| | |
|
|
|
Leaking Essex Flange & v hot water |
|---|
| message from Roland Burr on 11 May 2004 |
We have been plagued by a leaky essex flange for some time. I tried sealing
it with LSX and it worked for a while but then started a steady trickle.
This week I stripped it right back (but didn't remove the flange itself) and
discovered a) whatever washer (rubber?) is inside the tank is now a devayed
caulky mass which is all but useless b) the outer washer is metal only (no
rubber) and c) the hole in teh side of the tank is for some reason not a
nice snug round one but a oval shape which makes getting a good seal all the
more challenging. Again the best part of a tube of LSX has made it a lot
better and it is dry most of the time but at other times for reasons I
cannot fathom, there is a slight trickle. It doesn't seem to be raleated to
time of day, temp of water etc.
Do I assume my best course of action is to replace the essex flange
entirely? Does the pipe going into it go all the way thru it - when I
loosened it I tried to pull the pipe out but it didn;t want to move so I
left well alone.
Alkso, I replaced the immersion heater element and thermostat when the old
one died recently. Despite the thermostat being set to 60 deg the water
still seems to get very hot indeed - very cosy indeed but I'm worried it
might do damage. I've checked the thermostat is working - it is - but
presumably there's not really much that can go wrong with them anyway other
than being always on or always off?
RB
|
| Christian McArdle replied to Roland Burr on 12 May 2004 |
This is pretty common, as the thermostat is measuring the temperature low
down, whilst convection currents mean the heater is actually heating higher
up, leading to heat stratification and higher temps at the top compared with
the bottom. If you desire constant temperature output (perhaps you have
young children or elderly or disabled relations), then you'll need to
install a thermostatic mixing valve on the exit. If it is a gravity fed
system, you'd almost certainly need a pump to maintain reasonable flow and
pressure due to the insertion loss.
Christian.
|
| Roland Burr replied to Christian McArdle on 12 May 2004 |
No - we love it piping hot but were worried that it was faulty or otherwise
doing some damage. The thermostat is in the top of the tank (down the
immersion element) - maybe we're just unrelaistic as to what 60deg C feels
like :)
RB
"Christian McArdle" <cmcardle75@nospam.yahooxxxx.co.uk> wrote in message
news:40a21131$0$20513$ed9e5944@reading.news.pipex.net...
|
| Roland Burr replied to Roland Burr on 12 May 2004 |
We leave the immersion on 24hrs a day. During colder months we also run the
gas CH which will heat the water somewhat. As I said, we love to piping hot
water on tap but I'm wondering how excessive this is - were we to fit a
timer onto the immersion heater would we be likely to significantly reduce
our electric bills or would the heating of colder water take more
electricity anyway?
RB
"Roland Burr" <rburr49MYSOCKS@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:40a101d0$0$15229$fa0fcedb@lovejoy.zen.co.uk...
|
| Christian McArdle replied to Roland Burr on 12 May 2004 |
Provided you have a modern foam insulated cylinder, I wouldn't bother
turning the immersion off unless you go away for a couple of days. The
overnight reduction in cylinder surface temperature won't be very much and
it is the surface temperature that determines the heat loss.
The only way I can think of to make significant savings would be to turn it
off before having a night time bath. That way, the cylinder would be cool
overnight.
Consider using your central heating to heat the cylinder, even in summer.
Depending on the layout, type of system and controls, you may find this
significantly cheaper than electricity, although this would depend on many
factors.
Christian.
|
| IMM replied to Roland Burr on 14 May 2004 |
Replace the flange and get a flange with rubbers on both side. Try and do
something with the oval hole. That may mean installing a large flange that
requires a larger hole and bush it down to the pipe size you have once
installed.
|
|
Archived message: Leaking Essex Flange & v hot water (UK D-I-Y House Improvement)
