Loud bang from imersion heater....

mrbios · 15 Dec 2007 at 18:45

imersion heaters ........ what could have broken under these circumstances...

trip switch that powers the boiler had gone so i went to turn it back on only to nearly create brown pudding in my pants when i got a huge bang from inside the tank, could it just be the element has broken?

and how much can boiler problems cost? ive only had a mortgage 2 months i didnt expect to be needing a plumber this quickly >_<

NathanE · 15 Dec 2007 at 18:55

Likely the element inside decided to break and the bang was the sound of a blue electricity spark about to kill you before the fuse/trip switch blew.

Thank your lucky stars you live in the UK where electricity is actually safe by design.

Good luck getting it fixed but prepared to get bent over unless you know someone in the business...

benneh · 15 Dec 2007 at 19:05

NathanE said:
Thank your lucky stars you live in the UK where electricity is actually safe by design.

My best childhood buddy was electrocuted (and died) whilst fixing a boiler last year.

Be safe!.

mrbios · 15 Dec 2007 at 19:06

so not a good idea that i made it go bang twice then eh?

lol (not on purpose mind you)

luckily my fiancees step dad has a mate who charges a simple £10 an hour for jobs so hes going to come and sort it for us on monday, that or her dad thinks he knows how to do it so might even get it done tomorow

sorry to hear that benneh

Over Clocker · 15 Dec 2007 at 19:19

What is your setup, it's not clear? Was the bang from the boiler or the immersion heater in the hot tank?

basmic · 15 Dec 2007 at 19:22

mrbios said:
trip switch that powers the boiler had gone so i went to turn it back on only to nearly create brown pudding in my pants when i got a huge bang from inside the boiler, could it just be the element has broken?

Funniest statement on OcUK...EVER!

mrbios · 15 Dec 2007 at 19:22

Over Clocker said:
What is your setup, it's not clear? Was the bang from the boiler or the immersion heater in the hot tank?

well i dont know how these things work, the tag on the trip switch says "immersion heater" the switch from that has a wire going into the heating element, which when turned on something goes bang inside the tank (makes the same sort of sound as if you were hitting against the tank really hard)

thats about all i can tell you really, im still learning my way around the ins and outs of house ownership at the moment

when we come to buying a new element (if it is that) does it have to be the exact same model or just the same size?

basmic · 15 Dec 2007 at 19:41

We need a video of you hitting the trip switch, just so we can hear the *bang*.

mrbios · 15 Dec 2007 at 20:31

basmic said:
We need a video of you hitting the trip switch, just so we can hear the *bang*.

haha your welcome to come try it yourself but im not going near that thing again until a plumbers looked at it, dont want any unwanted "accidents"...especially as ive just eaten

NathanE · 15 Dec 2007 at 20:49

benneh said:
My best childhood buddy was electrocuted (and died) whilst fixing a boiler last year.

Be safe!.

Sorry to hear that

Perhaps not as safe as I thought!

St0rmer66 · 15 Dec 2007 at 21:48

I still have no idea what you're talking about. First you say it went bang in the boiler and second you say it went bang in the cylinder? Are we talking about 2 separate bangs here or are you getting the 2 mixed up?

If it's gone bang in the boiler than you're probably looking at a new circuit board (£100-ish, labour will be small since they're easy to fit). But of course that's just assuming it was the circuit board that caused the problem, you may find that a leak inside is what caused it and then that will need fixing too!

Are you sure you know what an immersion heater actually is? A lot of people don't and you may be using the name of it as meaning something else. An immersion heater is like the element of a kettle but inside your cylinder. You turn the switch on and it uses electricity to heat the water up quickly for when you run out of hot water and don't want to wait for it to heat up using the boiler (gas). They're bloody expensive to use though, so don't leave them on all the time!

starscream · 15 Dec 2007 at 22:25

If it's the element, I had a plumber to this a couple of weeks ago for me. Cost 90 quid including the parts. I reckon it could be a DIY job if you're confident though. Turn off the water supply, drain all the hot water by turning on the hot taps, then drain any excess water from the boiler, turn off the electricity, switch round the new element and turn everything back on.

sunama · 15 Dec 2007 at 22:36

From what he is saying, it has nothing to do with a boiler.

