Economy7 /water tank

Hi all

Moved into house in January. It had economy 7 so water tank /immersion heater. I noticed they had both the eco7 and the immersion heater turned on. So I turned the plug labelled immersion heater off (followed cable and goes to top of the tank). Left the bottom one on. As previously had same so knew which was was which. Anyway cue astronomical electric bill. 
So looked at water tank. And it seems they’ve been wired round the wrong way. The Economy 7 switch is wired to top to the boost part not the bottom. 
Mia this an easy fix? I’ve got photos but can’t upload. 

Do this during the daytime.

With nothing else in the house turned on, turn each immersion heater on one at a time, and see if your electricity meter starts counting up.  Only ONE of them should cause your electricity meter to count up in the daytime.  The other one will appear dead.

The "dead" one is the off peak, and that one will only get energised at night on the cheap rate.  This is the one you should leave on all the time and it will heat the tank overnight at the cheap rate.  This should be the bottom element.

The other one that should be the top element is only there to give you a top up if you have used up all the hot water in the tank.

Just wondering if someone in the past has swapped the wiring over as the bottom element has failed...?  :C

i.e. easier swapping some wires rather than draining whole system, replacing element, then refill etc..

Any half decent electrician should be able to test/verify what you have, and/or what's working...

or what's not working, and what needs replacing?  

In less than an hour....

Guinness

OP - do you actually have E7 in your property? i've come across many installs where the E7 is no longer used so the lower element is connected to the 24 x 7 supply. Also once the water is hot the heater switches off, so an "astronomical" bill is unlikely.

Hope this helps

Thanks all I did the electricity count thing. It’s def the top one that economy 7. Switched that one on over night and we have hot water this morning. But obviously it only heated top element. I’d say £776 for 7 weeks electric astronomical. Got an electrician coming to have a look. Bottom element does work as I’ve turned it on and can hear it heating. What I want to know is is it simple to swap them back round. 

Should be straightforward. Possibly need replacement high temperature flex, depending on existing length/condition/ layout.

Jem said:

Thanks all I did the electricity count thing. It’s def the top one that economy 7. Switched that one on over night and we have hot water this morning. But obviously it only heated top element. I’d say £776 for 7 weeks electric astronomical. 

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how is the property heated?

As a guide you sound like you are using around 700 kWh per week which is a lot or are you on pre payment?

All electric. Haverland heaters in all rooms (timers). Underfloor heating in conservatory (off). We on direct debit. This is actual readings as we changed suppliers when moved in. 
 

Jem said:

All electric. Haverland heaters in all rooms (timers). Underfloor heating in conservatory (off). We on direct debit. This is actual readings as we changed suppliers when moved in. 
 

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ouch, so about 100 kw per day which is high imho

how big is the property? 
are you working from home ?
 

if you’ve come from a gas heated house the bills were always going to be higher

We moved from house 16 doors down. It’s 4 bedrooms. Gone from a 2 to a 4. Kids! No I’m a nurse not been home at all. Kids been at school. Just been round and turned everything off. Wooden floor throughout. We asked them before we moved in what was bill and they said £250 a month. No gas supply to the village so that’s not a option either. Jumpers slippers and wooly socks 

So it’s probably going to be your heating running up the bills like this

 i recommend you take weekly readings so you can get a handle on your consumption and you should see a huge drop in consumption as the weather gets warmer

 hope this helps

These "Haverland" heaters are just posh looking electric panel heaters.  They will be using electricity at whatever rate it is at the time of use. Most of the time that will be at the peak daytime rate, which is expensive.

There has been a growing trend of replacing "old fashioned" storage heaters with these posh looking electric radiators.  Yes they look nicer and are more controlable than a storage heater, but by fitting these you lose the one advantage of storage heaters, that is with those most of your heating needs are covered by the cheap off peak electricity rate.

In the long term I would seriously look for an alternative heating system for your house, as what you presently have is just about the most expensive way to heat it, as you are finding out.

Re the heaters, if they are relatively new they will be LOT 20 compliant which makes setting them up more difficult so its probably a good idea to check what settings and timings have been set because you may be heating your home nicely when nobody is in.

Thank you all for your help. I’ve calmed down now. Booked a few extra shifts to pay for it all. Electrician coming to investigate. We are going to look at fitting oil central heating. Or reinstalling the storage heaters but looks like they removed the circuits to the rooms. They definitely went with aesthetics. I’ve got the communication from their solicitor to say the heating is on economy 7 but it’s really not. I’ve learned an expensive lesson. 

It might be worth comparing the cost of LPG, both the boiler price and running cost. I gather from a relative that oil is quite expensive and I think the boilers are costly too.  I don't know any actual prices, so it may just be that my relative considers everything expensive.

Jem said:

Thank you all for your help. I’ve calmed down now. I’ve got the communication from their solicitor to say the heating is on economy 7 but it’s really not. I’ve learned an expensive lesson. 

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interesting comment from their solicitor

does your electricity supply / meter have E7 activated?

I've no idea on the legal recourse but if you were sold a house and were told it had E7 heating and it doesn't then I would imagine there would be some kind of comeback. 

E7 isn't that cheap nowadays either and can generate some hefty bills but it will certainly be cheaper than you are currently paying. 

Installing storage heaters and the associated wiring (you say they removed that too) will not be cheap. I would be going back to my solicitor and seeing what could be done from that angle, maybe nothing but worth enquiring. 

The wiring is probably there still, just been reconfigured at the consumer units.  Unless it's had a full rewire I would just expect them to swap the off peak feeds for the storage heaters so a permanent feed just by swapping them over in the consumer units.

Played detective tonight. Water tank is completely wired to day rate. 
Heating well was like Blackpool illuminations on the meter that was just one heater. 
not sure what is running off economy 7 circuit. Lots of plugs that have block casings. Im at a loss now. Just know I can’t afford £100 a week. Kids been told all lights off etc or no puddings. Been round a put draft excluders on doors. 

Jem said:

Played detective tonight. Water tank is completely wired to day rate. 
Heating well was like Blackpool illuminations on the meter that was just one heater. 
not sure what is running off economy 7 circuit. Lots of plugs that have block casings. Im at a loss now. Just know I can’t afford £100 a week. Kids been told all lights off etc or no puddings. Been round a put draft excluders on doors. 

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have you taken meter readings?