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horstmann economy 7 quartz - HELP!

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  • 17-12-2015 12:36pm
    #1
    SarahMollie
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,843 ✭✭✭


    Hi all,

    So I've recently moved into my new property that I purchased recently, and am being confronted by having only electricity for the first time.

    The property is a 3 bed, own door duplex, circa 100m2 over 2 floors. I have storage heaters on the ground floor (kitchen/living room) and then just electirc heaters in the bedrooms upstairs.

    I also have a Horstmass Ecomony 7 quartz for heating water. The property itself is about 15 years old and from looking at the control unit, i'd say its original because it doesn't look the the modern ones you'd see if you google it.


    I've checked with Airtricity and I've separate day and night rates (50% less at night) so this seems to be in order. However, the timer seems off to me and I can't seem to get my head around "leaving the water on all night" - does anyone else have one of these systems and how do you find them? does leaving it on "timer" work out well?

    Also, I dont think my boost option is working. Myself and my bf (who is an engineer, albeit not an electrical engineer) both tried it last night and looked up youtube videos etc, so I think we were doing it right, but no joy. The light came on and the dial went around to show that it had been on for an hour, but the water didnt heat up at all.

    Has anyone had any experience of this issue? Any possible causes that we could look at?


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    #2
    JunoS
    Registered Users Posts: 6 ✭JunoS


    Hi! Did you have any luck with this? I am having a mare with my horstmann 7.
    SarahMollie wrote: »
    Hi all,

    So I've recently moved into my new property that I purchased recently, and am being confronted by having only electricity for the first time.

    The property is a 3 bed, own door duplex, circa 100m2 over 2 floors. I have storage heaters on the ground floor (kitchen/living room) and then just electirc heaters in the bedrooms upstairs.

    I also have a Horstmass Ecomony 7 quartz for heating water. The property itself is about 15 years old and from looking at the control unit, i'd say its original because it doesn't look the the modern ones you'd see if you google it.


    I've checked with Airtricity and I've separate day and night rates (50% less at night) so this seems to be in order. However, the timer seems off to me and I can't seem to get my head around "leaving the water on all night" - does anyone else have one of these systems and how do you find them? does leaving it on "timer" work out well?

    Also, I dont think my boost option is working. Myself and my bf (who is an engineer, albeit not an electrical engineer) both tried it last night and looked up youtube videos etc, so I think we were doing it right, but no joy. The light came on and the dial went around to show that it had been on for an hour, but the water didnt heat up at all.

    Has anyone had any experience of this issue? Any possible causes that we could look at?


  • Options
    #3
    SarahMollie
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,843 ✭✭✭SarahMollie


    JunoS wrote: »
    Hi! Did you have any luck with this? I am having a mare with my horstmann 7.

    Yep, I've been in the place about 18 months and have had a guy out 3 times all in all.

    1. firstly it was to understand why the boost wasn't working. The system has two elements (like a really big kettle) and one operates the overnight water and one for the boost. Our boost one was fried. His original suggestion was to drain the tank and replace the element however, most tanks are fitted wtih a relief valve allowing the tank to be part drained to accommodate work like this but ours didnt have one so he just wired the boost and overnight water to work off the one working element as an interim solution. System was about 15 years old so he did say that it wasnt unusual for elements to start to need to be replaced at that age. Honestly the boost wasnt a real issue, we just didnt really understand the system and we got him to explain how best to work the storage heaters too whilst he was with us.

    2. Few months later, the other elemenet went, so he had no choice but to fully drain the tank. Messy job but wasnt as bad as we'd feared. Replaced both elements and inserted relief valve in case work is needed in future.

    3. Unit itself went, so the wall unit had to be replaced so at least I now have a nice new modern digital one which is easier to operate.

    Sounds like a lot of work but it wasnt that bad really, more so inconvenient. Probably cost €500 all in, and I don't expect any further problems now that so much (bar the tank itself - touchwood!) is now new. Property was previously rented so I think obviously the bare minimum had been done to the place and there was no such thing as proactive maintenance.

    Its a very strange system but I actually like it now. We never run out of hot water when its just the two of us, we'd probably only use the boost when we've visitors and lots of people looking for showers. Last electricity bill was €205, that was for 2 months inc Christmas, with 4x storage heaters on and electric rads running upstairs as well as the hot water. Thats in addition to the year round things like washing machine/dishwasher/oven/lights etc in a 3 bed property.


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