tuppence Posted May 11, 2009 Share Posted May 11, 2009 Hi,Has anyone had to replace an element in their immersion heater? Mine seems to have packed up (less than 18 months old) and I need to get it replaced quickly as this is my only way of heating water. I have a 100Litre heater 1200v 230 watts. Any ideas on cost of part and/or fitting? Any help useful,thankstuppence Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northender Posted May 11, 2009 Share Posted May 11, 2009 Might be the thermostat , our's went after 12 months.Fairly simple to change.Not sure how difficult the element is to change.Think you might have got your Volts and Watts mixed up.New thermostat was about 30E if I remember correctly.If you know someone with an electrical meter its a simple job to test the element.Always isolate the supply before removing the cover of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuppence Posted May 11, 2009 Author Share Posted May 11, 2009 Hi Northender,Yes it was 1200 watts and 230 volts.[8-)] Sorry, getting twitchy now as I have been without hot water for 5 days and no nearer finding someone to do the job. But thanks for your reply.tuppence Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gluestick Posted May 11, 2009 Share Posted May 11, 2009 Yes: check the thermostat firstly.I presume by "Immersion heater" 2D (OK so I'm old and can remember real money!), you mean Chaude Eau or Ballon?Not an easy or straightforward job. The tank must be drained and the whole thing de-mounted, unless you are exceptionally lucky and there exists sufficient space to draw the element downwards and not hit the floor.Check your warranty: most come with a Two Year guarantee on electrical components: i.e. element and thermostat. The tanks usually have a five year warranty.Dig out the bill and if necessary, contact the manufacturer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuppence Posted May 11, 2009 Author Share Posted May 11, 2009 Hi Gluestick (also in P de C),It is only a 100L tank and yes it is still under guarantee, purchased at Bricoman in Calais in october 2007. But I have tried e-mailing them and have received the bog standard e-mail "your e-mail will be responded to very soon". Well sorry, but their idea of very soon and mine are miles apart and I desperately need the hot water back on ASAP. It is a chauffe eau and is wall mounted but at 100 litres it is less than 3ft long and I do have sufficient soace to drain it without it being de-mounted. I think maybe an electrician would be better to contact than a plumber at this point.thanks anyway tuppence Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gluestick Posted May 11, 2009 Share Posted May 11, 2009 Yes; saw you were in the PdC, 2D.If you speak reasonable French then telephone 'em!Or ask a French chum to do this for you.If you do call in an artisan, make sure they are properly registered and insured and send Bricoman the facture.And retain the displaced parts for warranty claim.Bonne chance ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russethouse Posted May 11, 2009 Share Posted May 11, 2009 We thought our immersion thermostat had gone but the electrician reset it by taking off the cover and depressing a pin...might be worth a shot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat Posted May 11, 2009 Share Posted May 11, 2009 Just a thought (and I apologise in advance if this is so obvious that you have already tried it) but, does the water heater usually heat at night, during the cheap period? It may be worth checking that the automatic switch that clicks on for cheap rate is switching properly. In newer electrical installations it can be found at the fuseboard/consumer unit, and has 3 positions - On, Off and Auto. Try switching it to the On position. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northender Posted May 11, 2009 Share Posted May 11, 2009 Most definately a Qualified Electrician would be your best bet at this stage , good advice about keeping receipts etc or keeping hold of faulty part for exchange (to use as a spare in the future??).Don't think the guarantee would include labour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Le Plombier Posted May 11, 2009 Share Posted May 11, 2009 If it's only that old I doubt it is the elementCheck the thermostst and electrics firstA competent electrician should be able to identify the cause of your problem very quickly by simply testing the circuit and componentsLe Plombier Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuppence Posted May 11, 2009 Author Share Posted May 11, 2009 Cat,I apologise for my naivety but did you mean the tableau in the house with all the trips on, or the main box at the bottom of my drive!!! If you mean the one in the house, the immersion heater is on its own isolator and I only seem to have on and off switches, no mention of an auto. When I woke up to no power at all last week, being France my first thought was a power cut, but tried all the trip switches and the immersion heater switch was the one that tripped out all power. Now the immersion heater switch on the wall next to it is off , all other power is restored. I do have my heater come on during the night during the cheap period. Am actively trying to get hold of an electrician to test all probable sources of the problem. tuppence Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gluestick Posted May 11, 2009 Share Posted May 11, 2009 2D.If your Ballon automatically switches on a night on cheap rate (Heures Creuses) then normally this is achieved by what is called a Jour-Nuit switch. It has three positions: off-auto- and continuous. Like This: (Second Page, Very Top Left: click on the jour-nuit switch shown and then enlarge).There may well be a separate isolator switch too: all depends on your installation. Look and see if you have a three position switch as well as the isolator; they are only standard (i.e. DIN) size to fit on the tableaux rails. