Electramate problems?

Hi guys. Would really appreciate your advice before I call in an engineer perhaps unnecesarily. We have moved into a flat with the Electramate A boiler. It works in that water is hot and heating comes on when required. So far so good.

But... we have just read our meter after two months and we are going through £250-300/month on Economy 10. Is this normal?

• Heating is only on for an hour in the morning and a rarely at night as flat is well insulated.
  Some radiators (not all) remain warm/very warm regardless of heating being on or off - all have thermostatic valves fitted.
  Boiler seems to be "busy" for hours every day when heating is not on and is quite noisy though not very.
  It seems to lose some pressure (from 1b down to 0.5b) and has to be represurised every few days - once a week.
  The overall ratio of peak to off peak electric usage is about 2.5 peak : 1 off peak.
  A heating element has gone and needs to be replaced

Is all this and the above running costs normal for this kind of boiler or (apart from the element which needs seeing to) should it be working better? Any advice very gratefull received.

Any engineers in Southampton area that can be recommended also would be welcome.

Best
Josh[list][*]

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Which element has gone.
Loss of pressure needs looking at.
Get some one in.
Mike
MGC/H2O
Norfolk

Hi Josh

Lets start to break down the problems for you.
1] If you are loosing pressure, you are loosing water. There are three possable causes of the pressure loss as follows;
a} There is a radiator valve leaking. Have a look at the radiator valves at both ends of the radiators for visual signs of leakage.
b} It is probable that the safety discharge valve is passing water and causing the pressure loss. The water that is dripping will be going through pipework to a drain and you won't be able to see it yourself. You will need an engineer to replace the safety discharge valve.
c} The unit itself is leaking internally. This would require the unit to be replaced as there is no practical repair that can be carried out.

2] If you have radiators that are staying warm even when the heating should be off, then you have a problem with the non return valve in the central heating pump (the left hand one of the two that are side by side). When there is no request for central heating, the unit should just heat itself up and stop, however with a faulty non return valve, heat would pass to the radiators continually, and as such the unit would not shut down as it is continually loosing heat to the radiators and is unable to reach its temperature. This results in excessive electrical consumption, and higher bills. This again will require an engineer to rectify it.

3] There are two designs of the Electromate 2000. If the right hand cover is split into two sections horizontally, you will require a 4.5kW element. If the panel is in one piece from top to bottom then you will require the combined elelment bottle (there are 9.0kW and 12.0kW versions of the Electramate 2000 end they use different elements).
Once again you will need an engineer.

David, Mike. Thanks so much for your replies. I am really grateful. I have had an engineer look at the boiler. He has advised that a new element and pump and possibly valve are required and is going ahead on these.

It is the Electromate A 9kw model.

What he didn't seem sure on and our biggest concern is the electrical consumption and whether the above repairs will address this. He has made some adjustments and the radiators are no longer hot all the time but we are still going through 60-70 units of electric a day (£220-270 / month on economy 10). This is with the heating not on much and we are out all day.

Is this normal consumption for this type of boiler? If not is there a likely explanation for it? Boiler seems to be busy a lot even when heating is not on and doesn't seem to have much respect for off peak electric times as the manual suggests it will just coming on whenever it likes. Could a sensor issue be to blame or could the failed element be increasing costs or is this just par for the course with this type of boiler?

Thanks again in advance for any thoughts you may have.

Josh

I had a problem with high bills. It might be the system was not installed with a fusebox that knows when Economy 10 is on and that the switch for this on the system is not connected or needs to be turned on manually. So I would check your fusebox first and if it doesn't have an additional section and you also have another switch in the cupboard where the electromate is, you know it's not connected to Economy 10. It's an easy fix, you can get an immersion timer fitted but will just set this yourself to the economy 10 hours (13:00 - 16:00, 20:00 - 22:00 and 00:00 - 05:00). Your bills will probably be £30 a month in summer and up to £100 in winter after this.