Immersion not heating up

clint_silver

Ive got an old style double switch in my airing closet. (on/off bath/shower)

Water stopped heating in the immersion, not totally convinced it wasnt the wiring which is quite old. Checked the wiring going into the element and phase tester showed no power. Fuse off. opened the switch and some of the wires a bit loose. Picked up a new switch as the old one was very old, cleaned up/pared wires, got all wiring back in pretty much the way it should be, fuse back on, phase tester now showing power to the element but still not heating up.

Wiring is as follows
ON/OFF switch side

Top : L Out which I joined to Common In on the Bath/Shower side) N out (Blue to immersion)

Bottom L in (Red from mains) N in, (Black from mains)


Bath/shower switch
Top : Common in joined to L out as above

Bottom : L1 out (Brown to immersion) , L2 out (Black to immmersion)

Theres an earth to immersion as well.

I tried to take pictures of it but all turned out crap and not clear, its awkward space.

turn fuse on. Leave On/Off switch off. : No power to element.
turn switch on. Power goes to element and thermostat so I know its now working. Water still doesnt heat up. Sink or bath.

Question is this, the sink/shower switch, is that typically L1/L2 out? should power be coming out of both of those whether bath or shower is switched?

gotta guy coming out next week to look at it, fuse is off until then. good chance element is just gone anyway.

Similar post here
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056329839

thats the switch, I'll try and follow that.

clint_silver

Having read post 5 in that earlier link, I think the wiring is actually right.

If the phase tester is showing power going to both bath and sink, are there elements for the 2? could both be gone?

Sir Arthur Daley

A phase tester is the most unreliable item to tell you the presence of power.

Wearb

If memory serves me right, the neutral plays a bigger part in immersion switching than would normally be expected.

clint_silver

Sir Arthur Daley wrote: »

A phase tester is the most unreliable item to tell you the presence of power.

I had meant to put a caveat at the top to say that "I know that a phase tester is unreliable", all I had on me last night though. Isnt it enough to say that theres "some power" though when switching on/off? that was always my understanding which Ive no doubt youll correct.

K.Flyer

Wearb wrote: »

If memory serves me right, the neutral plays a bigger part in immersion switching than would normally be expected.

Neutral goes to the thermostat and the switched lives from the bath / sink switch go to the immersion element terminals.

Sleeper12

clint_silver wrote: »

I had meant to put a caveat at the top to say that "I know that a phase tester is unreliable", all I had on me last night though. Isnt it enough to say that theres "some power" though when switching on/off? that was always my understanding which Ive no doubt youll correct.

Phase tester shows that you have volts. One, five, twenty etc. You need 230v to run the immersion. You really should be testing it with a multi meter.

Sir Arthur Daley

A multimeter is a must, they can be bought very cheap too and for anyone who is compentant in diy electrics is a must. You can do a resistance check on the immersion with the multimeter which will tell you if your element is good or bad. I was in maplin electronics a couple of weeks ago and i know they are not the cheapest but they had multi meters for €15 which is not bad value.

beanie10

you need to get a multimeter to check if nuetral is getting to the element. the nuetral is broken through the thermostat. check to see if thermostat has overloaded by pressing the reset button. after that you need to check resiatance of both elements.