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Heating off but still hot water

Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 12:26 pm
by sean75
Hello, to forewarn you i'm a complete novice!
I have a gas back boiler which i use to heat the radiators and water for showers (a very old system possibly 20-25 yrs old). A few weeks ago the pilot light under the back boiler went off, so because it was the summer, i turned the gas off at my mains (to save money and to be extra safe).

I last used our electric switch to heat the hot water for my showers several weeks ago (the switch is a simple electric switch with a red light above it, to show when on or off), the light is off now. I also have a hot water tank in the loft, which i assume is connected to this switch. However i still have very hot water for the showers i take twice daily, even though their appears to be nothing heating it!

Can anyone suggest how this is possible?
I'm sorry i dont know the names or types of tanks, boilers etc.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2008 5:49 pm
by htg engineer
You either have an immersion heater that's heating the water - or you have an electric shower ???

No need to turn the gas off - the gas will not come through if there is no pilot light on. The thermocouple will need replacing, at worst possibly a gas valve.

htg

Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2008 7:54 pm
by sean75
Hi Htg
Many thanks for your advice.

The shower is a mixer shower. Previously when the central heating has been switched off we have had no hot water (the shower was cold), whereas now we have hot water, with apparently nothing heating it.

The electric switch, i switched on to heat our water previously when the heating was off, is also 'off' ( i'm sure this is for the immersion heater).

I am worried how the water is being heated, like the immersion heater is stuck 'on' despite the switch being off.

I am bamboozled, any help/advice would be great.

Sean

Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 9:57 pm
by Freeman
It is possible that the 'electric switch' is faulty, get the system checked out.