Hi all,

I live in a Housing association ground floor flat that is all
electric.

It has a hot water tank with two immersion heaters in, one is for night rate
use and one for boosting at day rate.



I am a man living alone, they have just installed an electric over bath
shower.



Now that I am no longer using the hot water for baths, is it worth me
keeping the night rate heater going for what water I use for washing up etc.

Would it be cheaper just to boil the kettle?



I hoped they would have removed the tank system and put an instant boiler.

We have night storage heaters.



Any thought please?

Mick.

Now that I am no longer using the hot water for baths, is it worth me
keeping the night rate heater going for what water I use for washing up etc.

Would it be cheaper just to boil the kettle?

Yes, specially if like me you do washing up once a week!

The immersion heater is losing heat through the cyclinder walls
and all the hot copper pipes
and any leaky hot taps.

But in the winter all this 'lost heat' would heat your rooms up.

[g]

We have night storage heaters.

are the night storage heaters on a cheaper cost of electrickery?
[g]

"george [dicegeorge]" wrote in message
...


We have night storage heaters.

are the night storage heaters on a cheaper cost of electrickery?

Hi, yes they are only charged up at night, on the night rate.
They are not too bad when you get used to adjusting the input for the next
day, say if a coler spell is coming!
Mick.

Mick. wrote:
Hi all,

I live in a Housing association ground floor flat that is all
electric.

It has a hot water tank with two immersion heaters in, one is for
night rate use and one for boosting at day rate.



I am a man living alone, they have just installed an electric over
bath shower.



Now that I am no longer using the hot water for baths, is it worth me
keeping the night rate heater going for what water I use for washing
up etc.
Would it be cheaper just to boil the kettle?



I hoped they would have removed the tank system and put an instant
boiler.
We have night storage heaters.



Any thought please?

Mick.

Turn both immersion heaters off - you are paying to heat 10 gallons of water
and you probably only use a gallon each time you wash the dishes.
Most clothes washing machines take in cold water and heat it up anyway, so
if I were you I would just boil the kettle and do your dishes every other
day - I can't see the point of washing 1 or 2 plates, a saucepan and 2 or 3
pieces of cuttlery every day when twice that amount can be washed
efficiently with one kettle of hot water.

This is what I do, but I leave the first day's dishes soaking in cold
water - this removes a lot of what sticks, gravy, sauces etc which can be a
PITA if they are allowed to set hard.

For handwashing you can manage with cold water (lets face it, you've usually
finished washing hands by the time the hot gets through anyway!) or just buy
those pump action alcohol hand sanitizers.

--
Phil L
RSRL Tipster Of The Year 2008

Thank you Phil,
Yes my washing machine is a cold fill one.
Both immersion heaters now turned off,!
Mick.

"Phil L" wrote in message
...

Turn both immersion heaters off - you are paying to heat 10 gallons of
water and you probably only use a gallon each time you wash the dishes.
Most clothes washing machines take in cold water and heat it up anyway, so
if I were you I would just boil the kettle and do your dishes every other
day - I can't see the point of washing 1 or 2 plates, a saucepan and 2 or
3 pieces of cuttlery every day when twice that amount can be washed
efficiently with one kettle of hot water.

This is what I do, but I leave the first day's dishes soaking in cold
water - this removes a lot of what sticks, gravy, sauces etc which can be
a PITA if they are allowed to set hard.

For handwashing you can manage with cold water (lets face it, you've
usually finished washing hands by the time the hot gets through anyway!)
or just buy those pump action alcohol hand sanitizers.

--
Phil L
RSRL Tipster Of The Year 2008

On Sun, 03 Oct 2010 14:55:40 +0100, george [dicegeorge] wrote:

Would it be cheaper just to boil the kettle?

Yep, you are only heating what you need.

The immersion heater is losing heat through the cyclinder walls
and all the hot copper pipes
and any leaky hot taps.

But in the winter all this 'lost heat' would heat your rooms up.

In the grand scheme of things I don't think you'd notice, space
heating takes so much heat. I do know that when the timer switch bust
on my gas heating/ho****er system and I went to "on demand" hot water
system (still via the cylinder) instead of the timer heating the
water morning and night, there was a noticeable drop in the gas bill.

--
Cheers
Dave.

The problem with not using the hot water at all is the water in the CW
tank may stagnate. The problem with not heating the hot water tank is
the water may stagnate.

CW tanks were once sized for baths, 500L not being uncommon, but in a
world with electric showers, cold-fill washing machines, dishwashers,
the CW supplying the HW tank does not change very often. I suspect
this is why some plumbers say it can be a good idea to feed the toilet
cistern off the CW tank because it can be quieter (torbeck valve not
withstanding) and ensures the water changes per week are sufficiently
high to avoid water stagnating.

Some NHS nurses are utterly oblivious to how domestic HW can be non-
potable whereas unvented high pressure HW systems are more likely to
be (no idea if you are allowed to use them as such). Hotel HW systems
rely on a continuous circuit of water so it does not stagnate nor have
a long draw time before hot water arrives at some distant tap.

js.b1, what is an OW tank?

Legionnaires disease brews when the hot tank isnt hot enough,
am I risking this by only turning ont he immersion for baths?

And washing hands in cold water isnt as good as hot, is it.

