Immersion heater help

[Deleted member 84]

Just a quick update I've had 5mm twin and earth cable put in from my fuse box connected to its own independent 10amp rcbo going to a surface mounted 3 pin caravan connector mounted on the side of my garage. So tomorrow's job is to sort the immersion heater on tank.

5mm cable was used to help with bringing the percentage of current loss down from 17 percent. The cable from the garage to van will be 6 meters of 2.5mm.

Fingers crossed the immersion and tank will play ball tomorrow.

 

[Pjj]

Just a quick update I've had 5mm twin and earth cable put in from my fuse box connected to its own independent 10amp rcbo going to a surface mounted 3 pin caravan connector mounted on the side of my garage. So tomorrow's job is to sort the immersion heater on tank.

5mm cable was used to help with bringing the percentage of current loss down from 17 percent. The cable from the garage to van will be 6 meters of 2.5mm.

Fingers crossed the immersion and tank will play ball tomorrow.

I dont think 10 amp will be enough thought it needed to be minimum of 16 ?. Ime sure @Apw1210 will know 

 

[Davy G]

A standard 13 amp supply and plug fuse is suitable for a 2kw immersion. Beyond that (outside trip protection and safety) is beyond my personal knowledge.

 

[ched999uk]

I dont think 10 amp will be enough thought it needed to be minimum of 16 ?. Ime sure @Apw1210 will know 

For a 2Kw immersion heater 10Amps is fine (230x10 = 2,300 watts). 3Kw would be 3000/230 = 13Amps but that's pushing it as it would be pulling that over a long period of time. 

As far as I am aware 5mm2 twin and earth doesn't exist. So it's either 4mm2 or 6mm2 either way buy the sound of it (reducing the 17% current loss) sounds like it was done by an electrician who actually checked the regs tables and did the job properly. 

If it were me I might have been inclined to use a 16Amp supply from the fuse board - it could be that the cable to the garage is a bit on the small size so sizing for 10Amps was a better bet?

 

[Deleted member 84]

For a 2Kw immersion heater 10Amps is fine (230x10 = 2,300 watts).

That's what my mates done don't want the risk of fire etc so he's gone 10amp for that reason. 

That's what my mates done don't want the risk of fire etc so he's gone 10amp for that reason. 

There's also a 17% loss of faults down the run of cable I'm not an electrician and I switch off when he talks about it all but it will be safe that's all  bothered about. But I'm listing it on here so that it's all there for somebody that's thinking about doing it.

 

[Deleted member 7446]

I dont think 10 amp will be enough thought it needed to be minimum of 16 ?. Ime sure @Apw1210 will know 

Thanks for the tag Paul

What's the minimum & maximum Current draw of your chosen Immersion unit? 

I'd personally recommend using a 16amp MCB and treat the installation as you would with a camper etc as even most grockle box caravans use 10 amp MCB and they trip out with a standard 2230watt tesco kettle 

A rule of thumb and example is that a standard bussmann ceramic fuse of 13 amps will handle a load of around between 700-3000 watts 

I'm not here to advise you on electrical installations as you'll be your own liability if anything fails to which i will not be held accountable, responsible, liable for any issues you face

 

[Deleted member 84]

Thanks for the tag Paul

What's the minimum & maximum Current draw of your chosen Immersion unit? 

I'd personally recommend using a 16amp MCB and treat the installation as you would with a camper etc as even most grockle box caravans use 10 amp MCB and they trip out with a standard 2230watt tesco kettle 

A rule of thumb and example is that a standard bussmann ceramic fuse of 13 amps will handle a load of around between 700-3000 watts 

I'm not here to advise you on electrical installations as you'll be your own liability if anything fails to which i will not be held accountable, responsible, liable for any issues you face

2 kw immersion I will get more details tomorrow for you

 

[Davy G]

2000 kw immersion I will get more details tomorrow for you

2kw, ie 2000 Watts. 2000 kw would probably power a small town.? Not taking the Michael just helping you get your head around it.

 

[Deleted member 84]

2kw, ie 2000 Watts. 2000 kw would probably power a small town.? Not taking the Michael just helping you get your head around it.

Haha I meant 2kw sorry its way past my bed time ???

 

[Davy G]

Haha I meant 2kw sorry its way past my bed time ???

Have a cup of Horlicks, mate.
Tomorrow's another day!

It was past my bed time 2 hours ago but I'm stubborn. ?

 

[Deleted member 7446]

2 kw immersion I will get more details tomorrow for you

Why don't you just get a sparkie to do it and not worry about the technicalities 

With the upmost respect, I feel that you are clinging onto whats being said here and tackling the job yourself which bothers me as water and electricity make a mess. 

I have my NVQ level 3 but I'm a window cleaner when I'm on here

 

[Deleted member 84]

Why don't you just get a sparkie to do it and not worry about the technicalities 

With the upmost respect, I feel that you are clinging onto whats being said here and tackling the job yourself which bothers me as water and electricity make a mess. 

