DIY Doctor UK DIY Forums

Hello all. This is my first post. I hope I don't break any rules but am sorry if so. We are quite desperate for help - struggling to get a plumber/gasperson to actually come out and explain to us how our new house's hot water works.

We have a system boiler downstairs and a foam insulated copper tank in the airing cupboard. This tank appears to have no isolation switch anywhere. It does have a timer on it, and a red pump of some kind next to it. See photos attached.

We are trying to figure out how this works. We think that the boiler heats water from a cold tank in the loft (there are 2 cold water tanks from what we can tell) and feeds it into the immersion tank. We also think that this only happens when the boiler timer (digital thing below the boiler) is set to active.

What we don't know is, is the immersion tank on all the time? How can it be turned off or set to only come on at certain times? What does the (very loud and hot) red pump do? The house was built in 2000.

We are really grateful for any advice you can give us.

Thanks,

Mike

Hi mpwales,
You have a fairly standard heating system.
Somewhere there should be a controller which allows you set on/off times for your heating and hot water, this may be part of the boiler or may be a separate controller.
Your picture shows a thermostat on the cylinder for controlling hot water temperature, a pump for circulating water around your heating system and tank (nothing to do with hot water at the taps) and a motorised valve for directing water to tank or heating system or both.
Regards S

I see no sign of an immersion heater, only a Y Plan central heating. DHW it would seem only heated with boiler.

Aah. Thanks both. Sorry to ask what is probably such a stupid question. This is comforting to hear, maybe not from a bills point of view but at least there isn't an electric element turned on all the time that I cannot turn off! Thanks again