2 months, 4 plumbers, still no hot water. I am desperate!

[Archie Faulks]

Hi there,
I am at my wit’s end with this problem which seems to have stumped all the plumbers in my local area and would appreciate any advice.

I bought a new place in November which had been installed with a new Gledhill ES 150 l stainless steel unvented cylinder in March of this year. On moving in the immersion heaters were tripping the fuse, the electrics were a mess and not up to code so paid 3 grand for an electrician to rewire the whole flat. I then got the immersion heaters replaced.
when they were replaced with both immersions on the cylinder the water was only luke warm. No matter what I tried (literally had both immersions on for 10 hours cost me a fortune) the water was still only running luke warm. So, under warranty, Gledhill sent someone to change them again however still having the same problem.
I have rechecked the electrics they are fine, we checked the immersions and they were delivering the expected voltage yet still only luke warm water leaving the cylinder. upon touching the hot water out pipe from the cylinder you can tell that it isn’t getting hot enough.
Do you think it could be a problem with the cylinder? Or how it was installed? I have attached some photos of the set up for your perusal.
It has now been 2 months without hot water and money/time down the drain with no results. Anyone who can help me solve this problem I will send a basket of muffins (or anything present like…haha)
Thanks all
Archie

 

[Ric2013]

Is this a prank? This sounds like an impossible situation.

Lets throw some logical ideas around. If the immersion heaters are running continually and costing a fortune then they are obviously drawing current and heating something. Eventually they either switch off as the water has reached temperature, or they don't. If they do, then see B. If they don't then see A.

A - The immersion heaters won't switch off ever because the cylinder is losing heat because there is water leaving the cylinder constantly and being lost somewhere. The cylinder isn't heating up. Probably there is a leak somewhere or a dribbling tap or valve somewhere you can't see. Or (more likely) the water in the cylinder is being moved out of the cylinder through parasitical circulation or some weird issue with mixer taps or incorrect plumbing means the water is running around the house in weird ways and dissipating the heat.

B - The immersion heaters are switching off too early due to incorrect thermostat setting. Unlikely as you say they are using a lot of electricity. So, probably they are heating the cylinder and somehow the water is being mixed down to a lower temperature as it leaves the cylinder. But I suspect the problem will be A.

 

[ShaunCorbs]

Were they fully on for 10 hours eg pulling 13 amps each if so you have a leak / cylinder is full of scale

 

[Ric2013]

Were they fully on for 10 hours eg pulling 13 amps each if so you have a leak / cylinder is full of scale

If full of scale, where would the heat be going if the immersions are drawing 13A? Surely if the immersions were insulated by limescale to the point that they can use 3kW and not transfer that to the water for hours on end, they would simply melt? It's not like a boiler heat exchanger that can just not absorb the heat from the flame and result in higher flue gas temperature.

 

[ShaunCorbs]

Could be half in scale so it’s cutting out too quick eg not running for long as the scale is acting like an insulator

 

[John.g]

Shut off the cold water supply to the cylinder and re monitor the immersion usage.

 

[king of pipes]

Pictures needed please this is hard to believe a cylinder installed in march last year is giving you this much grief you should only need the lower immersion heater on , the top one is usually for boosting the hot water is it wired through a economy 7 time switch s below? If it's installed correctly then there's no reason why it shouldn't perform only use one immersion at a time.

 

[John.g]

And difficult to see scale build up in such a short time to cause any problems. I have seen pictures of HW Cylinders - 1/8th full of limescale that had broken off from the immersion elements presumably due to thermal shock from the elements heating/cooling but the elements were still not highly scaled and were still working.