What he has is a hot water tank/cylinder. At the top of it is a 4" (approx) in diameter piece that sticks out of the hot water cylinder. This is the top of the heating element/thermostat, in to which a wire is connected. The other end of the wire is connected to a simple Fused Connection Unit, on which it states "Immersion". Nothing complicated.

Is the above correct? If it is, then you almost certainly need to replace the heating element and thermostat. The long life ones can be bought from toolstation for around £14. Of course, parts are cheap, labour is not. Your plumber friend will easily be able to sort this out for you. You can do this yourself, but from the sounds of it you are a little scared.

A plumber in London would charge around 45-60 mins to do this and charge around £125 + parts.

mrbios · 15 Dec 2007 at 23:14

sunamas got it, sorry for being confusing, i dont know a thing about plumbing (ive never needed to until now) so i just say it as i see it basicly

problem is ive always called the big tank a boiler which appears to be very wrong, will just call it a tank from now on

had a look for heating elements and the same one thats on it now costs £16 so hopefully assuming nothing else has gone wrong it'll be a simple £26 to get it fixed

cheers guys, im learning something new here at least

starscream · 15 Dec 2007 at 23:18

mrbios said:
sunamas got it, sorry for being confusing, i dont know a thing about plumbing (ive never needed to until now) so i just say it as i see it basicly problem is ive always called the big tank a boiler which appears to be very wrong, will just call it a tank from now on

had a look for heating elements and the same one thats on it now costs £16 so hopefully assuming nothing else has gone wrong it'll be a simple £26 to get it fixed

cheers guys, im learning something new here at least

Yeah that sounds about the right place. If I had done it myself what I would have missed is draining the last of the water with a hose from the tank even after the hot water is all gone. You don't want to end up with water everywhere

You'll also need a tool to unscrew the old element. It's like a bit octagon.

sunama · 16 Dec 2007 at 00:10

starscream said:
Yeah that sounds about the right place. If I had done it myself what I would have missed is draining the last of the water with a hose from the tank even after the hot water is all gone. You don't want to end up with water everywhere

If he shuts of the mains water, no more water will be able to enter the hot water cylinder, after he has drained it by opening his hot water taps. This will totally prevent any flooding. Furthermore, he doesnt need to empty the tank totally, about 25% empty will be more than enough.

starscream said:
You'll also need a tool to unscrew the old element. It's like a bit octagon.

Immersion spanner.

Also, off topic, starscream, where did you get that name from?

starscream · 16 Dec 2007 at 00:13

sunama said:
If he shuts of the mains water, no more water will be able to enter the hot water cylinder, after he has drained it by opening his hot water taps. This will totally prevent any flooding. Furthermore, he doesnt need to empty the tank totally, about 25% empty will be more than enough.

Not if the level of the water is above where the element goes in. I think there are 2 kinds, top loading and side loading. On mine, the element goes in pretty low so unless it was totally empty it would probably leak out.

sunama said:
Also, off topic, starscream, where did you get that name from?

How do you mean?

sunama · 16 Dec 2007 at 00:21

starscream said:
Not if the level of the water is above where the element goes in. I think there are 2 kinds, top loading and side loading. On mine, the element goes in pretty low so unless it was totally empty it would probably leak out.

OIC. I've only ever seen the top-loading variety.

starscream said:
How do you mean?

I just wanted to know if you got the name from Transformers or not?

starscream · 16 Dec 2007 at 00:23

sunama said:
I just wanted to know if you got the name from Transformers or not?

Yeah, but from the 80's version though

Not sure why I went for that here really as it's different from other ones I use round the inteweb.

mrbios · 16 Dec 2007 at 00:36

the element in ours is on the side quite near the bottom, our tanks a bit different to my parents one though, this tank has the usual big tank and then what looks like a second smaller one on top (about a 3rd of the size of the big tank) and a bit sticking out between the two

would probably be easier if i took a photo but we're trying to run the bath with a kettle at the moment