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnOther Posted May 11, 2009 Share Posted May 11, 2009 [quote user="tuppence"]Sorry, getting twitchy now as I have been without hot water for 5 days[/quote]Might 'minty' be a more apt description tuppence [Www] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russethouse Posted May 11, 2009 Share Posted May 11, 2009 We recently had a spell with no heating or hot water so I have every sympathy. Our boiler exchange unit had failed as the water going through it is artificially softened (hard to believe, but true) Just before it all went pear shaped the water got very, very hot, I believe that did something to the immersion thermostat so the immersion stopped working. Luckily the electrician was able to reset it as I said earlier, but a few days without heat or hot water was pretty dismal....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuppence Posted May 11, 2009 Author Share Posted May 11, 2009 GluestickI checked the link you gave, not got one of those. The Ballon was fitted in October 2007 and I only went onto heures creuse in November 2008 if that means anything. Everything has been working fine until now. ErnieY, I do have good friends where I can go for a shower so no need to get "minty" as you said[:'(].Hoping to get it sorted soon,tuppence Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RicandJo Posted May 11, 2009 Share Posted May 11, 2009 It does sound to me rather like the water heater is dead. Exactly the same symptoms as I had last year. Usual culprit is a rupture in the heating element which then causes the electrickery to conduct through the water in the tank, to the outer shell and straight to earth, tripping the breaker and knocking out the rest of the house.If that's the case then you need a(nother) new heater.......As mentioned before a sparky will tell you in 5 minutes if it's kaput. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gluestick Posted May 11, 2009 Share Posted May 11, 2009 [quote user="tuppence"]GluestickI checked the link you gave, not got one of those. The Ballon was fitted in October 2007 and I only went onto heures creuse in November 2008 if that means anything. Everything has been working fine until now. ErnieY, I do have good friends where I can go for a shower so no need to get "minty" as you said[:'(].Hoping to get it sorted soon,tuppence[/quote]OK: so if the Ballon only heats at night (On the cheap Heures Creuse rate) then there must be a timeclock or summat that switches it on!Once a consumer is registered for Heures Creuse, then come that magic moment, ALL electricity consumed is at the cheap rate: and is metered accordingly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuppence Posted May 11, 2009 Author Share Posted May 11, 2009 Gluestick,I do have a timeswitch next to the heater, it comes on at 3am and goes off at 7am giving me all the water I need on a daily basis. Only me here so no need for loads of water. BUT i do not mess with electric items, had more than a few shocks in my lifetime!! I have managed to contact an electrician in our village who is coming out tomorrow to check the system and hopefully locate the problem an fix accordingly. I will ofcourse get a full facture and claim back from Bricoman if that is needed. tuppence Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gluestick Posted May 11, 2009 Share Posted May 11, 2009 2D:Do please let us know the result![:)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuppence Posted May 13, 2009 Author Share Posted May 13, 2009 As requested Gluestick , here are the results of the Great Immersion Mystery!! It was indeed the thermostat and not the element as we first thought. Had an electrician come in this morning, take out the thermostat, check it and tell me it is "dead". So back to Bricoman tomorrow morning on the way to the shuttle with original receipt, details of immersion heater, old thermostat and a smile[:D]. Hopefully if they have one in stock (not sure about that) I can get it or if not I will ask them to send one via post as I will be in the UK for the next 9 days. Also turns out that when the immersion heater was fitted, it wasn't wired onto the correct junction box for me to get the heures creuse tariff. So for 6 months I thought I was getting cheap hot water when in fact I was not[6]. So when I have the new thermostat the electrician will rewire the immersion heater to the correct box and fit the part as well. Well at least thats what I would like them to do!!tuppence Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted May 15, 2009 Share Posted May 15, 2009 Glad to hear that you are now sorted 2d.And a slight correction for G.S.[quote user="Gluestick"]Not an easy or straightforward job. The tank must be drained and the whole thing de-mounted, unless you are exceptionally lucky and there exists sufficient space to draw the element downwards and not hit the floor.[/quote]Only the steatite ballons can have the element withdrawn without draining the standard ones must be drained, or inverted [:-))]Of course as you rightly point out if there is not physically room to withdraw it...................... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gluestick Posted May 15, 2009 Share Posted May 15, 2009 Bad English, on my part, JR: what I meant to say, of course, is that it would normally be essential to de-mount the whole thing, in order to promote sufficient space to "pull" the element.Unless, of course, you have 7 metre ceilings in your chateau; and the ballon for some strange reason has been mounted halfway up the wall.........[:)]Even in my "Gorilla" days, I don't think I would have attempted to de-mount my ballon whilst still full of water!Let's see: 200 Litres of water is 200 Kg: which is approx 31.496 Stone, plus the weight of the damned thing = 2 prescotts.[:D] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gluestick Posted May 15, 2009 Share Posted May 15, 2009 Thanks, 2D.Let us know how you get along with your warranty claim.Bonne voyage ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted May 15, 2009 Share Posted May 15, 2009 GS. The old ones that I removed seemed to weigh 32 stone when drained, I had to cut one in half to be able to remove it from my cellar, it was nearly full to the brim with calcaire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owens88 Posted May 16, 2009 Share Posted May 16, 2009 Good luck. For info I believe that French tradesmen are dual skilled. Our electrician is also a plumber. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now