I have my NVQ level 3 but I'm a window cleaner when I'm on here

My mate is a sparky I just want a bit of reassurance from what people have done.

Most people that have done it have a plug in rcd whilst I'm having it independent on the fuse board it's self. So pinpointing it on here is a good reference point for people searching the topic and hopefully put to bed constant questions on the topic.

Until the system has been running a week or so I will be a tad anxious on it like you say heat and water etc.

I've got a level 2 in plumbing and nothing really got covered on immersion heater and the flow of water with heat etc 

 

[Deleted member 7446]

My mate is a sparky I just want a bit of reassurance from what people have done.

Most people that have done it have a plug in rcd whilst I'm having it independent on the fuse board it's self. So pinpointing it on here is a good reference point for people searching the topic and hopefully put to bed constant questions on the topic.

Until the system has been running a week or so I will be a tad anxious on it like you say heat and water etc.

I've got a level 1 in plumbing and nothing really got covered on immersion heater and the flow of water with heat etc 

Other than drilling a hole and putting a piece of bent copper in it with a bolt he should know what to do from there

It would of been alot quicker to get a plumber and say I want that there etc 

 

[Ian Sheppard]

That's what my mates done don't want the risk of fire etc so he's gone 10amp for that reason. 

There's also a 17% loss of faults down the run of cable I'm not an electrician and I switch off when he talks about it all but it will be safe that's all  bothered about. But I'm listing it on here so that it's all there for somebody that's thinking about doing it.

Regarding fusing, Check the documents that come with the Immersion. The manufacturer will specify the correct rated fuse. IT is always better to underrate than overrate a fuse EG better to have 7.5a than 10a. A fuse is thermal device it is heat generated by a short that blows the fuse. The higher fuse rating the longer it will take to blow. In some case where heat builds slowly it can a fuse take up to 21/2 times its rating so a 10 amps fuse might only blow at 25amps 

 

[Deleted member 84]

Other than drilling a hole and putting a piece of bent copper in it with a bolt he should know what to do from there

It would of been alot quicker to get a plumber and say I want that there etc 

Just had it confirmed by a customer who's an electrical engineer that a 6mm cable and rcbo of 10amp is better that 2.5 and 16amp

 

[Deleted member 84]

Hey all instead of starting another post regarding immersion could I have some advice on the following please.

So I've got everything fitted and working.

The tank heats up nice. I'm taking my hose reel out on a cold night with the pole.

The pipe from the tank to the pump then pump to hose reel is insulated.

How do you guys get on with potential freezing off the pipework I'm guessing the tank of water  will not push warm water down the pipe work without been pumped.

Is it good practise to just shut the tank water off disconnect the hose and turn pump.on for a second to drain any water in.

Thanks no more questions after this one is answered ???

 

[Davy G]

Insulate the floor and sides of the van. Lashings of insulation all over the tank. Put rubber matting on the floor and you shouldn't have any trouble. Providing you put the immersion on nice and early. I wouldn't drain any water. You will be inviting air locks. You only need to keep the van 2~3C to prevent freezing. I never disconnect or remove anything. There should be enough heat from the tank to prevent anything in the van from freezing.

An observation of mine is that there's a tendency for the simple things in life to be made complicated, hard work and often expensive unnecessarily.

You will almost certainly have further questions. ?

Play about with the search bar. The information is all there. Ask on what you can't find the answers to. ?

 

[spruce]

Hey all instead of starting another post regarding immersion could I have some advice on the following please.

So I've got everything fitted and working.

The tank heats up nice. I'm taking my hose reel out on a cold night with the pole.

The pipe from the tank to the pump then pump to hose reel is insulated.

How do you guys get on with potential freezing off the pipework I'm guessing the tank of water  will not push warm water down the pipe work without been pumped.

Is it good practise to just shut the tank water off disconnect the hose and turn pump.on for a second to drain any water in.

Thanks no more questions after this one is answered ???

In all the years of wfp from a van, I have never had the system pipework freeze. That included that very cold winter of 10 years ago which affected the east coast of England. I have only ever used an 800 watt electric heater with a duvet over the tank which also covered the pumps on one side of the tank and the hose reels at the end.

If you haven't any internal heating, then a couple of days of freezing weather is going to cause issues.

A now retired window cleaner just used to turn his tap from his tank off, then unscrew his filter and switch the pump on to suck and push any water out of the pipe work. Empty the filter bowl of water and then screw it back. He took his hose reels inside. He was parked in the street, so couldn't run an electric cable from the house to the van.

I added a frostat to my 800 watt heater. It kicks on at 2 degrees and switches off at around 5 degrees. The heat from the hot water in your tank will act as a giant heat radiator.

 

[Deleted member 84]

Thank you to all that have commented and helped.

 

[Ian Sheppard]

As above water does retain thermal mass particularly s tank. Water is quite slow to heat and cool and as above you only need to kjeep the water a little above freezing say 2C to 5C with insulation that will keep the van above freezing too Thats why the Froststat controller is set to switch the heater around 2C and raise temp just a little, It also runs the pump for a few minutes to create circulation.