Hot Water Tank

[daisya]

Asking this on behalf of my sister.

She recently had immersion heater replaced (council property) as hers had stopped working. She only uses it as back up as they have gas boiler for water. Since it has been replaced, the water doesn't stay hot that long which never happened before.

The chap who did the work cut a small section of the rim away at the top of the tank because it was a different element/fitting he was putting in! I personally think that the chap was wrong in cutting the tank as it has exposed some of the foam under the glass fibre. Am I right in thinking this has compromised the retention of hot water, as she's not sure if it's that or boiler needs attention! The link below shows the type of tank it is or near as dammit. Your advice would be appreciated please. Many thanks.

http://www.wickes.co.uk/invt/221228

[tonyav]

Mmmmm, don't think that he should have had to cut the rim, it should have been a straight forward swap IE, replace bad one with good one. The guy most probably couldn't be @rsed to go and get the proper one so used one that he had on the van imo.

[daisya]

Well tony that's what I think, Friday afternoon job literally. I think she should contact council because I'm sure that was not the correct way to have done that job. Wonder if he came from Bodgers R Us (smirk)

[tonyav]

Bodgers R Us (smirk)

LOL, highly likely, daisya. I have to say that I think that you have hit the nail on the head when you say it was a Friday afternoon job.

[RATTER15]

I think the affect of the cutting will be so minimal that it really isnt worth bothering with unless a large chunk was removed exposing the water jacket, even then it would be fairly minimal.

[daisya]

Thanks Ratter. What could cause the water to lose heat as it was fine before the work was done, seems it would be such a coincidence that it was the boiler with something wrong imo...though you may be right. Not sure how much he has cut off but she says you can see and touch the foam that the glass fibre should be covering.

[tonyav]

dasiya, is there a thermostat adjustment dial on it ?, if there is it could be that the council guy has set it to low.

[SlackAlice]

I'm with tonyav, inasmuch as immersion heater elements should be a straightforward swap.
If he's chopped the insulation around then he has compromised the heat insulation effect. Would suggest the council are asked to make a visit to 'view' the bodge up.

Possible he may have jogged the setting on the thermal switch for the CH boiler which should also be on the Hot Water tank.

[daisya]

Tony, the water loses heat with the gas boiler heating it, the immersion heater is only used as back up about once a week. Know what you mean though thanks.

[tonyav]

Ah right, I'd tell your sis to get them back, something not right since the council guy did the repair !.

[daisya]

Thanks Alice, I will tell her to get them out again, but she just wanted to try and check if cutting away the tank would cause the problem so she could put it to them. I'm sure it would though of course I no nowt about such things, I thought it was common sense (what do I know lol) that if something is pre-formed for a reason, you don't modify it or shouldn't in that way...

[tonyav]

The guy shouldn't have had to make any modifications, daisya.

[daisya]

No you're right tony that's what I thought..blooming cowboy methinks.

[tonyav]

He did turn up in a van I hope daisya, not an horse was it !.

[daisya]

Lol tony...neigh not a horse, I think it was a van, though could have had a horse painted on the side maybe (cough cough).

[daisya]

Just an update on this, the chap rang my sister and said it would not have made a difference to the hot water so to get the gas boiler looked at! She has tried it with the immersion and that doesn't stay hot for very long either! I think she is going to get in touch with the council again over this.

I just wondered if anyone else knows for sure if cutting into the fibre glass tank really would stop it from retaining the heat in the water. Thanks in advance.

[alavahalf]

You dont have fibreglass surrounding your tank ... you have a layer of polyurethane foam bonded to it. When you say he cut the rim, dont you mean he cut the foam..?
If the first immersion happened to be fitted with a box type socket, very little foam would need to be cut away initialy.
But if the guy fitting the element had a large flat spanner rather than a box socket, he would need to cut away a bit more foam to allow access to tighten the immersion.
Why not turn your heating on for a few more minutes to prolong the time the water stays hot.

You have altered your clock on the timer when the clocks changed ..?

[daisya]

Hi alava I think he had a box type spanner which he tightened the immersion fitting up with apparently according to b I l. I think what I find bit much I that it was ok before the repair but different now and I checked with her that they changed the timer. Bit much if they have to have water on longer and pay more if it was ok before methinks.

[alavahalf]

He may have fitted a smaller immersion... which would not give the same output.

[The Builder]

Boiler priority is usually given to the Hot Water, and the Heating is second to that. I'd guess there's a tank-stat (thermostat) tied around the cylinder to sense HW temperature. This may be faulty, or set too low.

It may be telling the boiler (wrongly) that HW temperature is higher than it really is.