[GLENNSPARK]

it aint just these imersion heaters that are subject to interference either....seen bodged up BS3036s quite a bit n all....

 

[Knobhead]

Just have a look on Google for the effect of hysteresis curves on thermostats.

Taught in “Test Methods and Reliability” 35 years ago.

 

[drew35]

I tend to find the new thermostats come set to low and need turning up one notch, but not to maximum. And the quality of some of the heaters now is dire, I hear it a lot now from people that the new heaters only last just over a year.

 

[Guitarist]

Extensive testing is now carried out to make sure that products only last just beyond the warranty period.

 

[Guest111]

My old apprentice ,who now works for a large firm called to see me on Friday just to let me know how he is doing,anyway he went to a job in Stockport and while he was there he noticed cover had been removed on immersion heater and asked customer where it was as it was unsafe and there were small children in house.Customer had apparently removed it as all he got was one shower then cold de to stat tripping,fully electric system as no gas maybe problem is more common than we realise.

 

[MarkieSparkie]

When presented with this type of "lukewarm" problem. I usually remove the thermostat to check that the correct length has been installed. In almost all cases I find a short 7" stat has been fitted where an 11" or 18" thermostat pocket is provided.