Twin Immersion Tank

[Mbw299]

Hi

i have a twin Immersion tank to provide hot water with two heating elements - both Backersafe Type BS311C. These are connected to the wall where a separate switch for each is attached. Recently I lost hot water and called someone round. It was found that the switch for the bottom heating element was off and the heating element required resetting. This returned the hot water but the engineer's company is refusing to tell me why this worked.

I have two questions:
1) could I receive hot water with just the top heating element turned on?
2) why would an element require resetting?

thanks for any help,
Marc

 

[townfanjon]

1 , the top element is a boost / backup heater , it would give you hot water but not much.
2, it may have tripped out , it also maybe faulty , they are very cheap thermostats and IMO are garbage

 

[Mbw299]

Thanks for the quick reply! If it tripped out would it turn off the switch on the wall?

 

[Best]

As above, ^^^ The top immersion is for backup or when you want smaller amount of hot water.
Usually lower element is on low tarrif.
Sounds like your immersion is a modern type that has a cut out overheat stat.
They can trip off if you covered the outer cover of the heater or stat could be faulty.
Never remove the cover if it tripped, without first isolating power.
Probably your company doesn't want you risking injury or death.

 

[townfanjon]

No , they are resetable stats , but if one has tripped , its tripped for a reason and needs attention.

 

[Mbw299]

Ok, so if the switch connected to the heating element was turned off at the wall, could this only have been done manually?

 

[Alex Knight]

Ok, so if the switch connected to the heating element was turned off at the wall, could this only have been done manually?

Yes

 

[Mbw299]

Ok - thanks for all the help so far.

Final questions. If the top element only was switched on, should I still get some hot water if it was functioning normally? And would you expect this to be enough for two showers in a tank with a 210 litre capacity? Thanks!

 

[Mbw299]

Ok - thanks for all the help so far.

Final questions. If the top element only was switched on, should I still get some hot water if it was functioning normally? And would you expect this to be enough for two showers in a tank with a 210 litre capacity? Thanks!

 

[townfanjon]

Yes it would work , Two showers , be quick !!! Very quick !!!

 

[Mbw299]

Ha - thanks for answering my questions!