Electric Immersion Heater, Cheaper to have it on timer? Or leave it on perminantly?

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alison

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Could anyone tell me whether it is cheaper to put an immersion heater on a timer (to come on say twice a day) or to leave it on all the time so it is not heating water from scratch each time. We are a two adult household if that helps. Any help appreciated. Thank you

 
Need some information about the type of tank

and the method of control.

It the tank lagged?

Is there a tank thermostat or is it controlling

on the one fitted within the element?

The maximum recommended temperature is 60 Deg Cel

so that Legionella are "neutralised."

The more the heater is left on the greater will be

the standing losses so lagging is crucial.

The modern factory insulated units are far superior

to the DIY jackets.

 
Correction to my last post;

Recommended MINIMUM temp for stored

hot water is 60 Deg Cel.

Apologies.

 
Sharpend I do not know. I know a specialist who

is a leading authority on Legionella and even he

would question the 60 deg setting. This is not

necessarily a GIVEN for ALL strains.

 
I've never had the definitive answer to this to be honest. I remember that the (now defunct) Midlands Electricity Board (MEB) always used to promote immersion heaters to be left on . But then we all bought our power from them in this area so they would say that wouldn't they?

As said above , there are some important criteria, a modern cylinder factory lagged , Economy 7 tariff and your particular usage. If you are filling say , two baths per day ,that would be expensive and an electric shower would be far cheaper to run. A bath will empty your cylinder .

If the immersion is just for washing up and a morning wash I'm thinking a time switch may be save money, or a selectable top element but heating up from cold is the most expensive , I'm taking a guess at 2.5 hours @3KW before the stat switches off.

 
When I changed my Mother's cylinder and fitted a

cylinder wall stat for summer use only, she could

have a tank full of hot water within half an hour

if she did not run a bath.

Showers a lot cheaper, on water and power.

 
As above. An immersion in a modern cylinder of average size can heat the water in less than 45 min

---------- Post Auto-Merged at 18:07 ---------- Previous post was made at 18:02 ----------

Since the majority of electrically water heated homes are on the economy 7 tariff, which is off for 17 hours a day i don't think Legionela has ever been a problem. It also makes me think if both of you are out at work during the day a time switch is deffo the way to go.

 
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