[g]



On 04/10/10 00:01, js.b1 wrote:
The problem with not using the hot water at all is the water in the CW
tank may stagnate. The problem with not heating the hot water tank is
the water may stagnate.

CW tanks were once sized for baths, 500L not being uncommon, but in a
world with electric showers, cold-fill washing machines, dishwashers,
the CW supplying the HW tank does not change very often. I suspect
this is why some plumbers say it can be a good idea to feed the toilet
cistern off the CW tank because it can be quieter (torbeck valve not
withstanding) and ensures the water changes per week are sufficiently
high to avoid water stagnating.

Some NHS nurses are utterly oblivious to how domestic HW can be non-
potable whereas unvented high pressure HW systems are more likely to
be (no idea if you are allowed to use them as such). Hotel HW systems
rely on a continuous circuit of water so it does not stagnate nor have
a long draw time before hot water arrives at some distant tap.

george [dicegeorge] wrote:
js.b1, what is an OW tank?

Legionnaires disease brews when the hot tank isnt hot enough,
am I risking this by only turning ont he immersion for baths?

And washing hands in cold water isnt as good as hot, is it.


He mentioned a CW (cold water) tank and a HW (hot water) tank


--
Phil L
RSRL Tipster Of The Year 2008

In article , Mick.
writes
Thank you Phil,
Yes my washing machine is a cold fill one.
Both immersion heaters now turned off,!
Mick.

"Phil L" wrote in message
...

Turn both immersion heaters off - you are paying to heat 10 gallons of
water and you probably only use a gallon each time you wash the dishes.
Most clothes washing machines take in cold water and heat it up anyway, so
if I were you I would just boil the kettle and do your dishes every other
day - I can't see the point of washing 1 or 2 plates, a saucepan and 2 or
3 pieces of cuttlery every day when twice that amount can be washed
efficiently with one kettle of hot water.

This is what I do, but I leave the first day's dishes soaking in cold
water - this removes a lot of what sticks, gravy, sauces etc which can be
a PITA if they are allowed to set hard.

For handwashing you can manage with cold water (lets face it, you've
usually finished washing hands by the time the hot gets through anyway!)
or just buy those pump action alcohol hand sanitizers.

Bear in mind that you are not heating a whole tank from nothing every
day, you have losses from the amount of hot water that you use
(including filling the pipes to the tap with hot water every time you
open the tap) and losses from having a tank of hot water sitting there
all day/night and it leaking through the insulation (I hope there is
some), that is standing losses and you only have to replace those 2
sources of loss. I have a large cylinder here and it quotes a standing
loss of 3.2kWhr per 24 hours which is heated on off peak would cost
about 15p.

Personally, I would prefer to pay that 15p per day for the convenience
of having hot water on tap 24/7 but once it's there you'll probably use
more of it so the costs will be higher.

Some Economy 7 hot water systems allow you to switch off the bottom
element so you only have hot water at the top of the cylinder, that
might be another option for you.
--
fred
FIVE TV's superbright logo - not the DOG's, it's ********

On 04/10/10 18:46, Phil L wrote:
george [dicegeorge] wrote:
js.b1, what is an OW tank?

Legionnaires disease brews when the hot tank isnt hot enough,
am I risking this by only turning ont he immersion for baths?

And washing hands in cold water isnt as good as hot, is it.


He mentioned a CW (cold water) tank and a HW (hot water) tank


of course, sorry,
the font on this computer made me read O W not C W
I wi8ll now try to adjust font or character spacing
[g]

On Sun, 3 Oct 2010 16:01:18 -0700 (PDT), "js.b1"
wrote:

Hotel HW systems
rely on a continuous circuit of water so it does not stagnate nor have
a long draw time before hot water arrives at some distant tap.

Sorry to hijack the thread but on that point, may I ask: a plumber
trying to sell our village hall a new boiler said that he could not
fit a combi boiler because it would take too long for the hot water to
reach the taps. He claimed there was some H&S reg. about this. However
two other plumbers provided quotes and recommended combis and said
nothing about this. Who was right? Is there a reg. requiring hot water
to be delivered within so many seconds? TIA

On Sun, 3 Oct 2010 16:01:18 -0700 (PDT), "js.b1"
wrote:

The problem with not using the hot water at all is the water in the CW
tank may stagnate. The problem with not heating the hot water tank is
the water may stagnate.

Run the hot tap every now and again then.

CW tanks were once sized for baths, 500L not being uncommon, but in a
world with electric showers, cold-fill washing machines, dishwashers,
the CW supplying the HW tank does not change very often. I suspect
this is why some plumbers say it can be a good idea to feed the toilet
cistern off the CW tank because it can be quieter (torbeck valve not
withstanding) and ensures the water changes per week are sufficiently
high to avoid water stagnating.

And you can still flush the loo if your mains water is cut off.

Some NHS nurses are utterly oblivious to how domestic HW can be non-
potable whereas unvented high pressure HW systems are more likely to
be (no idea if you are allowed to use them as such). Hotel HW systems
rely on a continuous circuit of water so it does not stagnate nor have
a long draw time before hot water arrives at some distant tap.

It's mainly for the latter reason isn't it?
--
(\__/) M.
(='.'=) Due to the amount of spam posted via googlegroups and
(")_(") their inaction to the problem. I am blocking some articles
posted from there. If you wish your postings to be seen by
everyone you will need use a different method of posting.